Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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Funny thing is, the very thing(s) which you (perfectly understandably) get frustrated by, in those types you've mentioned, is probably what people like me like about them. Weird isn't it.?
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I know exactly what you mean. My first cross beardie greyhound and my kelpies always thought/think they knew/know best and, as you say, sometimes I'm thinking, 'No, just do as you're bloody told,' but with the kelpies I find myself thinking, 'fair play, you were right.'? The dog most similar to my first kelpie was actually (apart from Noggin, my current male) Jem, the 3/4 collie. They were all chilled out and Bob Marleyesque as adults.
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To be honest, I'm pretty sure I'll end up making that decision too. Just wondered what other people's thoughts were on the two (or three...or four) types. Are you still in touch with Dave? Do you know how his 3/4 kelpies turned out? Tracy (Noggin and Maud's breeder) told me she met Dave's and it was an impressive looking animal. I think he bought a pup from her but, unfortunately, it died young.
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Thanks for the replies so far. As I said, the three events combined to make me think about the future. Obviously early days for Maudy yet and I've never bred a litter in my life, but it's making me wonder about (if she was good enough) would I want to breed a pure kelpie from her or go down the lurcher route by mating her to a whippet (I never met Rob Moore's Roo or Phil Lloyd's Moon but I liked Dave Sleight's Gem) or greyhound. Or possibly the pastoral heavy route by mating her to a half bred lurcher (as Dave Cooper did). More to the point, if she's not good enough, then that opens up ot
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I've been getting a bit nostalgic recently. I think it's been a combination of three different things. First, I discovered shortly before Christmas that my eight year old kelpie's "blob" under his eye wasn't "nothing to worry about" but was in fact an aggressive cancer. It's been removed, but I've been informed he's probably got "a year or so." Second, I cleared out the loft earlier this year in preparation for a loft extension and rediscovered several old folders full of Shooting News and Countryman's Weekly articles from the late 80s and early 90s. I've particularly enjoyed rereading the one
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I had a similar situation...but mine was far more jobsworth/ridiculous. I was in my early twenties and was bird watching (though I did have a collie x whippet with me yer honour) behind one of the forts in Gosport. I saw a large bird of prey landing behind a wire perimeter fence bordering some rough ground behind the fort and so went to have a closer look with my bins. I was approached by a security guard and asked to not look through the fence as it was an MOD base. Now I'm one of those people who easily folds under pressure (yes sir, straight away sir) but even I couldn't resist pointin
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I've heard of quite a few people who still use the sheep dip and I gather a lot of shepherds dunked their dogs along with the flock. But wasn't there one type which possibly led to some type of cancer in shepherds who had a lot of exposure to it?
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Crikey, I thought my eight month old kelpie bitch was playing up a bit as she twice pinched my wife's boot into the living room for a play. She's an angel compared to these stories.? Touch wood.
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Hi Aled, no, my Welsh blood comes from my maternal grandmother's dad. He and his father and grandfather (and maybe further back as well) were all lighthouse keepers. That's probably why I usually keep myself to myself and enjoy my own company.?
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I originally come from Gosport in Hampshire and always found it odd that the accents to the west and east of me sounded a lot more "yokel" for want of a better word. In comparison the accent I had growing up (very similar to the Portsmouth/Pompey accent) sounds almost cockney. I later discovered that this is because there was a huge migration of people from the East End of London to the Portsmouth area to work in the underwear industry. Apparently Pompey was huge in bras (slight pun intended) and Madonna used to buy her cone shaped outfits from a supplier in the city. When I moved to Falm
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I want to say "thank you" but you could have written 'I bet you can't read this you eejit."?
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It still amazes me how few pet owners have grasped that concept. You see so many people with a snarly snappy little lap-dog and all the while you're walking past they're asking it to be quiet but, because the dogs doesn't understand the words, all it hears is their voice which sounds to them like, "That's it, you tell 'em." Then when you've gone past and the dog has completely forgotten about you and the whole incident, they start verbally bollocking it and the dog's thinking, 'what have I done now?'?
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I'm only about 1/8 or 1/16 Welsh so I hardly know any at all. Then again, I know several Welsh people who can't speak a word of it. My sister's friend at school taught us how to say, "Good luck to the Welsh and arseholes to the English" but I've forgotten most of it...I can remember (and I'm spelling this phonetically for obvious reasons) yucky dar and bob sise. As I said, purely phonetic so probably spelled completely differently.?
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I know this is probably a daft question, as you've said you've tried eveything, but have you tried Frontline? I have a hell of a lot of ticks near me as there are so many roe deer and I find that Frontline always keeps them at bay (touchwood). I had a pup a few years back who'd not been frontlined yet and he came back from a walk in the local wood with over twenty ticks on him. The only problem I do find with it is that, although it's supposed to be used monthly, I sometimes find I have to reapply it between three and four weeks. Difficult to tell though as sometimes you find one crawling on t
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Thanks shaaark. As soon as I'd posted it I thought to myself 'or is it head?'?
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Thanks Jigsaw, I've had a read and it's interesting stuff. It's amazing how our knowledge of genetics keeps progressing and keeps giving us new information and occasionally overturning what was previously thought. I'm looking forward to the results of the extra research they mention in the article.
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My kelpie bitch acts more like a cat sometimes.?
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Thanks Jigsaw. I've saved that to my favourites and I'll "give it a peruse" later.
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Fascinating subject! I'm currently reading a book by Stephen Moss called Mrs Moreau's Warbler which is all about how birds got their names. It really is one of those books where nearly every page I'm saying, "Wow! I never knew that." He looks at how the English language evolved and how we can use this knowledge i.e. timing of different influences, to work out when different species were named. A couple of my favourites are that wheatear has nothing to do with wheat or ears and actually is simply a bastardized version of what, at the time, sounded like white arse. And also, probably t
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Funnily, I'm usually the opposite. I tend to prefer males because I find bitches too whiney.? I like the fact that males are more matter of fact and you know where you stand. Which is odd as with humans I'm the opposite...I'm not a blokey bloke and usually gravitate towards female company. I'm not much good at talking about women, cars and football.? But, they're all different...Ned was a lovely happy dog but we simply didn't get on whereas Maud is a funny little thing but I love her to bits. Maybe they're the exceptions which prove my earlier premise.?
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Based on what you've said above, I guess this would also be a "no!" but I can add in another chicken option: Welsumers (with or without a double 'm'). My first one was when I started keeping bantams and wasn't sure which breed to go with. I'd got some wyandottes as that's what my grandparents used to keep. I always thought my nan was calling them wine dots.? She said the newborn chicks were like bumble bees. Anyway, as is often the case, a local fox took the first lot of bantams...apart from the welsumer. She was a wiley thing and managed to outwit them for much longer. As a result of bei
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When I lived in Coniston, the farm on the other side of the beck from me had guinea fowl wandering loose and I'd often see them wandering amongst the herdies from the back bedroom window.
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I had one a bit like that top one once which a 'friend' made for me. He told me it was just made from off-cuts at work but, about a week after bringing it round, he came back and asked for a load of money for it. Needless to say I didn't pay. The thing was, it was huge. If I had it now I could rent it out as an airbnb! I gave it away as my lurcher didn't like it...he kept pulling the blanket out and sleeping on the roof instead.
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I remember reading in one of John Holmes' books that, if you're not sure whether or not to persevere with a particular dog, it sometimes helps to move it into the house as you'll soon find out, one way or the other, if you like each other or not. I always thought of my dogs as outside dogs who spent most of their time indoors. I know that doesn't make sense, but they slept outside and were outside when I was at work, but indoors (or out with me of course) the rest of the time. Now, thanks to a neighbour who let me know every single time a dog barked, and a wife who doesn't like upsetting
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I grew up with a garden full of terriers and, after my parents divorced, my dad moved more to bedlington x greyhounds. However, although he rated his first two he was never able to quite replicate their character and work ethic from using subsequent bedlingtons mated to subsequent greyhounds, so your advice certainly makes a lot of sense. I guess some people would say, "If it aint broke don't fix it" but you can't always guarantee getting original stock of a similar calibre...whereas continuing with what you've got and is keeping you happy...
