Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Found a nice dog coat? Found a cozy pub that's Schnauzer friendly or even a Schnauzer friendly B&B. Feel free to share it here. Basically anything that we would want to buy for our Schnauzer goes here.
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zeta1454
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Posts: 5136
Joined: 19 May 2011, 16:58
First Name: Leigh
Dog #1: Magic
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Born: 20 Apr 2010
Dog #2: Trilby
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Born: 15 Mar 2012
Dog #3: Pip
Born: 21 Feb 2014
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Location: North Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Post by zeta1454 »

Oscar 12345 wrote: 11 Feb 2019, 19:31 She is adorable Leigh. I don't really understand why they aren't more popular :-\ I am going on Utility/Toy day so might go and have a look at the affens, although I generally fall in love with every dog I see at the show :)
Thank you Julie :)

Affenpinschers are a rare breed in the UK and I think most breeders actually hope that they don't become popular and attract dealers and other disreputable individuals breeding to meet demand. Currently virtually all affen breeders also show their dogs and are passionate about preserving the integrity of what is a very old toy breed ( possibly back to 14thc or earlier). Litters tend to be small - 2-3 pups on average - and often a breeder will keep at least one initially to assess for showing which means very few available for pet homes as puppies. We have had 8 puppies (from 3 litters) and 5 of them still live with us :) So availability definitely will affect popularity but they are also not an easy breed in a number of ways to keep as a family pet especially for anyone with children - more challenging than a mini schnauzer for sure!

I will PM you re Crufts :)
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Magic - Silversocks Sharade at Darksprite
Trilby - Darksprite Rosa Bud


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zeta1454
Moderator
Posts: 5136
Joined: 19 May 2011, 16:58
First Name: Leigh
Dog #1: Magic
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Born: 20 Apr 2010
Dog #2: Trilby
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Born: 15 Mar 2012
Dog #3: Pip
Born: 21 Feb 2014
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Location: North Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Post by zeta1454 »

mikegoodson1 wrote: 12 Feb 2019, 10:09 Leigh,

One question I have to ask is how do you split your time between them, in terms of affection/play etc?

When we got Oscar, he was on his own for two years and so had my/our undivided attention, I found it tough when Sasha came along to try and ensure they both had the same amount of special time. I'm sure that is more me worrying than them, they probably didn't worry!

Did you face that dilemma or are you a bit more in the "they can play amongst themselves" camp? *That wasn't meant to be rude but you know there are two types of owners I think, the 'softies' which unfortunately I am and the more 'practical' owners :)

I would love to add to our gang but having two can be enough when going out for walks/holidays.

Thanks
Mike
Hi Mike - it is an interesting question.
We don't have a timetable type plan for how much attention we give to each of the dogs and some are more demanding of snuggles / lap time than others anyway. When we have a puppy, they will get a fair bit of one on one attention and need socialising and training so may have more time spent individually than the others but Judith does on-going training classes with some of our adult dogs - parkour, scent work and ringcraft (for any that are being shown) so they too have individual sessions on certain days.
The young dogs tend to want to play together - chase games, tug toys, wrestling etc. while the oldest ones are happy to snooze in a warm place for much of the day.
Judith and I divide our walks between the dogs and I walk the ones I take individually as they have different pace / liking to sniff (or not) etc. so all the dogs get a walk with us (or an outing) every day....except Moth who hates walking in the village and hides under the sofa rather than go =)) She much prefers running and playing in the garden, park or beach and we eventually decided to comply with her wishes!
In terms of relaxing times, most will snuggle up in some way or another with one or both of us whenever we sit down. We have two sofas in the conservatory and also in the lounge and both will be taken up with dogs on laps, snuggled beside us, on our feet and on the back of the sofa behind our heads...a warm heap of dogs. Three or four of the little ones sleep on the bed at night too.

I think that it is possible to worry too much about not giving enough attention to each one but also there would be a point at which someone could have too many dogs to provide emotional as well as physical care for them. However, I think that dogs adapt to a larger family easily and are less demanding or needy of human companionship if there are other dogs around to sleep and play with. We do always try to ensure that our dogs have plenty of fun times with us as well as love and relaxation and none are denied a snuggle when they need it. We do take them on holiday, if and when we go away too so they are not apart from us. This is a memory photo of our very first mini schnauzers (sadly all over the Rainbow Bridge now) on holiday in Norfolk many years ago, riding at the back of the little boat we hired to explore the Broads:

Image
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Magic - Silversocks Sharade at Darksprite
Trilby - Darksprite Rosa Bud


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mikegoodson1
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Joined: 31 Mar 2016, 11:52
First Name: Mike
Dog #1: Oscar
is a: Black Mini Dog
Born: 17 Oct 2015
Dog #2: Sasha
is a: B/S Mini Bitch
Born: 23 Sep 2017

Re: Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Post by mikegoodson1 »

I think you are right that you can worry too much and I guess as a newbie dog owner, I apply human emotions/logic to my dog situation, where as they probably think about things on a completely different level; it's my guilt I wrestle with, they probably don't give it a thought :)

Like you said, actually things do work out, those that want to play more, will play and those that want a cuddle or to be left to snooze, will.

I love that photo of your mini Schnauzers on the boat, that is the sort of holiday I like. Me, my wife and my two Schnauzers, us all together on holiday.

But that photo makes me smile; the one on the far left looks pretty unimpressed by the occasion, the one on the right looks happy to be there and the one in the middle looks like "I don't want to be here".....bless them - I'm sure they all had a wonderful time.
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zeta1454
Moderator
Posts: 5136
Joined: 19 May 2011, 16:58
First Name: Leigh
Dog #1: Magic
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Born: 20 Apr 2010
Dog #2: Trilby
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Born: 15 Mar 2012
Dog #3: Pip
Born: 21 Feb 2014
is a: P/S Mini Bitch
Location: North Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Post by zeta1454 »

mikegoodson1 wrote: 12 Feb 2019, 14:18 I think you are right that you can worry too much and I guess as a newbie dog owner, I apply human emotions/logic to my dog situation, where as they probably think about things on a completely different level; it's my guilt I wrestle with, they probably don't give it a thought :)

Like you said, actually things do work out, those that want to play more, will play and those that want a cuddle or to be left to snooze, will.

I love that photo of your mini Schnauzers on the boat, that is the sort of holiday I like. Me, my wife and my two Schnauzers, us all together on holiday.

But that photo makes me smile; the one on the far left looks pretty unimpressed by the occasion, the one on the right looks happy to be there and the one in the middle looks like "I don't want to be here".....bless them - I'm sure they all had a wonderful time.
The mini schnauzer in the middle is our boy, Kaska, who did always have quite a serious expression when having his picture taken! I seem to recall that all three enjoyed the trip as much as we did though.

I can understand the worry that you will not have the time to devote enough one to one attention to two or more dogs and the relationship will be less intense than if you have only one. However dogs are pack animals by nature and most will not feel left out for having to share affection and attention with their humans. I think it is probably not much different to being one of a large family of humans. I am the eldest child in our family and, from when I was very young, my Mum fostered children and babies (and over the years adopted three as well as having two more children of her own). I cannot remember feeling that I missed out on being an only child or fretted over lack of individual attention but just accepted that was how things were and I enjoyed having a diversity of siblings growing up as well.

It also might be different if we were out at work through the day but with one or other (or both) of us at home most of the day, every day, the dogs really are involved with us almost 24/7.

If you want to see more of family life with a multitude of dogs, you could check out our Facebook page for more pictures and videos :)

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Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Magic - Silversocks Sharade at Darksprite
Trilby - Darksprite Rosa Bud


https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/C ... 916994967/
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Dawnspell
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Joined: 05 Mar 2013, 18:27
First Name: Alison
Dog #1: Barney RIP 8/3/19
is a: White Mini Dog
Born: 06 Feb 2013
Dog #2: Jasper
is a: White Mini Dog
Born: 25 Apr 2019
Location: Guernsey

Re: Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Post by Dawnspell »

Lovely photos :)

I bet you had loads of interesting nose art on the cars windows by the end of the holiday =))
Our first family dog
Barney - Pocketpark Biali Eyebright 6/2/13 - 8/3/19 Gone too soon
Motto for owners who groom their own Schnauzers -"Never mind it'll soon grow back"
Oscar 12345
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Joined: 02 May 2017, 11:28
First Name: Julie
Dog #1: Oscar RIP Sweety
is a: P/S Mini Dog
Born: 21 Dec 2002
Dog #2: Otto
is a: B/S Mini Dog
Born: 04 Jul 2017

Re: Holiday in Norfolk with our dogs

Post by Oscar 12345 »

Leigh you and Judith have some wonderful videos on facebook. Some really good socialisation ideas and I can see your pups get a tremendous start in life. Love the one with Moth and the schnauzer wind chime.... and the schnauzer balancing on the wibbly wobbly thing.
Man cannot survive with wine alone...
we also need a schnauzer.
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