skycat
-
Content Count
7,517 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
15
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Articles
Gun Dealer's and Fieldsports Shop's
Reloading Room
Blogs
Calendar
Store
Classifieds
Everything posted by skycat
-
would i say shes a good bushing lurcher NO to full on never in the right spot at the right times most of the time in the cover 008.JPG I'd tend to agree with you in principle Willow, about being all over the place and never in the right place, but my best catcher is the same: full on, busy, crawls into brambles alongside the terriers, yet she still manages to catch the majority of rabbits we catch, purely because she wants it so badly and has learned the art of being in more than one place at once
-
At last an article, believe it or not, in the DM, which illustrates just how far removed Countryfile is from a realistic portrayal of the countryside: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2966166/Countryfile-BETRAYS-countryside-7-million-watch-CHRISTOPHER-BOOKER-says-BBC-s-flagship-ignores-rural-Britain-s-real-problems.html
-
I suspect a lot of it comes down to concern about finding homes for pups. Even if someone decided to breed a litter because they wanted a pup bred that way, they're still faced with the possibility of being stuck with half a dozen pups that no one wants because it's an uniusual cross that most people wouldn't be prepared to take a chance on. Yes, be prepared to cull hard and only rear what you have booked. Even then not all things go to plan and people can drop out at the last minute.
-
I have not idea if you live in a city or an urban area, but this urban mindset of "every f****r wants to do you over" is one of things you move to the country to leave behind......so leave it behind and take every day as it comes. Wish you well Tell that to those who live in the country and make peoples' lives a misery with their thieving ways: knew a man who lived in a village for years, moved into open countryside, no close neighbours ... within a few weeks he'd had all his dogs stolen by certain folk who specialise in dog theft. You are just as vulnerable in the countryside as you
-
She looks in very good condition
-
She was out of a bitch I bred from a little coursing dog to my Deer'Grey. The owner of the bitch put a nondescript coursing dog over her: she was the only one in the litter that looked like she did: the rest were a right mishmash. I'll never know exactly what she had in her, but she had that steady Deerhound temperament with a lot more besides, but so steady and loved her work no matter what she was doing. As for being kennel blind, I've had dogs for over 40 years and never known another like her, and would be the first to admit to my dogs having faults: for example, her daughter has never beg
-
I think that I've only had one dog who didn't have any faults: beautiful temperament, took all quarry, retrieved, worked with both terriers and ferrets, super obedient, good with other dogs, excellent day and night, very intelligent, fast, stamina, perfect feet, never badly injured ... surely there must have been a fault somewhere! But I really can't think of one. And that's not just me having rose-tinted specs on and having only memories of one long gone. Had plenty of dogs that were brilliant in one way or another, but there was always a glitch somewhere, either temperament, got too many inj
-
Nearly all those in this programme would be 'culls' in a post-apocalyptic situation: it is their attitude more than anything: just sitting around doing nothing. No energy or drive to survive: they're as limp as a gay lettuce leaf.
-
Fool. A pup of that age is going to be scared of new things if they are not instantly pleasurable. Many pups of that age are still with their dams and littermates. Personally I wouldn't be attempting to lead train it just yet. Get a really good bond with the pup. Play with it at home, in your yard or garden. Give it a couple of weeks, then take it outside of your home. Just hold it in your arms, let it see, hear and smell all the strange sights and sounds for a bit. Then take it back in. This is if you live in a street/town. Pups learn by exploring, going a little further from the '
-
I used my Border terrier whirrier over one of my terrier bitches, and they produced tiny bushing dogs: but they have inherited all the best bits from both parents in terms of nose, biddability and drive. I just wanted something to push rabbits out of cover, not necessarily catch them, and I have basically reproduced my old bitch and kept the good temperament as well. If you wanted something to catch rabbits as well, then put him over a Whippet bitch.
-
Shot Myself In The Foot Bigtime Me Thinks
skycat replied to xs78's topic in General Airgun Discussion
There's nothing worse than dogs constantly barking or howling to wind you up tighter than a steel spring. I'd be asking myself why he doesn't sort the problem out permanently: zap collars, jets of water, but most of all: WHY are they making a racket all the time? Don't they get out on a daily basis? He can't be much of a dog man by the sounds of it, and maybe not the sort of person you really want to be going out hunting with. -
Don't forget that the type of coat may change once you have clipped the dog. A lot of dogs grow back their fur twice as fluffy as before, and it might not be as waterproof as before. IMO it would be better to just trim the worst of it with scissors: the bits that get burred up with stuff. I once ruined a perfectly good lurcher coat by clipping her: went very woolly. Can't quite understand why just one clipping would have a permanent effect, but it is known to do this.
-
The thing is, it's not just speed you are adding with a Greyhound: you may also be adding in a lot of things you don't want, such as tunnel vision and a lack of working ability proven through generations of dogs in the field doing the job that you want them to do. I can count on the fingers of one hand the Greyhounds I'd want to use over a lurcher bitch: they seemed to be particularly intelligent, and quick to learn, and were lousy coursing dogs if you are talking about 'coursing' as in Greyhound coursing, as opposed to single-handed where the aim was to kill the hare rather than just run aft
-
If the pup doesn't associate the van with something pleasurable, or it has been frightened initially, then the behaviour becomes fixed. Also, if you have always lifted it into the van then it becomes a stumbling block psychologically: the pup thinks it can't or shouldn't get in. Most pups do learn to jump in once they are big and strong enough, but I've also had ones that needed to be physically shown how to do it. Put the front paws on the edge of the van/car, then get behind them and lift their back ends in. Do this a few times and they have the physical motion registered in their brains.
-
Please empty your inbox!
-
Aw, bless you iworkwhippets ... we'll never know will we! But think about it ... knowing your age, I doubt anything would have changed, as we'd have both been in the same state of ignorance at the same time!
-
Getting the pup to see you as someone important in her life, rather than just another person who happens to feed her until she gets passed on yet again, will take some time, especially as the formative months of her life have been spent learning (apparently) nothing at all. Hand feed the pup everything at present. Don't try and do any tug play until you have a bond of some sort. Teaching her to respond to her name will be much easier if she learns to associate you with food. The poor pup probably doesn't even understand praise, so you you can't expect her to respond to you in any way. She is
-
Finally, as promised many moons ago, the tug training articles I wrote are now on the THL home page. Many thanks to IanB and Paulus for sorting them out for me as non-techno brain here was having problems figuring out how to put them all on together. All four articles are together for ease of reading. Although it is titled the Value of Tug Games with Puppies, you can teach virtually any dog of any age to do this, though in some cases with timid, or previously abused dogs, it may take them months and months to reach the stage where they feel confident enough in you to play the game.
-
Grabbing a pup is sometimes unavoidable, but it's far more likely that you frightened her badly in doing so, rather than causing her a lot of pain. But you also need to be careful not to injure the pup: grabbing a pup round its hips could badly damage its hip sockets, possibly permanently. Young joints are soft, so not that easily damaged, but it pays to be careful all the same.
-
Putting any photos on the internet of dogs with injuries through taking quarry invites the public to believe that those who hunt somehow relish the blood, gore etc. Now if someone posted a photo of a dog with a puncture wound or gash and was asking for help in how to treat it, that might be different, as the problem would be seen to be a medical one rather than boasting about how a dog actually got injured. I'd still be very careful when posting any pics of injuries as the obvious course would be to take the dog to the vet rather than asking unqualified people for their advice: it's a minefiel
-
Unfortunately being a parent doesn't necessarily mean that someone is a good parent. How about people having to take a suitability test before being allowed to breed?
-
Fascinating stuff The biggest difference I see between a ferret and the mink is that the mink's eyesight is obviously far superior to that of a ferret, not to mention its tenacity in pursuing the lure which is moving quite fast. And the amazing intelligence of the mink too: quite incredible how he worked things out and eventually cached in the carrier. I wonder is anyone has ever tried to train a ferret to do this?
-
There is a difference between being 'unbroken' to ferrets, and trying to get at them in a cage, which the OP says is what his terrier does. I have two male dogs, lurcher and whirrier. They can work together bushing as long as they are focussed on prey, but the moment they are loose in the yard, or running about where there is no game, then one goes on the lead as the lurcher has already shown he hates the whirrier: just a clash of testosterone and personalities. Both dogs are perfect around all other dogs and bitches. Both are very reactive to insult/attack. Yes, a lot will depend on t
-
Honestly? If the terrier already sees the ferrets as prey, you have no chance at all. Using a shock collar is more likely to create an even more frenzied attack on the ferrets. If the terrier hasn't been able to learn not to go for the ferrets in your own yard, with you present (what, if anything, did you do to stop him chewing at their cages????) then you have even less chance of stopping him killing them in the field when the dog is in kill mode. In my opinion, if a terrier, or many other sorts of dogs for that matter, but especially a terrier with high drive and tunnel vision, hasn't be
-
So, we have endless pages of argument/personal insults thrown and all because a girl: (I looked on her profile and she is only 17 years old:) has got herself into an sticky situation over how not to portray herself on an internet forum, and in particular a forum that is poisoned with hate and suspicion, which I grant isn't surprising given the prejudice/hate/abuse we hunters experience on a daily basis both in real life and on the net. If we take her tale at face value then I can quite understand her desire to get a petition going, but sadly I don't think it will do any good whatsoever. T
