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Neal

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Everything posted by Neal

  1. I remember reading a couple of years back that the reason handbag dogs, which are dressed up in ridiculous outfits, seem to accept it is simply because the outfit becomes an extension of the owners hand. So you're basically subduing the dog with another form of pressure on its back (or body). When I get close to home I often drop the dog leads as I get my key out but, to stop them trailing on the ground, I usually loop them over their back. As soon as I do, they become more submissive and walk slower...I presume it's for the same reason...and maybe that's another reason why harness can have th
  2. I've seen a pair nesting on the side of a building at The Hard in Portsmouth. I can't remember the name of the building but the nest was propped on top of one of the 3d letters on the side.
  3. Of all the kingfishers I've ever seen, only one sighting (a pair zooming past like spitfire pilots) was in a rural location: near Simonsbath on Exmoor. All the others have been near towns and cities. The most sightings I've had are along the waterways between Portsmouth and the mainland.
  4. An old gent near me, who used to train horses back in his youth, summed it up for me. He said he could never understand why people who had dogs which pulled would put them in a harness as a harness is designed to make pulling easier...think shire horse, oxen, sled dog etc.
  5. Ah Tomo, that's the problem with anything waterproof...once there's water inside, it can't get out.?
  6. Seems unbelievable to think that when I bought my first lurcher (from Hancock) in the early 90s for £120 it was seen by many as extortionate yet now many are going for well over £1000.
  7. When the hunting ban came in a lot of people were saying that lurchers would change as a result. Ironically however, the prediction was that people would move to smaller whippet crosses and dogs with less than half sighthound. I guess that made a lot of sense considering what had just happened. We weren't all to know that rabbits would disappear from so many places. When they disappeared from my my area I didn't bother to replace my ferrets and shifted my focus to rats, squirrels and pigeons. That was simply because I'd found a type of dog I gelled with and knew they'd be alright for this as t
  8. Has anybody noticed a difference in bitches which have been spayed? I regretted getting both my kelpie bitches done as both changed afterwards. They both seemed more clingy and easily upset. I've often wondered if it was just an age thing (i.e. that they would have become like that anyway) or whether it was due to being spayed.
  9. I got my little piece of permission by asking a bloke who was shooting on the farm if anybody had permission to go ferreting on it. He said no. I thanked him anyway and went on my way...with a well behaved kelpie trotting along beside me. I got half way across the field and he called me back, complimented the dog and offered me the permission on the three farms. Turned out he was the farmer.
  10. I can remember an air rifle being kept in a cupboard in the kitchen alongside the hoover. Well, I say hoover but it was actually one of those push along ones which wasn't plugged in. This was back in the 70s.
  11. A bit of both. Everybody I meet thinks he's amazing as he's a) extremely positive and friendly and b) brilliant at laying down and staying from any distance. However, I keep telling people the only reason he does that is because I HAVE TO lay him down repeatedly else he'll...pull on the lead when he sees other dogs to play with, hears the high pitched voices of kids to jump all over, hears a bus to round up, puts up a deer to chase etc, etc. He's a lovely positive dog but he's the most high maintenence one I've had. When I bought Rusty (21 years ago) it was to breed a litter of lurchers f
  12. I had a collie x whippet once who had her first season at only about seven or eight months old. She then went on to have them regularly every four to five months. Good job she was meticulously clean.
  13. I'm watching this thread with anticipation. My wife's always liked cockers and my youngest kelpie is putting me off getting another. He's coming up for three and still not as obedient as my previous ones were at a few months old.?? I've lost count of the number of times I've come home from a walk and said something along the lines of, "Right, that's it, one more thing and he's going!"
  14. I've had two in the last week, though it was the kelpies rather my aim that got them. They have different approaches. Noggin tries to live retrieve them while Ned shakes like mad to break the neck and then repeatedly crunches their heads until he gets bored. He was bitten by one last year so now he takes no prisoners.
  15. My two are now indoors and when Ned was a young pup he'd wait for Noggin to move out of his bed then he'd pee in it. He did this several times, even though he was otherwise clean indoors. We watched the little sod like a hawk but he kept managing to get away with it. We've always presumed he was trying to either claim the bed for himself or put Noggin off using it...or both. Edited to add...I mean he was leaving his own crate to pee in Noggin's bed, not peeing in his own bed when Noggin used it.
  16. The first two lurchers I picked as pups were both bitches. That was simply becaused I was advised that bitches were better. I've always regretted it though as I really liked the character of a male in the first litter and have always wondered how he turned out. Because of this I assumed for a while that I preferred dogs and chose accordingly. Now, as you've said, I just pick the pup I have a good feeling about regardless of what sex it is.
  17. When I had my kelpies outside I originally used medibed. It's basically straw which has had the dust extracted. However, they seemed to find it too warm and used to kick it all out and sleep on almost bare boards. Weirdos!
  18. Yeah, they definitely get better with age. I can't throw my first ones out in the hope that one day I'll find someone who can resole properly as they're like slippers.
  19. Pastoral types definitely have their uses. I always use mine to edit my posts for spelling, punctuation and grammar.??
  20. I always find that every time there's a squirrel is a decent position for a shot I've no catapult in my pocket and whenever I take it out with me we never see one or only when they're way up in the top of a thick oak. However, yesterday I had both dogs out and the catapult...but didn't need it as the old boy caught one in cover before it made it to the tree. Nice one Noggin!
  21. Are those novelty lamb slippers to keep her feet warm in the pick-up??? She really reminds me of a tiny collie that an ex-girlfriend's brother in law had about thirty years ago in Cumbria. She looked more like a collie x whippet and would follow him around the farmyard waiting for him to open up the chicken coop, then she'd sneak in behind him and pinch an egg.
  22. Crikey! And I'm feeling unsure about whether to just get a third dog in a year or two.?
  23. The last time I saw a rabbit near me I had to use my "Complete Guide to British Wildlife" to identify it.?
  24. I've got a forest within walking distance of me so I'll be exercising myself and the dogs there every day...having said that, I can't drive so I'm used to shanks' pony...so everywhere is within walking distance for me.?
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