Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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Best 'dubbing' For Leather Boots ?
Neal replied to earth-thrower's topic in Hunting Boots & Clothing
I use ladersmorning on my Lundhags (I think that's Swedish for leather grease) and it's amazing stuff...smells like a shepherds hut...all lanolin and open fires! -
I prefer holly for the very reasons stated above i.e. because it's heavier (denser and more solid) I can get away with a thinner stick. I'm a lazy sod when it comes to sticks though; I just cut them at what I think is the right length, use them for a while and adjust the length accordingly and I've never stripped bark, straightened or stained. For me that's part of the fun of it...finding one which is perfect without me doing anything to it. My main thumb-stick is holly. I cut it on my honeymoon in the woods between Belstone and Sticklepath in Dartmoor and it's still going strong over ten
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I must be lucky, our bin men are usually fine. The only time they don't collect is if some wally parks up in the neck of the road so that they can't reverse down to us and they always wave at my kids if we see them on the way to school. We even have a bin lady!
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I did think that would happen, maybe I should start a line of labradoodles x whippets,pmsl Forgot to add...I thought it would go that way too! Fortunately there are enough people sticking to their guns and still working a variety of types. P.S. put me down for one of those labradoodle x whippets...but can you add a smidgen of collie too...just for the merle colouring you understand! P.P.S. please can somebody p.m. with how I can add emoticons to my posts as I've not been able to use them since I swapped to windows 10 and I'm fed up with all my posts sounding slightly sarcastic withou
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When the hunting ban came in several people said we'd all move to 3/4 collies and bedlington whippets...it hasn't happened yet and I expect the variety will probably remain pretty steady.
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Evolution Of The Bunny Vs Evolution Of Rabbit Dog
Neal replied to brenner's topic in Lurchers & Running Dogs
Re using a dingo to breed a lurcher...there is genetic evidence that the average kelpie has a "decent" amount of dingo blood running through its veins, as do heelers which have also been used to produce lurchers. Don't ask me to quantify "decent" though! Apologies for that...I get a nervous tick if I post on here without using the word "kelpie" at least once! Re wolves catching hares as opposed to salukis etc catching them (or alternatively foxes catching rabbits as opposed to whippets, lurchers etc catching them)...the thing we often forget is that every time our dog misses we're standing -
That's the way to do it...like water dripping from the roof of a limestone cave and eventually forming stalactites, stalagmites and pillars...if we keep showing what we do in a positive (the real) light and change opinions one at a time, we may make a difference. When I had my first lurcher I presumed everybody would label me so I always said it was just a pet. When I decided to be proud of what I do with my dogs and try to get people talking about the need to use working dogs I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were positive. You wouldn't believe the number of people who's "Gran
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Socks...at 5' 9" you tower over me! That's probably why I teach in Early Years and key stage 1!
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Thanks both...that's given me enough information to go ahead and book the tickets!
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Bump?
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I agree that personality, temperament, character (call it what you will) is the most important thing I look for in a dog. However, it really can be a juggling act combining that with a dog that works the way which suits you both too. When I bought my kelpie bitch Scout she was so work orientated and far more full-on that my previous two kelpies that I assumed she'd go on to become my best ever dog. However, as time has gone on, although I'd say she's been the best bitch I've ever owned and probably the best worker I've ever had she simply didn't compare to Rusty in the character stakes.
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It was my 47th birthday last week and I opened an envelope from my lovely wife which had written on the front "A surprise to think about....." Upon opening said envelope I found an internet printout for tickets for my son and I to see Wales at the Principality Stadium at one of the Autumn Internationals. We've opted to see them play Japan because, as Oscar said, "Mummy used to live in Japan," but as I've never been to the stadium before I have no idea which tickets to go for. The seats available were for behind sticks, longside seats and longside lower. Does anybody have any advise re whic
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...and hazel too sometimes. I used some to make a hazel fence around the bantams at the back of my garden and some of them rooted!
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Thanks Johnpee.
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Quick question as I can't find the answer online...do you use it as a one-off or daily until a wound has healed?
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Thanks Longbow; yes, that's me, and thanks for the compliment. On a positive note, Noggin continues to improve. He can now easily manage a walk of over an hour on the lead without evidence of a limp but whenever I give him a few minutes off lead then the limp is still evident. It's been over six weeks now so I think I'll give him a couple more weeks and then pop back to the vet over the Easter for a check up to find out if he simply needs more time or whether he'll always walk slightly skewiff. Being a tad wonky never seemed to put Rusty off catching though so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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Thanks! I would put up a thumbs up emoticon but whenever I put them on posts (since loading windows 10) the posts won't work.
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Noggin's going from strength to strength and is now easily managing lead walks of around an hour...though I'm wary of letting him off lead yet but I'll have to bite the bullet soon. Unfortunately his excellent bomb-proof character seems to have been effected and he's, understandably, wary of traffic and is less likely to be friendly towards strange dogs than he used to be. Having said that, he is improving week by week so I have high hopes for a full personality recovery as well as full physical recovery.
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As somebody said above, I used to give the antlers but I find the buffalo horns last even longer.
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Sorry to hear your bad news C.G. just remember that quote about "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." F.o. D.R. I'm clinging on to the fact that 16 was a pretty good age for a kelpie. When I look back at all we've been through together: focusing on him got me through the death of my mum in 2000 and he was the best man at my wedding in 2005...that was one month before his sixth birthday and I had my tenth wedding anniversary last year...it seems unbelievable. When he was born I still had a mum and three grandparents and most people didn't have mobile phones...and they certainly co
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If only Silversnake: I'm afraid things have only got worse here. Just over a week ago I had to have old Rusty put to sleep. ...I've been staring at the screen for several minutes thinking of what to write but just can't put it into words other than the old quote..."If he wasn't the pick of the litter then somebody else got a bloody good dog."
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Crikey Ideation, that bottom photo is the spitting image of my tiny kelpie bitch Scout...even looks like the same collar...I thought I'd posted a photo while drunk! Not that she looks like that anymore though as she's nearly nine and is almost black and white rather than black and tan.
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I've always used my kelpies for bushing. Unfortunately, my first kelpie was clever enough to let the lurcher do the bushing but was too slow to catch the bolters so it took a while for him to realise he'd do better if he went in himself...so maybe not so clever after all! Maybe a larger dog can't run through thick cover at "top speed" like a terrier type but in terms of actually entering cover and pushing stuff out (or catching while in there) I often think it's a bit like that quote "it's not about the size of the dog in the fight..." In fact, since I've worked kelpies exclusively, al
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As Phil's said above...there's no way on God's Earth the merle gene came from a pure kelpie. Red, black, cream or blue with or without tan markings...but definitely not merle! Edited to add: that's not taking anything away from the collie line he did use which I believe goes back to Barry Sharpe's Moss...but please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Forgot to add in the first post that when I popped round to see the bloke who'd helped Noggin (with some wine and chocolates to say thanks) he told me that eight days before he'd found Noggin his own dog (border collie) had been knocked over and killed.
