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Neal

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Everything posted by Neal

  1. Neal
    Magyar Agar, Karana Krypto is still alive I believe and now lives in Ireland. I think he was originally imported to the UK by the Woolstone Stud. I think I'm right in thinking that the kelpies owned by Mike and D.C. on here were sired by him and I believe Dave Sleight's pure kelpie is a Woolstone dog but I don't know whether or not he's sired by Krypto. He later moved to Ireland but I don't know what's become of him since then. I can do a bit of searching, if you like, to try to find out. The Woolstone Stud, replaced him with Okara Max which is the dog on the video clip earlier in this thread
  2. Neal
    I don't know for definite, but I've always assumed that the reason Heeler crosses are uncommon in the UK is because we all prefer to breed from definite proven working dogs. As far as I'm aware, most of the heelers brought into the country have been from show lines for the sole purpose of breeding more show dogs. However, this doesn't detract from the fact that, despite this, they still seem able to produce good working lurchers. Conversely, all the kelpie imports have been to produce sheep and cattle dogs, though I believe there are at least a couple of studs using agility only dogs to br
  3. Neal
    Yes; Scout is now a little over two years old and had a great summer, catching quite a few young rabbits and some adults with myxy which really increased her confidence. She's had a few rats too including helping Rust with a monster which got into my shed. My neighbours and I had christened it "the wallaby" as it was so big. I won't tell you too much about that now as I'm writing the incident up for an EDRD article. Not great news about Rust though I'm afraid. I nearly lost him in October when he suddenly just seized up and could barely walk more than a few feet. A trip to the vet revealed
  4. Neal
    Apparently, although when I was young the term "black" was offensive it's now the other way around ie we should say "black" instead of "coloured." So does that mean T.V's are either black-and-white or black?
  5. Neal
    As others have said, it depends on what you're hunting, the type of ground you work and your own character. I personally prefer working dogs with as much pastoral blood as possible ie at least 3/4. However, having said that, I'd have to say that a half cross is probably most people's opinion of the best amount of each breed, whether this be by mating a collie to a greyhound or by mating a collie lurcher to another collie lurcher is another question. My advice would be to get to meet as many collie types in the flesh as possible and see what you prefer.
  6. Neal
    Hi Jigsaw, I'll PM you.
  7. Neal
    You're quite lucky as there are a few breeders in the south west. Whereabouts in particular?
  8. Neal
    I believe that too much vitamin C can make them loose too.(Is that right Skycat?: you know more about this than me). Apparently the best way to work out the right amount is to gradually increase it until they get loose then reduce again until the consistency is right. On the same subject, my vet warned me against using powdered vitamin C because of the chemicals used to make it and advised me to stick to natural.
  9. Neal
    I use pure kelpies but I'd have to admit that although they're virtually indestructible and have amazing noses and are very biddable with a great attention span, they're not that good at catching the ones that run. It's horses for courses, or in my case; kelpies for not coursing!
  10. Neal
    I once owned a 3/4 collie 1/4 greyhound which was virtually indestructible and impossible to tire out. To a big extent I feel it depends on where you work your dog and the quarry you're after eg. I catch more now on my present permission with pure kelpies than I ever did with lurchers...but maybe I just had crap lurchers!
  11. Neal
    When I started feeding raw a little over ten years ago I bought a liquidizer or food processor or something and religiously gave them a mix of fruit, veg, yogurt etc. However, I now find it easier to simply give them table scraps and bits and bobs while I'm preparing the food. For example, mine will eat raw broccoli heart etc. and this time of year they usually get to my wind-fall apples before I do. As skycat and others have said, the key is variety...and not getting too hung up about exact proportions. If they're healthy they're healthy! Oh; I also have a fourteen month old son so they g
  12. Neal
    I've got a few books about British big cats and in one of them it points out that in a lot of old tales about black dogs one odd fact mentioned is that a lot of them had short muzzles. So, basically, the author's hinting at the fact that maybe they've been around longer than we think and aren't just a recent phenomenon caused by some wild animals act.
  13. Neal
    My male kelpie is ten in November but is still regularly catching daytime rabbits (he's the one in my avatar). I have to admit he's never seemed that interested in fox though; maybe he thinks they're related.
  14. Neal
    The sire of two of my pure kelpie bitches is reputedly handy on foxes though his main job is herding bulls. I've heard it said before that the average working farm-dog or gundog probably catches more game than the average lurcher.
  15. Neal
    Shell, do you mind if I ask who bred her and also do you know anything about the kelpie line she's from? Thanks in advance.
  16. Neal
    Good plan. When you've seen what she's capable of you'll have a better idea of which direction to go in. I've always been one of those people who prefers base blood (is that the right term?) to sighthound ie I think I'll probably stick to my pure kelpies but a small part of me would love to try a 3/4 kelpie 1/4 greyhound or whippet.
  17. Neal
    Can't be certain, for the reasons stated above, but I'd hazard a guess that there's some kelpie in there. It's difficult to say how much though; as an example my male is quite stocky and more heeler-like whereas I often get people pointing out the taller of my two bitches and asking me how my lurcher's bred! If I had to guess I'd say maybe half kelpie (with or without some collie) and half sighthound. Thanks for PMing me the photo Edited to add: Shell; don't worry, mine were still pups and didn't develop their full "character" until about three...which means I'm still waiting for the youn
  18. Neal
    Sorry mate; I didn't mean to imply that you'd not stick with Taz, I was merely wondering why you wanted to go for a 3/4 greyhound 1/4 kelpie.
  19. Neal
    About nineteen years ago, when I lived in Cumbria, I was walking from Coniston to Torver with my lurcher and with an old gas-mask bag over my shoulder. A police car drove past a couple of times and eventually pulled up and asked where I was heading. He then asked what I had in the bag, presumably because he was assuming I'd have a ferret or a brace of rabbits...he looked a bit pissed off when I replied, "Some sandwiches, a sketch book and a box of oil pastels!" There's still a little part of me that wishes I'd refused to tell him as he'd have been even more annoyed if he's taken me all the way
  20. Neal
    Stick with Taz mate; why dilute all that lovely kelpie blood?
  21. Neal
    I have three pure kelpies which I use for ferreting, bushing etc. As kelpies are primarily bred for work they're not always consistent in terms of appearance and character eg most are prick-eared but some aren't. When I bought my first kelpie, nearly ten years ago, several of the dogs on the farm had floppy ears and were fairly tall. If I didn't know better I'd have assumed they were huntaways. As to temperement, some are friendly and outgoing whereas some are definitely one-man-dogs. One of mine refuses to let anybody touch her whereas another is a complete tart. My male was a one-man-dog unt
  22. Neal
    No you're not being too picky. Everybody has different standards and only you know what you will or won't accept. Which reminds me: how did you get hold of that photo of my wife for your avatar!
  23. Neal
    Hi Jigsaw, I'm trying to think outside the box here and I'm probably coming from completely the wrong direction but...some of the behaviour sounds similar to my middle bitch (oddly enough a kelpie; as you know). Whenever I take her to the corner shop for the paper she gets slower and slower as we approach the shop for the last 20 yards or so and it ends up with me almost dragging her along. On one occasion I approached the shop from a different direction after leaving my local wood and hadn't put the dogs back on the leads. When I got to the shop there was no sign of her and I eventually found
  24. Neal
    I made the same mistake last week while on Holiday in Dartmoor. We took my son to a rare breeds farm near Totnes and while looking at some of the recently hatched chickens I noticed two which looked a little different, more elegant and similar to game fowl, so I asked one of the assistants what they were. You've guessed it: pheasants! Because they were in with the chickens I simply assumed it was a breed of chicken.
  25. Neal
    I heard that years ago it was the other way around, ie prices of dogs were higher than bitches. Apparently it was simply because, in general, dogs were viewed as better workers than bitches (I think it was referring to sheepdogs in particular though) whereas people generally prefer bitches now as they're regarded as easier to train. Not my opinion I hasten to add.
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