Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Dogs that have found their forever home
nada.c

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by nada.c »

Really great updates on Briar! Keep up the play dates and walks with other dogs and Briar will only continue to grow and learn. She’s learning a new language by interacting with other dogs on a regular basis. Our RR dog (Steffi) can be barky too. But it has improved significantly over the 18 months we’ve had her. We found a place (near Guildford, so not that close to Oxford!) that socialises groups of all kinds of dogs and that’s where we’ve seen the greatest improvement. :goodjob.gif:
leldridge

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by leldridge »

Hello! We thought we'd post a quick update before Christmas, especially as we thought Teresa and Addie might like to see how Briar was getting on!

We've been very very busy since our last post, doing all sorts of things as well as working hard. The least fun of which has been a couple of trips to the vet due to some problems with B expressing her anal sacs. We think she had an allergic reaction to a particular brand of treats, so obviously we stopped them and no bottom problems since! Our vets are amazing and lovely, so she doesn't seem to mind visiting them, and I imagine it helps that they're in the back of the Pets at Home with all of its delightful sights, smells, and sounds.
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Helping Tom with his work

We've been travelling a bit, too, and will again for Christmas, visiting both sides of our families. That included her first up close meeting with a cat, which we took very slowly and delicately. The cat in question is a Norwegian Forest Cat, and she's very dog savvy, so she made it clear where her boundaries were with some casual hissing (she's used to bullying my sister's pug!) and we kept Briar on her lead and didn't overdo the exposure. She responded well to positive reinforcement and we got her to a point where she was calmly looking at the cat from across the room, not pulling or barking, and then we decided that was progress enough and let them both relax in separate parts of the house for the rest of the trip. A good start, though.
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My mum and Briar's pug cousin

Briar has also been working on her dog social skills, as she still has a tendency to bark very excitedly when she wants to play/doesn't get what she wants, and that's putting some dogs off interacting with her. Again, she's responding well to a combination of positive reinforcement and distraction, and she's doing a good job of blending into the in-law pack with the two labradors. She also seems to be in love with my sister's pug, who she lets pull on her ears with great patience.
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(A playdate with a neighbour's dog, as you can see from the mud they had lots of fun)
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The family pack - I'm afraid I look awful in this picture, just focus on the dogs ;)

She had her first go at agility this weekend, and of course she's a natural - she figured out the hurdles straight away, and the seesaw, and the tunnel with a little bit of encouragement. The local classes are full at the moment, but hopefully we can get her into a class soon as it's great for her brain. The agility park was entirely enclosed, as well, so she got to run around off her lead and she was excellent on her recall, even with another dog barking at her through the fence.

Although running around in the snow was fun, we can't wait for summer when we can spend more time in the garden and go on long walks without us all freezing!
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The field behind the house last week!
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Guarding our garden against shifty looking fishermen!

Merry Christmas RR!
sweetpea
Posts: 3301
Joined: Fri 14 Aug 2015 20:58

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by sweetpea »

Brilliant update woo.gif] woo.gif] blob6.gif]
You have done wonders with patience and dedication :goodjob.gif:
Given time to unpack their time in kennels dogs usually shine and Bri certainly has ...well done to you and Tom :thanks.gif:
Happy Christmas to you all i23070.gif i23085.png i23074.gif banana10.gif ball3.gif xmaskick.gif xmaskick.gif xmas.gif snowwave.gif snowman.gif
MandaTK
Posts: 2744
Joined: Tue 10 Jun 2014 12:09

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by MandaTK »

I love updates like these. Briar seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds and you obviously all adore each other. Thank you. A very Happy Christmas to you all. xxxx snowwave.gif
leldridge

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by leldridge »

I think it must be time for an update on Briar - although between work and taking her absolutely everywhere we fill our time up pretty well!

We had a wonderful first Christmas with her: she visited both sides of the family and behaved very well with all of the other family dogs. We're still very slowly working on the relationship with my dad's cat, but she doesn't bark at her anymore (and she's only allowed to interact with the cat whilst on her lead and closely supervised). She particularly enjoyed the Christmas walks, including one to Hever Castle, and opening her presents - we found a brand called "Tuffies" which produce soft toys that are Briar proof! The one she got for Christmas is still intact, even now, and she plays with it every day - very impressive.
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Opening her Christmas presents.

January and February were busy for us, with her first weekend staying with my mum whilst we went away, and my first trip away leaving her with Tom. She handled both very well, although when I got back from a week away the first thing she did was bring every single one of her toys and put them in my lap - a bribe to never do it again, maybe?
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Plenty of snow play during the Beast from the East.

She also had her first trip staying away from home without us - at Tom's mum's - whilst we went to a friend's wedding. I think they liked her a little too much, as she ended up sleeping in their bed with them (whilst their dog remained in her bed downstairs!) :) We've had a little bit of a struggle helping her and one of the other family dogs to communicate, as I mentioned before - the other dog really doesn't like her loud, barks style of play. But she's learning, and at Easter they got along better than ever before - I looked into the lounge to find the two of them playing nicely in perfect silence at one point, and when they were done they stopped themselves quietly, no trouble at all - success!
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Definitely one of the family pack.

We had our first beach trip together as well, and walked for miles along the seafront in Hastings, stopping for a doggy ice cream on the pier! Again, she did very well, walking along with other family dogs, and met lots of other dogs with very little barking. She's coming along really well on that front, although we've had some trouble with a neighbour who has trained her dogs, through her behaviour, to respond negatively to Briar, and Briar reacts accordingly. This woman deliberately traps us on narrow paths leading to the field where all the neighbourhood walks their dogs, or leads her dogs towards us just so they can snap and bark at Briar and get a reaction out of her, so she can tell us what bad dog owners we are! So after lots of patience and trying to communicate with her, we've decided to just adjust our walking schedule and routes to try and avoid interacting with her - we were getting to a point where Briar reacted with barking and pulling to any dog that looked like hers (they're whippets, I think, so all greyhounds, wolfhounds, lurchers, etc got the same treatment) regardless of our training tactics, which work for her with most encounters. Anyway, not a major problem, and not at all Briar's problem, really! We never realised when we set out to find a rescue dog that other people being idiots would be the biggest challenge! Anyway, enough of the negative, here's another nice photo.
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The other side of the family before a long walk on the beach.

Now the weather is improving, we're out on walks in the woods, along the canal, or in the garden constantly - she's more or less learnt that the ducks are not food, although there's a swan that keeps coming along and picking a fight with her, leading to her rapidly being summoned back into the house! She's not very interested in gardening, and prefers to sit in the sun and supervise, and I'm still trying to teach her not to chase bees, although I suspect she'll learn that one the hard way.
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This is her spot.
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Watching the ducks at the bottom of the garden.

As I'm sure you can tell, we think she's absolutely brilliant, and gorgeous - so I never stop taking pictures of her! I spent most of my time on a farm with collies when I was a teenager, and Briar has that wonderful working dog responsiveness and brain: she listens and tries to give you what you want, and as long as you're clear about what that is, she does it! We've got lots of plans for the summer: our first dog show, a medieval fair in a couple of weeks, a week long holiday in Northumberland with lots of walking, and lots of pub visits and Cotswolds walks...so there'll be lots more photos for the next update!
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sweetpea
Posts: 3301
Joined: Fri 14 Aug 2015 20:58

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by sweetpea »

Thank you for a wonderful update and photos. .. :goodjob.gif:
As for negative behaviour from people ...this is why i walk very early ...all my dogs love other dogs but i have become less tolerant of idiot humans 0002.gif]
leldridge

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by leldridge »

It's been so long since I last posted an update that I've accumulated too many photos to choose from...

We've had lots of adventures since our last update! Firstly, there was the medieval fair, where Briar and I attended in costume (I made her costume). Complete with a Norman shield and battle axe, she was of course amazing, and made it into the official event photos!
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She managed to squeeze in a walk on the beach the same weekend, and we got this amazing shot...
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Soon after that it was Briar's (presumed, at least, it's on her chip as her birthday) birthday, so she celebrated in style, with a personalised toy box, a new hand bag (we take her handbag everywhere- it's full of treats, toys to keep her busy in pubs, poo bags, her water, etc), and a trip to the pub to celebrate. We think she enjoyed it.
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As the hot summer wore on, we had lots of play time with other dogs, and did lots of gardening and sitting by the water in our garden. We even had an incident one evening where we had to get the swan rescue team out. Then in July, Briar was (of course) there in an important support role in a big event - Tom proposed! (This was of course accompanied by a long walk and a celebratory pub meal for all of us!)
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But we didn't have long to relax - once we had tested our new hiking equipment (Briar got a new RuffWear Harness for serious walking adventures, and a waist bungee lead to go with it) it was off to Northumberland for a week away with lots of other family members and 3 other dogs. But we stopped for cream tea on the way...
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And to check out one of my favourite historic sites, Rievaulx Abbey, which Briar found very interesting:
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That was a great trip, complete with High Force waterfall, and a nice long walk along Hadrian's Wall near Vindolanda.
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When the heatwave finally broke, we made it to a dog show - one we had planned to go to earlier in the summer had been called off because it was just too hot. I was expecting something small as it was just in our local park, but it turned out much bigger than I expected - about 40 dogs and about 200+ spectators! Because she is brilliant she came second in 'best costume' (in her Norman knight outfit again) and third in 'best trick' - we were astonished that prettiest bitch went to a plain old Labrador, but there you go 0002.gif]
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Not satisfied with our Northumberland adventure, we had booked a short trip to the Lake District in September, and unsurprisingly it rained heavily the whole time! We still managed to get some walking done, but we also enjoyed a number of pubs and their warm fires.
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With summer over and both of us back to work at our respective universities, we've been less busy the last few months, but that doesn't mean we haven't made time to make a bespoke halloween costume:
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help with my dad's family business:
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and spend plenty of time playing with friends:
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And of course Christmas!
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One thing that has been going really well recently is her social skills - she now regularly has off lead play sessions with other dogs in the field near our house where we usually walk, and she has a cast of doggy friends in the neighbourhood. She still struggles with greyhounds and whippets, thanks to that nasty neighbour I mentioned before, but even there we've seen improvement lately with some play sessions with nicer greyhounds and their humans.

What awaits us in 2019? We're abroad for a whole week for a family wedding later in the year, so Briar is going to stay with Tom's parents for a whole week, which I will find incredibly scary but I'm sure she'll enjoy! We're also on the hunt for dog friendly wedding venues for 2020 - places where Briar can come for some of the day and then go and hang out with a nice sitter somewhere quiet when the party gets going. I also got some new books of walks at Christmas, so we've got lots more exploring to do!
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Sarahk
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Joined: Sun 01 Jun 2014 13:12

Re: Briar (Briony) Crossbreed x Terrier DofB 2015 Oxford

Post by Sarahk »

Congratulations to you and Tom - for your forthcoming wedding woo.gif] and for the amazing life you’ve give the gorgeous Briar :icon_barking_dog-116.gif:
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