skycat
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Everything posted by skycat
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With more than half the population obese, (both human and canine) no wonder they see anything remotely resembling a healthy animal as skinny and starving.
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I thought someone was missing, but for the life of me couldn't think who until this thread Welcome back.
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This topic comes up time and again. Beast is of course right in what he says, and a GOOD quality complete food is better than an unbalanced raw diet, BUT don't expect to pay less than around £30 per 15kg bag for a GOOD QUALITY food. Anything less and the food is almost certain to be cereal based: lots of fillers: wheat, soya, beet pulp etc etc. This isn't to say that a dog can't survive on the cheaper foods, and pet dogs do survive on them, but IMO a working athlete needs top grade fuel, especially when it is growing at the fastest rate: 0-10 months of age. Far too many complete foods are
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Probably more the breeding than what you have done, unless the dog has hardly ever had any exercise and has been walking around on slippery floors all its life: that is one of the worst things for a dog's feet: then end up all splayed and flat as there is nothing for them to grip on to. I knew a couple who kept a heap of dogs in their back yard: hardly ever took them out. The yard was smooth paving slabs and every one of those dogs had terrible flat, splayed feet, and they were all different breeds and types. How long have you had the dog? If she's had feet like that since a pup then it is
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There's shite and shite: yours is good shite Story in pictures with good text as well: note to self: must try and emulate some time
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Some right canny photos there Black and white ones great, but I do love the crocuses. Damn near perfect shots
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Honestly, that foot is terrible ... or at least it looks like that from the photo. Weak pastern (the bit between the foot and wrist), long flat toes with no arch to them, and those claws need filing back once a week. Or clip as close to the quick as you can: should be easy to avoid the quick as they are pale coloured claws. If it were my dog I'd not be letting it off the lead for a month: half an hour road walking twice a day to begin with, increasing to an hour twice a day at a good steady trot: a fast walk for you unless you are two foot tall yourself, in which case you'd need to jog along
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fitchet: all praise to you for getting inside that dog's head and finding the path to success with him. I lived with a very similar dog for 5 years, and although I'd had him from a pup, he too was feral in his head, though his one redeeming feature was that he did bring back to me what he had caught: I always felt highly honoured when he let me take the game from him. I really think someone should write a book on how to live with a Saluki type, because they are so different to 'domesticated' dogs aren't they!
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I'd love to hear more about him: what problems he had, how you overcame them ... I'm sure there's one or two other people who would be interested as well. There's enough people who post about the problems they have with these sort of dogs, even ones they've reared from pups. Lat has it dead on: most wouldn't know how to go about training a sensitive, and sometimes wayward animal like a Saluki type.
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Deerhound/Grey grandmother, little coursing dog (merlin/eve lines bred down by a mate for generations) grandfather, sire unknown breeding: big red coursing dog. Very mixed litter: her brother stood at 29": died too young. Starlight is 25". Brother had the makings of an amazing animal. It's rare, IMO, to get the complete package in one dog, still less, one that is still alive at 12 years old: she's seen more work in her lifetime than any other dog I've had, and still capable of the odd catch if its in the right place at the right time.
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Could be heart problems, could be anything: go to a vet asap.
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Baw: the problem is that for us that have been around dogs for longer than we care to remember (certainly true in my case ) it is hard for us to imagine what it was like knowing absolutely nothing about dogs. Plus, there's more and more lads/lasses coming into lurchers these days who haven't had the benefit of growing up with someone (a dad, mentor or just the country lifestyle, being around animals per se) who can drip feed that knowledge into a youngster day by day. And there's a massive difference between rearing a lurcher pup around other dogs that know what they are doing, out in the f
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Great post: brilliant write up: love the humour, and photos of course. I can see why they are such a problem, and clever with it. Reminds me of when I was a kid in Cornwall, there was a hill called Rosewall that had a herd of feral goats living on it. I love goats, but they are serious munchers in number. Where did these originally come from: were they released? Or just abandoned years ago?
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Rest him completely, keep him warm, well hydrated, feed easy to digest food, and yes, that includes raw food, just keep him away from bones as he may have a sore throat. Don't exercise a dog if it isn't well: not a lot of fun having to run beside a bike if you have the canine equivalent of flu. Feel the glands just back of his jaws: if they are swollen it means he is fighting an infection: here's where to feel: see photo. Normally the glands would be very small, but in a sick dog they can feel as large as half a small soft boiled egg, like a soft swelling, kind of roundish. If he d
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Really good photos
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I would clone my old bitch Starlight: and just for Baw: she was fast and also had stamina to run on the fens. Someone said that she wouldn't stay as she was too up and at 'em to stay long, but she could stay a good 3 minutes, and more if the ground wasn't too soft, and she did catch most of the hares she ran, and was very seldom run out by a hare: she caught most well within 3 minutes. She was equally good on the lamp and teeth, and as a hunter, well, to get as biddable a scenting dog with the amount of drive she had was remarkable. She was also, and still is, super intelligent, putting hersel
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Keep going out, but make sure to leave some breeding stock for later in the year: young rabbits spend more time running about on top than adults during the day, so the farmer is bound to see them, and then double or treble the amount he's seen in his head LOL Like baw says, make sure to double or treble the numbers your'e getting when telling the farmer: human nature in exaggerating things works both ways
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Puppies develop their long distance eyesight later than their other senses. Sense of smell is the most powerful sense at a very young age, and the only sense, apart from touch, that is present at birth. As the dog is primarily a creature of scent, it uses that sense of smell when investigating the world around it before eyes. It takes practice and maturity to learn to look for moving things in the distance. When your pup goes out for a walk with you, imagine that it is like a kid in a sweet shop, but a sweet shop that it can smell before seeing: that's the best analogy I can come up with.
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Tail's too long for a pig
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Brown bread is mainly carbs: carbs will put weight on some dogs and Saluki types generally tend to do better if they are getting more carbs than say a sprint type of dog, but that is only a generalisation. Protein and fat from animal source is best for maintaining all round condition when dog is working hard.
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Feed her some real food: meat, fat and bone: maybe add extra carbs in the form of porridge oats or brown bread. Feed real fat: lamb or beef fat: that provides energy fast for dogs. Cereal based foods are OK for some dogs that don't burn it off fast, but IMO you can't beat a raw diet and the dog doesn't need to eat as much in terms of weight or quantity to retain condition. I've sent you a pm. Edited to add: I haven't sent you a pm after all as it says you can't use the messaging system: don't know what that is all about!
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They will, but it will be under general anaesthetic and cost you. If the dog is prone to damaging them then get them off, if this is just a one off then leave the dew claws on, but you'd be better just snipping the broken claw right off. It will heal more quickly and not cause her as much pain after the first yelp.
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Don't take two pups out together at all. And if you do take a pup out with another dog, keep one on the lead. If you have a mate holding one dog make sure he is a good distance away from you when you call the pup in: 30 metres away at least. More dogs have been ruined for retrieving by being out with other dogs than anything else. It is good that your pup kept hold of the rabbit and let you go to him to get the rabbit. Shows he trusts you, but the more times two pups chase each other over a rabbit, the more he'll be put off retrieving for good.
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So what exactly are the photos going to be used for? Website? Book? Magazine? It would be helpful if you could clarify this. I don't think that anyone would want to submit a photo these days without knowing where the photo is going, as well as a bit of background on the person who is asking for the photos. Forgive me for being suspicious, but hunting photos can, and have been, used to the detriment of hunters, so clarification is essential IMO.
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Look at the way top human athletes are put under the microscope these days. Every race analysed to the hilt, any slight drop in performance pounced upon by the media: it seems that human nature can't stand to admire someone or something whole heartedly, without jealousy or resentment. There is always someone who wants to pull a winner down, a revel in their short comings or failures. This might seem contrary to what I said earlier (that's for a certain someone who often pulls me up on apparent contradictions in my thoughts and bless you for keeping me on the straight and narrow and forcin
