Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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One of the kids in an Infant school class I was teaching in Portsmouth a few years ago said there was a great white shark in the Solent. I humoured them, assuming they were making it up, but it was in the local news a day or so later.
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My little bitch was the same. She once spent a good quarter of an hour or so continually reflushing a hare, coursing it, loosing it before I decided I'd had enough of a rest and to set of back to the cottage. Oddly enough, when I got back to the cottage and checked the map to see where we'd been (we were on holiday in Dufton) the area was called Pus Gill...ok, so it needed an extra s but it was almost right. You're right Lifelong Cumbrian, so many people dismiss sheep and cattle dogs as we're brought up to believe (thanks to the reading matter on the subject) that, if you want to catch ra
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After about twenty odd years of only ever getting the initial jabs and one booster, I changed my policy last year. I'd always believed all the anti-jab advice when it came to dogs but realized I was in favour of it when it came to my kids. I then watched a feature on herd immunity on Operation Ouch (my kids love watching it, it's like full on no holds barred gory body talk on CBBC) and decided to go back to my vet and ask for more details about jabs etc. He told me that things have moved on a lot since a few years ago, when we were all advised to jab them for everything every year. He went on
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a huge rabbit problem, looming New Zealand .
Neal replied to toolebox's topic in Lurchers & Running Dogs
I can't get the link up. Is it because I'm not on facebook? -
Best trousers for walking/hunting/mooching
Neal replied to ADAM C's topic in Hunting Boots & Clothing
I'd vouch for Fjallraven. Expensive but you definitely get your moneys worth. I've got one pair that are coming up for thirteen years old, though they've now been changed into my house-shorts...I can't wear them out as I've dropped two sizes in the intervening decade and a bit so I'd look like a rapper. The great thing about them is that they come in a variety of styles and materials so I've got four different thicknesses depending on the weather, from full on winter downpour to midsummer. -
Why's her tongue out? You need to water that greyhound blood down with some more kelpie.?
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Good point. My kelpies would probably be regarded as non-pedigree as they're not recognized by the kennel club but I can trace their pedigrees all the way back (multiple times) to the original Gleeson's Kelpie in 1870.
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I've only ever been to one racing whippet meet (back in the mid 90s in the New Forest if memory serves me well). I took my collie x whippet along, but not to race, just for the socialisation...I'm sure there was some bloke there with a whippet x saluki. But, as chartpolski said, she was "smooth coated and of whippet like appearance." She didn't win her race.
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You definitely earn your pennies.
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Thanks for the compliment Phil...especially coming from you. I definitely need to remember that though as I'm struggling to understand Ned.?
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That's how I manage to put up with a kelpie.? I've not had ferrets for about eight or nine years now as my permission was gradually swallowed up by housing estates. Though, to be honest, down here near the south coast (or saaf coast as it's known locally) it was getting to the stage where I could only use the ferrets from November to February. Completely agree. I found I got more fun out of spending a whole day having a pleasant walk/wander/hike while birdwatching/mooching and occassionaly catching something than an all-out serious hunting session. But then, my first love was alw
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Yeah, I think you could be right. I've lost count of the number of times I've been watching a farming type programme on tv and been shouting at the screen, "Why are you running around, waving your arms: get a bloody collie!" It's almost as though people have forgotten what a decent collie/sheepdog is capable of. They watch One Man and His Dog and think I'll never get mine to do that so I won't bother.
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Mine helped me to teach better.? My wife (who's also a teacher) used to moan at me for comparing kids to dogs but I'm definitely in the camp that believes that although dogs aren't "almost human" there are times when we're "almost dogs." I used to teach as though I was training my previous collie crosses i.e. I expected them to do as they were told (all things considered obviously). However, the longer I had my kelpies, I found myself shifting my padagogy so it was no longer "This is what we're doing today," but rather, "this is the objective I'd like us to realize, so how do you think we
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Personally I largely agree with you. I know many may think I'm kennel blind but I only have kelpies because I get on with them better. I'd catch more if I had a lurcher but I prefer a day spent with my kelpies than with any of my previous dogs. I think that for Australian conditions and with Australian handlers the kelpie is best but in the U.K. we don't have either of these things which is why British farmers and shepherds, understandably, prefer to work British collies. I know I've used this quote on here before but the late Mike Donelan used the following analogy. He said he had a conversti
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I'll try again and split it in half: Better people than I have travelled the world to do research to answer these questions and their opinion is that the Australian collie which eventually became known as the kelpie was derived from British (mainly Scottish) collies from three main sources. Also, the original breeders and owners were mainly of Scottish or Irish descent. The original imports worked fairly well in the more temperate regions but weren't tough enough for the hotter conditions farther north. By accident or design the dogs from the sources mention above blended together to p
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Poo! I've just spent about quarter of an hour writing a reply but I took so long I timed out and it vanished.
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I was reading a book about robins which my wife bought me for Christmas and it was saying about how they're well known for nesting in odd places. One example was a chap who hung up his coat in the shed while working in his garden or allotment and, two or three hours later, it had a nest in the pocket.
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Basically, yes. He's a happy enough thing and everybody who meets him sings his praises but I simply don't get on with him. Long story very short: when I bought my first kelpie back in 2000 it was simply to breed a litter of lurchers from but I secretly hoped he might be alright for a bit of bushing, ferreting etc. I simply fell in love with the old rascal and haven't had another lurcher since. I simply clicked with them. Loads of people told me I was mad as kelpies are hyperactive with no off-button but mine weren't. Mine were fine. Noggin is so laid back his nickname is Bob after Bob Ma
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Thanks for the tip.? The place I stay in is Belstone and you get quite a few around Taw Marsh, presumably because of the meadow pipits. My son and I saw a merlin there a few years ago too.
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That photo reminds me of when I lived in Coniston and I had a 3/4 collie 1/4 greyhound. We walked into a field to the north of the lake and all but one of the herdies legged it. I presume the single one must have been hand reared as it walked straight up to us and started sucking on Jem's nose trying to get some milk.
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Wow! They're looking amazing! I've ordered a new pure pup for later this year as I've decided that Ned simply isn't going to make it as an all round dog.
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I was talking to the grandmother of two of the kids I used to teach the other day about birds you don't see any more. She asked me when was the last time I'd heard a cuckoo to which I joked, "Every day...it's the message alert on my phone."? However, the reason I have it as my message alert is because it reminds me of Dartmoor in May as that's the only place I get to see them now. Should be going there at half term...as long as restrictions continue to be lifted.?
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May the happy memories keep you smiling.
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Yep! I remember playing a game on the interactive whiteboard once with a class of year ones (5 - 6). The game involved randomly generated words which were either real or nonsense words and they had to select whether to put them in the bin or in the treasure chest. It didn't recognize the word adze so I had to tell them that it wasn't a nonsense word but was in fact a tool. When I told them in the staffroom they said, "Yeah, but only weird people like you know stuff like that."
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This is pretty much why I gave up teaching after over a quarter of a century. I kept trying to TEACH children fun stuff and also to make sure they went home with a massive smile on their faces because they knew they had the best teacher in the school. Happy kids and happy parents was my priority which unfortunately, meant that I wasn't ticking the correct boxes. I've always been a non-confrontational person but over the last few years I was getting more and more antagonistic towards the "senior" management team. Completely agree. When my son was at primary school, one of his friends ca
