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comanche

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Everything posted by comanche

  1. comanche
    What's always interested me is the sheer intelligence, for want of a better word, of wild cats. At fear of anthromorphism on my part ,the seeming ability of the man eaters to risk- assess sitations, execute attacks and escapes indicates senses and thought patterns of incredible levels . The way that they sometimes refused to be driven from their prey despite attempts by the victim's friends indicates the ability to recognise and be disdainful of poorly humans. Luckily we only have to worry about foxes pinching an unguarded chicken. Se
  2. comanche
    It was lucky ,or odd, that the chap who found the ferret also happenrd to have a locator to pass-on . Whatever the story , you now have a ferret Dont dash out and get another ferret . Maybe concentrate on getting the one you have straight first. Play with it ,cuddle it ,carry it about . When it relaxes enough sleep on your lap you are getting somewhere. A hand shy ferret is not much fun as a pet and bloomin annoying as a worker so it's worth putting in the time . Being a jill there is the matter of the possible problems regarding her coming in and out of
  3. comanche
    Just follow the trail and be careful not to slip over.
  4. comanche
    Thanks to WDog's original post l had to look up just what one of the dead animals in one of the pictures was . I settled on a nilgai antelope . Obviously not a Texan native species . Anyway the power of Google dragged me deeper . I ended watching enough of Charles Beaty's interviews and podcasts to be pretty sure he's the real deal. Prince of Poachers or not , anyone who's lived long enough and hunted regularly will have plenty of real stories to tell without too much reason for embellishment. The way he recalls details of memorable hunts and and escapes rings as au
  5. comanche
    Obviously posed but the last picture is great.
  6. comanche
    Eek. Especially if they were cable- laying dogs . Run em back to their home trench with explosives and press thr plunger! A friend's lad who served in more recent war zones said that they avoided stray dogs and even donkeys in case they were booby trapped!
  7. comanche
    From the old carvings it looks like they acted a bit like modern personal protection dogs . Imagine trying to take-on this chap as he advanced toward you! I have a book somewhere about the War Dog training schools in WW1 . Apparently lots of people donated their pets to the Army, either because of food shortages or through patriotism. A high percentage of these donated pets proved unsuitable during the six weeks of training and were unceremoniously shot . Some of the lucky ones were enlisted to guard military camps . Others went to the front with duties such as se
  8. comanche
    Hearing aid batteries start discharging the minute their tab is removed and they are exposed to air. They will die in a few days or couple of weeks at most , even if they are removed from the device. And they can totally expire with very little warning. So not reliable enough for ferret finding. Batteries of the right type can get you through a winter as long as you take them out of the collar or slacken the cap off to break the connection when not in use. They tend to give plenty of warning when they are getting tired by losing a bit of range long before they give out completely.
  9. comanche
    Yes l noticed the Pycoumbe crook,hmmm. Mind , they did get copied and sold all over the country. This one was (crudely)made in my back garden. I agree with you about the supposed demarcation of working breeds . A bit like lurcher breeding l bet the old shepherds thought "Cor, that's a good worker. I'll stick it over my favourite bitch." With racial purity being irrelevant. Reading the "old books" l get a certain feeling that the writers in an effort to appear thorough in their research (Victorians especially ) had a need to categorise everything neatly. A local variation of a p
  10. comanche
    Could be ; looking at all the hairy European herding dogs it's likely that they share the same ancestry .But close ancestory or not , being as they were developed with the same practical intentions it's not surprising the are a bit looky-likey. As sheep farming spread into Europe from the East it makes sense to think that herding dogs did the same , adapting to conditions and picking up fancy foreign ways as they went . Thinking about it, herding dogs especially those owned by nomadic tribes covered huge distances on foot, were carried in ships' cargoes of sheep to foreig
  11. comanche
    Here is a picture of a "Norfolk shepherd with his Smithfield" from the 1920s . I looked up wire haired "Smithfield" ACDs . They look exactly as you would expect an ACD crossed with one of the old hairy breeds to look!
  12. comanche
    I think if Yorkies actually grew to that size l would be quite scared!
  13. comanche
    Yes. Welsh settlers are often given credit for introducing it , but the English and Spanish settlers were the ones initially involved in Patagonian sheep farming so their dogs possibly played a bigger part in the breed's creation.
  14. comanche
    They were the days I bred a couple of litters of whippet×collies . Never even got as far as posting the advert to the Shooting News but thanks to its influence I could've sold the puppies several times over just by word of mouth. Inevitably most went to people l knew ; no money changing hands ,just the promise of a good home . I still am a shxt businessman
  15. comanche
    Dead interesting about the title Smithfield being applied to some ACDs It's as if the function of the dog as much as the origin or breeding lends it the title . Over here , 18th Century writers and modern doggy historians would have the Smithfield as a shaggy drovers' dog of clearly defined type . Thanks to your post l looked up Tasmanian Smithfields .They look the the part well enough to satisfy the romantics . Though to be honest they look much like any one of the generic hairy dogs common in Britain pre the border collie take-over. Thanks again AW!
  16. comanche
    Or possibly the sort of collie that used its brain to sum up the situation . One that didn't corner a cow , panic it through a fence and take a bashing . One that hung back and gave the cow room to move in a controlled manner
  17. comanche
    Well probably for some of the same reasons you have whippet x kelpies and cattle dog crosses. Crosses not to everyones' taste but useful no doubt in the right hands and right circumstances. By collie l guess you are thinking of Border Collie , and that's pretty much that what folk over here think of when they hear the word. The Border of today has really only evolved over the last century. By the time Australia got Border Collies it already had it's own herding breeds . Ironically these were descended from the very British herding dogs that the Border ousted.
  18. comanche
    No Neal ,l haven't heard of it . Do let me know if it's interesting please. There isn't a great deal about them apart from the description of then being hard dogs and rough workers compared with collies . I can vouch for both. Imagine a dog that sleeps on the lawn in the pouring rain. And imagine having your sheep rounded up by a canine version of Lemmy . I wonder if it mentions the WS's amazing ability to gleefully encase itself in anything wet,muddy or smelly . Philip Larkin? Cor that is highbrow. He was good in the Darling Buds of May though .
  19. comanche
    I think the idea of old time poachers habitually using fast dogs is overblown . Medieval Laws almost totally forbade the keeping of all but tiny dogs anywhere near Hunting preserves. Sheepdogs were permitted on practical grounds but were supposed to have toes cut off to reduce their chances of bothering the local Game . Even if a peasant could spare food to feed a decent-sized dog they would've fallen under intense surveillance from the Authorities and from fellow villagers ,who were held legally responsible for each others' behaviour. The rich ,the local Lords
  20. comanche
    I can dream. Anyway l was including the cleaning lady Is it wrong to hope that one day l could earn enough from writing to buy a second coffee mug?
  21. comanche
    Could be an easy number. I could go home after reading the first couple of pages where l touch upon the connection between the sagacity of the the old drovers' curs and obscure Assyrian poetry Nobody would notice because the three people who had turned up would all be asleep by then.
  22. comanche
    As in Doris Stokes or Richard Burton?
  23. comanche
    I'm afraid l fall short. No way can l afford a whole box of Golden Wonder crisps ,or two mugs!
  24. comanche
    No problem with the disheveled appearance .
  25. comanche
    And a kagoul
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