Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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Whats the diffrence between a paddock kelpie and a yard kelpie...? A paddock type kelpie tends to work with greater distance from the sheep and have a wider natural cast whereas the yard type are up close and often noisier. The latter are used for pushing sheep around for dipping, clipping etc and are the ones you see backing. They also have separate trials for the two traits and a dog which does both equally well is a bit of a holy grail. Hope that makes sense. To Silversnake: my pup has a fair bit of Karrawarra in him via both Boanong and Karana blood and they tend to be better paddock t
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Whats the diffrence between a paddock kelpie and a yard kelpie...? A paddock type kelpie tends to work with greater distance from the sheep and have a wider natural cast whereas the yard type are up close and often noisier. The latter are used for pushing sheep around for dipping, clipping etc and are the ones you see backing. They also have separate trials for the two traits and a dog which does both equally well is a bit of a holy grail. Hope that makes sense. To Silversnake: my pup has a fair bit of Karrawarra in him via both Boanong and Karana blood and they tend to be better padd
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After reading the numerous whippet and whippet cross threads on here over the last couple of years I'm considering replacing Scout (my nine year old pure kelpie), when she goes, with a pure whippet or whippet cross...she looks and behaves more like a whippet cross anyway!
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My favourite was when, as Mrs Merton, she asked George Best if it was "all that running about on the pitch that made you so thirsty."
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I was going to say something similar. After my early education with working dogs, living in Coniston with hairy beardie crosses, walking them early and late and always close to the beck, now I can go out whenever I want. It needs to be temperatures of around 30°c for several days before my kelpie bitch , Scout, will give in and stop for a drink. Noggin seems to feel the heat a tad more though, which I presume is down to his slightly longer coat...difficult to tell with the temperatures we're getting this summer! Old Rusty would still look for a warm spot to lay in in the garden even when the h
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I was always firmly in the pro-cross-bred camp until my brother bought a pure whippet. He now has three and is constantly raving about them. I can't imagine ever turning my back on my kelpies but I have to admit I find myself tempted every time I read one of these whippet threads. Edited to add I fully agree with the above comments re breeding. While I'd always favour a worker x worker mating (whether lurcher, sheepdog or whippet) I've come to realize, thanks to all the kelpie research I've done, that genetics is a hell of a lot more important than I previously gave it credit for.
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Although I'm a child of the 70s - 80s and the majority of my vinyl is probably around the '82 era, I usually find that if I'm in a "stick a cd on and listen to the whole album" mood then I'll listen to something classical...especially the more sombre or peaceful stuff. I had Elgar's Nimrod in my head yesterday morning. Having said that, there's something about a song with lyrics, and the way that each of us interprets them individually, which makes them so powerful and fitting. That reminds me...the other song I had I'm my head yesterday was an album track by Depeche Mode called "New D
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Slightly different but... whenever children draw houses there's always a chimney with smoke coming out of it and the same with drawings of trains. Every time I hear a "record" on radio 2 that I've got I say to my son, "I've got this one on vinyl...you can have it when I die."
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Mine was out of remus to a big ex coursing greyhound called peach. Fiona was remus to a bearded collie called meg. Thanks for that: although I've always liked beardies I prefer the Remus type to the bigger type. That was Eyli who was destroyed due to temperament. He was the brother of Enoch who was from the first litter of Richard x Linnet (so 3/4 beardie/border 1/4 greyhound). My second lurcher was from the third litter of the same cross...he had a lovely character...very easy going and laid back and amazing feet and a hide like a rhino. You've got them on the brain Neal
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Remus was the sire of my first lurcher. He had another pure kelpie at the time called Fiona who was a lovely little thing that looked more like a wily goat than a dog. I'm pretty sure she was Remus' daughter but I don't know who the dam was.
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I prefer them to bbs. One odd benefit is that, because they sit flat between your thumb and forefinger in the pouch, they're less likely to fall out while walking along waiting for a shot.
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D'oh! Just reread your earlier post and see what you mean...I still agree with your advice though.
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I'd agree there...not necessarily that they're all quirky...but definitely that spending time with a pastoral pure bred is time well spent if you're considering a cross-bred as they're not quite like other breeds. Having said that, every individual within the breed can be different too but getting to know one (try before you buy) is a good idea. In my case I did it in reverse though...bought a kelpie/collie x greyhound and then went for a pure kelpie.
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That's got to be up there with the exploits of "Red dog" and the heeler who was left at home in Australia while his owners went sailing, broke out of the house and swam a mile out to sea! Love 'em or hate 'em, there's nothing like a herder for character and charisma.
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Although most of the heelers in the UK I've heard about have been KC reg, and therefore a bit barrel-chested, I've twice seen one in Portsmouth which is much more "worky" in appearance...more like a chunky collie or "litter wastage" from a collie cross litter. In this case though it was imported from France.
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I've used three of my four pure kelpies when ferreting though the youngest, Noggin, hasn't been used for that yet as I no longer have any ferrets as my permission is gradually shrinking under a new housing estate. Amazing noses and nice and steady but not fast enough for bunnies in the open which is why I favour them for this kind of woodland bushing, ferreting, mooching.
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From the point of view of somebody who doesn't own a lurcher and has only ever had one whippet cross (3/4 border 1/4 beardie x 3/4 whippet 1/4 greyhound)... I'd always been one of those people who firmly believed that a whippet cross was superior to a pure whippet. Surely it stood to reason...how could you do anything but improve the coat, nose, intelligence etc (and reap the benefit of the electric burst of speed) by adding pastoral or terrier blood. But then my brother bought a whippet bitch...and another one...and another one. I don't think I've heard many people being so positive a
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Final update: I took Noggin back to the vet yesterday for a check-up. He's been regularly having lead walks of around an hour, morning and evening, and occasional off-road walks of around thirty or forty minutes. I decided to test him more fully before taking him to the vets so he's also had two walks of about two and a half hours around the forest during the Easter fortnight (when I could spare the time what with the avalanche of planning, assessment and associated paperwork!) he was a tad tired after the first one and had a good sleep but seemed more his usual self after the second walk. The
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I've heard that some ferreters use marijuana as a performance enhancing drug as it makes them more chilled out and gives the ferrets more time to locate underground as opposed to hastily digging after a few minutes...I'd love it if some anti was trawling the site and believed that and used it in their propaganda!
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My only experience of the Mk 1 was from a couple of occasions out with other people many years ago. When I bought my own I bought the Mk 3 simply because that was what was available at the time. I'm one of those people who loves a bit of nostalgia and prefers the old-fashioned ways of doing things, so if I'd started with a Mk 1 I'd probably stick with it and slate the Mk 3 but because I kind of started with it I see it as the norm.
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Gamerooster: Both Rusty and Scout have caught a lot of pigeons. Scout was lucky to catch a winged one on the farm when she was a young pup which I presume bolstered her confidence so she's never assumed she can't catch them...confidence breeding confidence and all that...she has the knack of stalking them and then rushing in when there's a lot of foliage above them so they can't get as high. Noggin is very interested in pheasant too but hasn't caught one yet. Edited to add: Noggin's paternal grandsire (who's also his maternal great grandsire so accounts for 3/8 of his breeding) had the kna
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Wise words from Phil at the bottom of page three...I've heard so many people criticising kelpies and kelpie crosses just because they've bought them from particular lines. Lots of people will tell you that they bark all day and never switch off but if you pick from the right stock they can be very laid back and easy going. Unlacedgecko: the dog in the video is related to my latest kelpie as Okara Max is his grandsire. (Edited to add that I've since realised she's actually related to all my kelpies, past and present as Izzy's sire was Rusty's sire, her dam was Amber's younger full sister an
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Gamerooster: I would offer you Noggin as a stud but as he's only caught one squirrel so far and is currently undergoing a gradual increase in workload after an r.t.a. so he's not exactly what you'd call a proven worker. Apologies for going off topic.
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That all sounds very familiar. I took my kelpie, Noggin, to the vet recently and there was an unbelievably gobby pet border terrier screaming insanely at everyone and everything (I thought borders were supposed to be the calm members of the terrier clan?) This awful thing was mere inches from his face and screaming canine insults at him. I merely said, "Aah! Just try to ignore it mate," which made everybody else in the waiting room grin. He took a big sigh and actually turned his back on it...though it was one of those rare occasions when I half wished he'd ignore me and eat the bloody thing!
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I'm not sure what I'd choose if I had to start all over again...it took me about ten years and four collie crosses to realise that I wanted a pure kelpie! However, without that knowledge, if I had to start again with a lurcher I'd either have a whippet x kelpie or collie or a 3/4 kelpie or collie 1/4 greyhound...and in a few years time I'd get a pure kelpie and be back where I am now. I'm confused!
