Oh no funny but not funny I know,sorry,but you have made me chuckle x Our garden wasn't fully secure at first as we knew Dexter would never be out there on his own so we played 'wait and see' with a low wall we foolishly believed we could train for!!!We met a beagle on heat in the park one eve and Dexter changed instantly,from that walk on he was over that wall and away whatever chance he got.....we got railings ordered immediately.........and booked him for the snip!
Grrrrr. Spoke too soon. Flippin' spaniel. Grrrrrr. Quite sure she has starting walking this route because she's in season and trying to avoid routes with more dogs but that doesn't help me with my boy.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. (I know it is not her fault and I know she has as much right to walk down our track as anyone but I do feel like venting a bit....)
Feel free to vent away, it must be really frustrating for you. Hopefully not many more days to go to the all clear and Pongo goes back to being Pongo
I really feel your pain @Rosie. Had such a bad walk with Benson yesterday. I just can't remember the last time he was so frustrating! I don't blame him one bit. Spent most of the walk just stood still, took 45 minutes to get any semblance of calm. To make matters worse a lovely black lab called Jenny came romping (off lead...) over to see him, she wasn't in season... but Benson tried (on lead...) to hump her anyway. The beagle she was with was not happy and raced over to terrorise Benson..who reacted with a real snarl I couldn't let him because of Jenny...then another 30 mins of walking Benson to calm working on the most basic of behaviours...sigh...just as we have started gundog classes back to loose lead walking...grrrrrrrrrrr Back to super, duper high value treats or.....
Big sigh. I know that we are very lucky to live somewhere with only a few dogs sharing our walking territory, so that this is a really rare occurrence. Pongers is now more than two years old and this is the first time we've seen this behaviour, so I guess that just shows how few BIS there are around, and how grateful we should be for that. If it is only one girl and if this is only a couple of times a year I just need to re-discover my patience. @Beanwood I know you have a much bigger challenge because you must meet so many other dogs (or traces of dogs) on your walks! I can't imagine how I'd cope with that. Respect to you. (And Pongo looks forward to comparing notes, as boys do, next time he sees Benson.)
It must be so frustrating for you. I remember my friend's horse once threw himself through a fence when my mare was in season. Boys hey
Loving this thread -- thanks for the laughs! In our experience, the BIS scent left from wee has lasted a whole month and messed up our walks in the scented area. Snowie would become very "mounty" (male or female), the scent seemed to bring out the urge. Normally he's Mr Super Friendly and trots off happily after the initial meet n greet. Unless that scent is in the grass... then I have to watch him like a hawk and be ready to haul him off any dog he attempts to mount. I do definitely know if a female we come across is in season... by Snowie's howls! Luckily for us not many intact females in our area (so it seems). As for the age it started, the first BIS we met was when Snowie was six months old. We were in the local park alone and he was sitting there watching the gate with his "lipstick out", which seemed most unusual. Then a car pulled up and out jumped their Lab female who was in heat. He had smelled that BIS from a closed car that hadn't even parked yet! Well, trying to hold back Snowie (leash on harness) was like holding onto a fire hose that was out of control.
Nice image! My usual style is "water-skier on land". Not elegant. I'm hopeful that the wee smell won't last too long - yesterday Pongo was absolutely fine, because his darling hadn't been down the track that day, so I think he is only going nuts for the "fresh delivery". So once she's stopped leaving messages (or gone back to her usual route, wherever that is!), I'm optimistic we'll be back to normal here. Optimism, I am discovering, is an essential requirement for labrador ownership.
I'm just so glad we wanted a girl and waited for Juno's litter rather than going for a boy, and also agreed with our vet on having her spayed at 5.5 months old so we have always been able to enjoy our walks and life with out worrying about seasons; or having to worry about whether you should keep a boy entire or not.
