Neal

I opened this thread yesterday after not being on here for a week or so and thinking I must have misread the title. I read the first post, closed the computer down and went for a long walk up Windmill Hill. There was a hare at the top and I wondered if he believed in reincarnation. I only met Phil a handful of times, maybe a little more, but I learnt a lot on those few occasions, particularly when he once borrowed the two ferrets I had at the time to get one of his previous 'cur dogs' started (I think it might have been Dusty). However, despite his standing in the lurcher world, my o

In my case I've come full circle. I got my first lurcher because I'd always been out and about watching wildlife and I thought I'd like a canine mate to enjoy it with. As I grew up with a garden full of working terriers and lurchers it was natural to pick a lurcher. However, over the years (particularly the last dozen or so years) I've found that I enjoy the watching more than the catching again. Just in the last couple of weeks I've enticed a pair of roe does in to within twenty feet and watched them browsing, cleaning (and weeing) for an hour with the dog sat beside me, watched a l

Robin is definitely my favourite call (maybe because of nostalgia; reading The Secret garden when I was little etc). Second favourite, once again for reasons of nostalgia, is the blackbird. Another I like, both the bird itself and the call, is the dunnock; I think they're one of the most overlooked and undervalued birds in the UK. My favourite species is the wren but, although I like their call, it reminds me of those contestants on the Voice when they've only got a few seconds left and none of the judges chairs have turned so they throw everything at it and go a bit over the to

My first kelpie was a bit like that. I've never bred a litter of pups or used one of my dogs at stud in my whole life. However, back in 2006, when my two were separated as Amber was in season, a friend asked if he could use Rusty on his kelpie/collie. We tried several times, and she was doing everything in her feminine power to get him interested, but he refused to serve her. I assumed that he simply wasn't interested in mating so let my two out together in the garden and he immediately jumped her so I had to pull him off and separate them again. I've always assumed that maybe he was monogamou

I stopped using the app for a while as I found it was making a few mistakes. In my area it was mainly thinking that blackbirds were something else as their call is a bit "jazz." However, I still use it a lot for those times when you find yourself hearing something you can't remember.

To cut a very long story short(er): he was fine when I owned him (even though I bought him as an adult from an English lecturer at Cambridge University) but I had to rehome him myself when my ex-girlfriend and I split up as her family owned the cottage I was living in. To add insult to injury, they bought him off me! After that he became quite aggressive towards some males. Particularly the fish man who delivered every friday leading to him being locked up in the nursery whenever he visited. Apparently, one day, the fish man went upstairs to use the loo and someone let the dog out. He rus

Good idea! It was good enough to fool me so I wonder if it can fool the app.

Earlier this year, over a month ago so before the leaves came out, I thought I could hear the "plaintive mew" of a buzzard which was then being answered by another. I looked up, expecting to see one circling over the top of the wood, but couldn't see one. I heard the call again so looked up again and still no buzzard. The only bird I could see was a jay. Then, while watching it, I saw it open its mouth and let out the buzzard call! I've since seen this pair of jays doing the same thing several times. I looked it up online and several other people have said they'd witnessed it too.

I once owned a brother of Enoch. Lovely dog. Could go all day, amazing feet and coat, lovely character. His two downsides were that he didn't like some men and his coat took ages to dry; apart from that I'd say he was one of the nicest dogs I've ever owned.

We had a smooth back in the 70s. She definitely worked. We also had a fox terrier x Sheltie (also worked). Both lived to a ripe old age but spent their whole lives apart as they hated each other.

Sorry for your loss. Enjoy the memories.

I just made my wife a cup of coffee. I almost put the mug in the fridge and took her two litres of milk. Still; not as bad as the time that I only realised I'd thrown a sweet in the bin when I stuck the wrapper in my mouth.

There are a couple of "pet home" GWPs near where I live. I'd always been put off the breed as I'd been led to believe they were very fiery. However, both of these (dog and bitch but separately owned) are lovely and easy going. Having said that, the male wears a bell so his owner can keep track of him in the forest as he has a tendency to go freelance. I've been talking to every gundog owner I meet over the last few years as I'm fairly certain that I'll go down that route when Old Noggin is past it.

R.I.P. I never met him, but had a few email conversations. Although I mainly bought EDRD for the lurcher as opposed to terrier articles, his were always my favourites as he really made you feel like you knew every one of his terriers and their backstory.

I think you're definitely right here. One of the biggest problems with people resurrecting or "improving" breeds is that they feel the need to use breeds which look similar whereas they should be using breeds which work and/or think similarly. As a very exaggerated example: if I was looking for a bearded collie, I'd prefer to buy one which worked and acted like a proper beardie but was smooth coated than a beardie coated border collie which worked like it's border collie parents. Does that make sense? Edited to add: re the inaccuracies of old books, I was reading an article by the l