Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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I was once told by a racing whippet breeder that, of all her dogs, the ones with the worst feet were those containing the most racing greyhound blood. She held the view that racing, working and coursing whippets were all bred to run on a variety of surfaces as were coursing greyhounds whereas racing greyhounds were bred to run on sand. I hasten to add these are her opinions not mine; just putting forward somebody else's point of view.
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I love Socks' idea of the perspex! Genius! When I previously kept some ferrets in a shed, I had the shed made up with an entrance the same size as an aviary door panel I had. I then screwed that in place so that you had to step over to get in and placed a shelf across too as a baffle. However, one of the hobs worked out that, if he stood in the correct place, he could do a flying leap, hang onto the shelf and scramble over when the door was opened.
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Thanks Ian!
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My three kelpies take whatever I put in their kennel and dump it outside in the run and just sleep on old pieces of thick carpet (there was tons of it left behind in my loft when I moved in). My old kelpie/collie x greyhound would occasionaly sleep on top of the kennel, even in the rain and my middle kelpie once escaped from her run as a pup and made herself a bed on top of a plastic bag full of compost under a huge cable drum. Nutters!
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I'm now finding, since the introduction of the google search, that the topics it displays are no longer in date order.
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I have a pair of Seeland trousers and I'm fairly sure that they're the keeper. I find that in very heavy rain the top section will become damp (no rude comments please) but other than that they're fine. I ripped a 2" hole in the top of the leg a couple of years back while stepping over a broken barbed wire fence but because it didn't rip the inner membrane they still stay dry.
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Not all kelpies are a pain when not working. Mine are largely relaxed and switch off when they're indoors. However, I've heard of some which were so work orientated that they'd leave their pups without a backward glance if they thought there was a slim chance of working the sheep. To be honest, I'm not sure how much this is nature or nurture as, although one of mine is a tad more full on than the other two, she was also spayed earlier than I'd have liked so may simply have remained slightly more puppyish. Temperament is at least as important as working ability in my humble opinion. I'd
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My first lurcher was a first cross beardie greyhound sired by Hancock's Remus. She had a very strong hunting instinct and was easy to train but she certainly wasn't the one man dog that many claim all beardie crosses are.
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Usually, when a film is made which is based on a book, everybody moans about all the parts from the book which have been left out. Finally, someone actually tries to make a film of the entire book and what do we all do...?
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Has anyone had any experience with greyhound x kelpie lurchers
Neal replied to danny2391's topic in Lurchers & Running Dogs
After previously owning several collie based lurchers, I bought a collie/kelpie x greyhound and I personally found him to be the best lurcher I'd ever had. Ironically, I liked him so much that I bought a pure kelpie twenty months later. That was thirteen years ago and I now have three kelpies and no lurchers. I wouldn't go so far as to say that kelpies are better than collies but I'd definately say that they suit me better. -
Kelpie x greyhound, pictures and opinions on this cross
Neal replied to JoePadge's topic in Lurchers & Running Dogs
My youngest kelpie yaps occasionaly on rabbit and also barks when she's treed a squirrel. The eldest gives a single bark when he's treed a squirrel and the middle bitch is completely silent. Incidentally, much as a hate to disagree with Bird: the kelpie is not a strain of border collie as the kelpie came into being before the border collie. In fact, I think I'm right in saying that a standard for the border collie was actually first drawn up in Australia. However, despite what some breeders say, the present day kelpie does include regular crossing of fresh collie blood. Although I pers -
I have the Scout (also from Penrith Survival). Only had them since this summer so can't comment on their longevity but they're very comfy and fairly lightweight for such a high boot. Also have the huge benefit of no gore-tex etc lining so will dry much more quickly if they do get wet...and the free tub of wax smells like heaven!
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I think the toxins only "work" if ingested ie you wouldn't become ill by pulling it up.
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Surely a coat which makes you sweat isn't keeping you dry.
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do you keep your dogs for hunting of some type or herding of some type? Hi Patterdalejoel! My three are kept purely for ferreting, bushing etc and have caught rabbit, rat, squirrel and pigeon...never in the open after a run though: they're just not fast enough. They do catch more in cover than any previous lurchers I've had though. Actually, one of mine once went into automatic-pilot when it realized a lamb had been seperated from it's mother. It worked it through a maze of wire until they were back together and then followed them for about fifty yards until I said, "That'll do!"
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I've heard of a heeler which was still working at twenty! My eldest kelpie (the one in my avatar) was hit and run over by a van when he was eleven months old. He survived with a fractured pelvis and needed crate rest while it healed...physically. It took a lot longer for the mental scars to heal and, as a result, he's the only dog I've ever had who hates fireworks or other sudden noises. He started slowing up a bit about three years ago (he's now coming up for thirteen) so I took him to my new vet for a once over. He took some x-rays and said he couldn't believe he'd survived the accid
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There are differences between kelpies and collies but, by the same token, there is a big difference between individual kelpies and individual collies. A lot of people buy a kelpie, expecting it to be a biddable dingo, then raise it like a collie and wonder why it turns out like a collie...not that "turning out like a collie" is a bad thing I hasten to add! I've met a lot of collies that I'd rather own than some kelpies I've met. A lot of cattle owners in Australia are now moving towards using kelpies as they work their stock in a calmer way. However, this can mean that the cattle also
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Another thumbs up for Paramo. I have the halcon which is their full-on winter jacket with loads of pockets which is apparently worn by lots of proffesional birders and wildlife photographers. The big benefit is that, because of the way the pump-liner works, you can fill it with holes from pushing through blackthorn etc and it still keeps you dry. On the down side: the halcon is a tad warm for the south coast (I only ever wear a single layer under mine even in the middle of winter). Also, some find the fit a little odd. If so, then you can order a made to measure garment using the same
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To a certain extent you can understand why some will say that as the ownership of lurchers and their subsequent role have changed so their breeding should reflect this... however, I'd personally argue that just because a collie can be the ultimate canid when it comes to flyball, agility, canicross, obedience, heelwork to music, gundog work, deer tracking etc etc this DOESN'T mean that such dogs shold be bred from unless they can also do a bloody good job of herding sheep and cattle. Surely the same should be true of lurchers too. Apologies for any spilling mostakes but I'm holding my f
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I was under the impression that although 50% coming from each seems logical, it's also effected by other elements eg if one of the parents is more prepotent then any resulting pups will have more of a stamp of that parent. I also read somewhere recently (sorry: can't remember where) about how certain elements are only inherited from the female...as I said, I can't remember where I read or heard about this so it may have been referring to either dogs or humans but would presumably apply to both. This could be why, although a male has the potential to "produce" more pups, some people base th
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There's no way of telling from the antlers alone as they can change year by year depending on a multitude of factors.
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I think the programme was "Don't Blame the Dog." It was on BBC3 last Thursday so may no longer be on iplayer unless you can get it via the series link. The part I found most interesting was when the, previously cat-friendly, dogs were being looked after temporarily by the English guy and all decided to try to kill the farm cat. To see them change that quickly just because of their current "pack leader", or lack of one, was incredible.
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I've got three pure kelpies. One is dog aggressive but the other two aren't. Actually, that's not strictly true: she's not exactly dog aggressive she just doesn't like anybody or anything other than me and her two kennel mates...moody cow! In her case it's fear related and she rushes in with a mock attack if she thinks she can't get away (which is why she never comes indoors when my kids are in). Many cattle farmers in Australia are now moving over to kelpies and away from heelers. Although one reason is the lack of decent heeler stock another is a move to a more relaxed method of moving t
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One problem is that you can't guarantee that a dog advertised as "working" really works or whether they just let it go in a field with some sheep or cattle simply so they can say it's a worker.
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Welsumer (or Welsummer depending on which book you read). Lovely character and scratch together their own food so extremely cheap to feed. I had a few visits from a neighbours' lakeland a few years ago and on each occasion it was the welsumer which survived. On one occasion I thought he'd taken her too but when I went out the following morning she was waiting for me by the back door, perching on a patio chair.
