Dogs

Saxondale · 21 October 2025

This is my gorgeous girl. Don't be fooled by the sweet looks, though - she eats her own turds.

FoyleFox · 25 November 2025

Medication review at the vets for the pooch and we've moved on to librella injections, in addition to daily metacam. Anyone have any experience with their dogs having it?

Libertine · 26 November 2025

8 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

Medication review at the vets for the pooch and we've moved on to librella injections, in addition to daily metacam. Anyone have any experience with their dogs having it?

My greyhound is having librella every couple of months for her arthritis. Seems to have been pretty effective overall. Just gone up from £90 to £110 though. 🫠

VLC86 · 26 November 2025

Does anyone use a dog sitter that stays at their houses while away? If so, any recommendations for reliable people in Leicestershire would be great. Thanks

Bilsthorpe Blue · 8 April

Meet Lestah, male 8 weeks old, joins our other 3

Parafox · 8 April

2 hours ago, Bilsthorpe Blue said:

Meet Lestah, male 8 weeks old, joins our other 3

So cute.

Parafox · 10 April

Those here that have a dog from puppy stage, does the barking phase go away?

Ours is 1 year old and is barking in the house and garden at everything he senses or sees.

It's grinding our gears.,

JonnyBoy · 10 April

On 26/11/2025 at 07:52, Libertine said:

My greyhound is having librella every couple of months for her arthritis. Seems to have been pretty effective overall. Just gone up from £90 to £110 though. 🫠

Our dog has to have atopica twice daily £6 a day, a multi-vitamin dog mix prescribed by willows you can only buy from America which is £150 every 3 months and insurance around £2000 a year (was quoted at £5000 year before to cover existing conditions) so bloody expensive, home cooked food as has IBD so rough costs circa £400/500 a month excluding any emergency vet visits!

fortunately we can cover it but makes you think getting a dog shouldn’t be done on a wim or for Christmas

Bilsthorpe Blue · 11 April

15 hours ago, Parafox said:

Those here that have a dog from puppy stage, does the barking phase go away?

Ours is 1 year old and is barking in the house and garden at everything he senses or sees.

It's grinding our gears.,

If it's a small dog, then you might be stuck with it, we know them as 'yappies", if its a bigger dog like our labs they can be taught to stop, we back on to a forest with regular dog walkers going past, our will bark but with a stern "no" or "enough " they stop, we found its more the tone of your voice they listen to, hope this helps

Parafox · 11 April

26 minutes ago, Bilsthorpe Blue said:

If it's a small dog, then you might be stuck with it, we know them as 'yappies", if its a bigger dog like our labs they can be taught to stop, we back on to a forest with regular dog walkers going past, our will bark but with a stern "no" or "enough " they stop, we found its more the tone of your voice they listen to, hope this helps

He's a medium sized cockapoo. Looked online and it seems he's at the adolescent stage and will be barky for a while until he matures further.

We hope.

Bilsthorpe Blue · 11 April

20 minutes ago, Parafox said:

He's a medium sized cockapoo. Looked online and it seems he's at the adolescent stage and will be barky for a while until he matures further.

We hope.

Fingers crossed for you, i would still try voice command to curb it, its easier to teach them whilst they are young

FoxesWalk · 12 April

22 hours ago, Parafox said:

He's a medium sized cockapoo. Looked online and it seems he's at the adolescent stage and will be barky for a while until he matures further.

We hope.

I have one, she’s not far off three now.

Cockapoos are very vocal dogs, mine tends to squeak a lot when she wants something/is trying to tell me something urgent (like I need the bathroom), thankfully she only barks when someone is at the door or if she gets very frustrated at me holding onto her toys for too long and not throwing them (ie. telling me she wants something). Has never barked at another dog. She is still mental though, like an 11kg puppy. They are a damn cute breed, and very sweet natured for the most part. Main behavioural issue they may develop (thanks to them being a cross of two retriever breeds) is resource guarding, best to trade them a treat for any inappropriate items they “retrieve” (steal) in early years to stop this from developing. Build a positive association for humans approaching them when they have a stolen object. They definitely know the difference between an item they should and shouldn’t have.

Cockapoos are very curious and determined, so they may just be telling you they want something (I want to go upstairs/through the closed door, etc.), but if the barking is relatively new it might be going through its second fear stage, and the barking is therefore anxiety based. If that is the case, it should go away as that phase of their development isn’t typically very long (few months). You can use treats to create positive associations with the objects/places they are scared of and cause the barking if this is the case.

If you want some peace they absolutely love playing in water, being two different water retriever dog breeds (both types of gun dogs for retrieving game from water) combined. A paddling pool of water in the garden to splash in will have them entertained for hours!

Being a combo of two working dog breeds means they are also very intelligent and high energy, mine has been up 10s of mountains with me in the Lake District and I take her on 5k runs, they are very capable. Though it’s important to wait for them to be fully grown before heavy exercise.

I have noticed in my case that her behaviour is significantly less.. chaotic/annoying.. when I satisfy her physical and mental natural instincts as a water retriever dog: to run, chase, collect objects, and solve puzzles (to get treats). Without that stimulation they can get bored and destructive, since they are clever and curious dogs and will quickly find the weak point in any object to find out what is inside 🤣 Petface brand latex chew/squeak toys are the only ones that last in my experience.

I think a lot of first time dog owners get them because they’re cute, playful and hypoallergenic (same reasons my wife wanted one), but they aren’t the easiest first time pets IMO. They are high energy, vocal, gun dogs that need plenty of mental and physical stimulation daily.

Edited 12 April by FoxesWalk