The tenants with the springer

Clodagh

Clodagh

Playing chess with pigeons
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Some of you may remember our tenants who asked if they could have a dog. They wanted a couch potato type and decided on a CKCS. They then found out how much they were and instead got a springer dog pup. He is a pretty little thing, incredibly thin still at 8 months old but he passed so many worms when he came home I shouldn't think he will ever be a good doer.
He had his first chicken at 4 months old, luckily it was a fluffy pekin and she just lost a lot of feathers, since then he has been kept on a lead. He has no recall, is still not housetrained (he pees on the bed and the sofa, thankfully the furniture is not ours and the carpets need replacing anyway). He howls and barks continuously when left.
They are struggling with his energy levels, neither are walkers so for exercise he gets run off the bike round and round our farmyard and up and down the drive for miles. They do take him up to an empty grass field we have behind the barns and use a ball chucker thing, he loves retreiving. You can see he would make a nice little working dog, he is obsessed with his ball and hunts really well and with dedication for it.
I had a word this morning as we had to sleep with our windows shut last night as they were out, I know we are early to bed but it was 10 to 11pm. Apparently they were only in their front courtyard having a barbeque with the neighbours, I asked why he wasn't with them and apparently they can't have him near food as they can't stop him stealing it...WTF!
I am not sure what will give up first, them or his joints.
Some people need a license.
 
THey wanted a couch potato and got a springer. WTF.


Why didn't they get a lovely rescue greyhound?


A friend of mine is a groomer too, and she was telling me of a client that she used to groom for and all the dogs they ever had were unsuitable for this reason or that, some were pts due to aggression, or for other reasons rehomed. They came in to her shop very excited to say that they have a new dog that they got from rescue. Bear in mind they have a couple small kids. You'd hope that they'd have got something suitable - like a cavalier or something very forgiving. No. They got...a rescue Akita that does not like other dogs and does not have any known history.

HOw on earth did they ever swing that?! why would a rescue give a dog like that to these people? I see disaster waiting to happen.

Yep, people do need a license.
 
Gets run for miles up the drive? They're going to seriously screw its joints. This makes me so sad, we were so incredibly careful with ours. Do they know how bad that is for the dog?

Have you got anyone who shoots who could take it off them and train it? It's such a natural instinct to hunt/pick up, it would surely be reasonably easy to point them in that direction? They sound liked idiots.
 
They are the sort of people who are nice enough but they know everything. With the internet there is no need for the level of ignorance they are showing. Trouble is by the time they decide he is too much he will be knackered.
 
They sound like idiots, poor dog. When you say he pees on the bed, do you mean he cocks his leg on the side or pees where he's lying, if the latter I'd question a physical problem, even a non house trained dog shouldn't pee in its bed.
 
No, he sleeps on the bed and when he wakes up in the morning if he feels the need he has a pee (on the pillows I gather). No leg cocking, he was done at 6 months.
 
Do you not call it that for a boy? He had his dangly bits removed...it was meant to have improved his recall, no noticeable difference from here.
 
It wouldn't surprise me to read one day, that some one comes on here and tries to assure the rest of the world that if they have their dog castrated, they'll be able to teach him to play the piano.

There's only once certain fact about the castration of entire dogs, and it's that it will no longer be possible for the dog to sire a litter of pups.

Alec.
 
Clodagh said:
Do you not call it that for a boy? He had his dangly bits removed...it was meant to have improved his recall, no noticeable difference from here.
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Who the hell told them that would be the case?! Training, consistency, making yourself more interesting than anything else solidifies recall. Bribe if needed!
 
He doesn't get any normal walks, we were putting up a chiller in the yard yesterday for our keeper who does a lot of stalking (if you have never built a walk in chiller, I suggest you never start, no matter what it costs pay someone else to put it up).... and I saw him being taken for his morning walk, it is literally out of sight of the hens then off the lead while he does his stuff then back on the lead and home.
 
cinnamontoast said:
On another forum, someone was puzzling over why anybody would take advice from the 'YTS' lot at Pets at Home!

.
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I don't think thats entirely fair. A friend locums at one-and she's certainly not YTS (think certs, 15 years in practice plus now a PhD-also against neutering young as routine). She says the treatment protocols and pricing structures are better and more consistent than in other more traditional practices that she's worked in. I am not pro corporate practices but there here now.

I don't hold with early neutering but P@H wouldn't be the only vets to want to neuter young. If these owners went in and said they were having behavioural issues etc, a vet is likely to say neutering is an option. And to be honest, with these owners it does sound like the only option a vet could suggest as training doesn't seem to be one!
 
Thistle said:
Poor poor little dog, he'll be crippled was before he is old, over exercise and early castration are not a good mix
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Well, someone needs to tell that to my dog. 10 year old collie, came to me at 6 months almost totally feral having been running loose in a farm pack his entire life. Was immediately snipped and I figured that restricting his exercise at that point (with the vets in full awareness and not advising against it) was pointless. Still hares round like a look and according to the x-rays taken a couple of years ago had the cleanest joints the vet had seen in a dog of his age.

ETA: because he buggered off after a bitch in heat not because I thought it would suddenly make him recall
 
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MotherOfChickens said:
I don't think thats entirely fair. A friend locums at one-and she's certainly not YTS (think certs, 15 years in practice plus now a PhD-also against neutering young as routine). She says the treatment protocols and pricing structures are better and more consistent than in other more traditional practices that she's worked in. I am not pro corporate practices but there here now.

…….. !
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Locums, in my experience, rarely if ever provide a service which is of value, be that for two legged or four legged patients. With our animals, whether it's the lack of communication between the patient or the owner, I'm unsure, but it's never yet seemed to work. It also seems to me that advanced academia advances the aspect of 'distance'.

Alec.
 
Alec Swan said:
Locums, in my experience, rarely if ever provide a service which is of value, be that for two legged or four legged patients. With our animals, whether it's the lack of communication between the patient or the owner, I'm unsure, but it's never yet seemed to work. It also seems to me that advanced academia advances the aspect of 'distance'.

Alec.
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Well of course you do Alec, your response doesn't surprise me whatsoever. Of course studying something for years leaves people less qualified than those who haven't, stands to reason. Also shows a complete lack of knowledge of what further education entails.
 
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MotherOfChickens said:
Well of course you do Alec, your response doesn't surprise me whatsoever. Of course studying something for years leaves people less qualified than those who haven't, stands to reason. Also shows a complete lack of knowledge of what further education entails.
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So why is it then that all so often we find that the greater the level of education, the less the display of simple common sense? :)

nb. That's 'often', not 'always'! :)

Alec.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
Well of course you do Alec, your response doesn't surprise me whatsoever. Of course studying something for years leaves people less qualified than those who haven't, stands to reason. Also shows a complete lack of knowledge of what further education entails.
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Actually he does have a bit of a point, how often have we seen someone studying for 2-3 years at college yet still has no practical skills whatsoever? Yes of course studying for years will give you knowledge, but practical knowledge is sometimes just as valuable. And there are some truly shocking vets out there.
 
Mince Pie said:
Actually he does have a bit of a point, how often have we seen someone studying for 2-3 years at college yet still has no practical skills whatsoever? Yes of course studying for years will give you knowledge, but practical knowledge is sometimes just as valuable. And there are some truly shocking vets out there.
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that is sometimes the case but not the rule.

I think one needs to consider that sometimes what is said by a professional is misinterpreted or twisted by the layperson owners. It happens time and again, I've seen it, heard and find that just because an owner said "my vet/groomer/behaviourist said........" doesn't mean that was said, in the correct context.
 
Alec Swan said:
Locums, in my experience, rarely if ever provide a service which is of value, be that for two legged or four legged patients. With our animals, whether it's the lack of communication between the patient or the owner, I'm unsure, but it's never yet seemed to work. It also seems to me that advanced academia advances the aspect of 'distance'.

Alec.
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Gosh, when called a vet during the strangles, I had to combat the practice vet [ #The Strangles Outbreak nominated vet]
I had to tell her that what I wanted was a vet asap, "not here to discuss the temperature of a [potentially dying horse", and after he was recovered, and I rang her again, she said he did not need any feed /special care as he was eating GRASS, omg I could go on.
The locum was fantastic, he showed me the problems,and we both agreed on antibiotic, in order to save horses life, meanwhile I expect the useless vet was enjoying her weekend off.
In the end, I just told the practice sec straight out , this vet must not come here again. I had already told the Senior partner that I was not happy with her knowledge, he told me had full confidence in his employee.


I have 40 years experience of horses, yet, they ignore my observations, this would not happen when dealing with a World Class Vet Practice, [as I am used to], they listen to you, and look at horse,and they then make a prognosis. Local vets can be useless. Rant over.
 
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MotherOfChickens said:
I don't think thats entirely fair. A friend locums at one-and she's certainly not YTS (think certs, 15 years in practice plus now a PhD-also against neutering young as routine). She says the treatment protocols and pricing structures are better and more consistent than in other more traditional practices that she's worked in.
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Sigh. I didn't mean the vets. I hardly think they're YTS. :rolleyes3:
 
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