Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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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
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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.
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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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To a certain extent it depends on the type of woodland. The woodland where I live, South Hampshire, is very dense with very little view of the woodland floor thanks to brambles, bracken, hazel stools etc. I catch more rabbits in these conditions with my kelpies than I ever did with previous lurchers. If I had to go for a lurcher in these conditions (ie if I wanted something for outside the wood too as my dogs are too slow for this) I'd prefer something small, nippy, agile and clever with a good coat.
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Maybe it was 75% of people leaving the annual LACS conference!
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Kelpies are great in their own right, why would you want to dilute that perfect breed with a mere greyhound? I'm just joking!
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Don't worry Sully, I've had similar experiences but if you open the carcase up, as somebody said above, the smell should encourage the pup. One of my kelpie bitches goes through phases of refusing to eat rabbit but she's one of those sensitive types and it's usually at the start of the season so I think she's just trying to say, "it's OK you can trust me: I promise I won't eat it!"
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I freeze them first to kill off worms then feed them whole ie skin etc all intact. I sometimes cut them up into a pup size portion for a pup but I often just let a pup eat whatever it wants and then just let one of the adults finish the rest; they're not fussy.
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I think cheetahs can retract them but only partially which is why they leave claw marks. Something to do with their slightly different hunting style I believe.
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Barrel Houses ~ Anybody use 'em?
Neal replied to Little Butch's topic in Working Dog Health & Training Talk
I've been doing some research on them recently as I was thinking of swapping over to them too. Apparently, given the choice between a flat floored kennel and a curved base, eg a barrel, most dogs choose the latter. The problem is where can I find one big enough for three kelpies? -
We certainly will! ...and if you're allowed a break then I can buy you that pint I still owe you.
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I think the old saying, "a good dog (or was it originally horse) is never a bad colour" is definitely true. Having said that, you often hear people saying that colour can have an effect, but only in terms of your preferences ie liking a dog more because you like its appearance and therefore putting more time and effort into it. I used to think that this theory was true to a certain extent but not any more, or at least not for me. I now firmly agree with Stephen Stills in his lyrics for "Love The One You're With." Now this next bit refers to kelpies but the same will be true for any breed
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I'll be there with my wife and eleven month old son; it'll be his first Country Fayre.
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I've been wearing Brasher Supalites for the last eight years and have always been really pleased with them apart from a few points. 1) The grip isn't too good. 2) Although they are "super light" they achieve this by having very light-weight soles which wear out quickly: mine normally only last between one and two years. On the plus side they are unbelievably comfortable and extremely light for a leather boot, in fact lighter than most fabric boots at 1122g per pair of size 9s! I have to admit that I don't do an awful lot of digging as I don't keep terriers and I'm a "wait and see" t
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I've been teaching for fourteen years and in that time have seen unacceptable behaviour gradually becoming even worse and I work in Primary rather than Secondary education. Last year I was held by the arm and hit in the chest by one child and pushed against the wall by another...all that happened to them was a glass of water in the (Dick)Head's Office while they calmed down and had a little chat. They weren't even excluded for the rest of the day, let alone permanently. I've known children as young as four to verbally and physically abuse staff. The thing which annoys me about it the mos
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I've started my last three pups on chicken wings the moment I've brought them home at eight weeks or so. It's amazing the transformation from taking quarter of an hour or so to eat one wing to now where it's just, "crunch, crunch, swallow!"
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I'm a big fan of collie x whippets. Whenever the subject comes up on here some people think they're the bees knees while others think they're a waste of kennel space. However, the people who rate them are usually the ones who've owned them whereas the people who slate them usually base it on opinion rather than experience. PS edited to add: nice looking bitch Woody!
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I don't know if this is any help but several years ago George Hogg AKA Pester who used to write for the Shooting News (and possibly the Countryman's Weekly) wrote an article about them. He had a bedlington x whippet, a 3/4 whippet 1/4 bedlington and then a fell (I think) x whippet. I'm not sure if the border terrier x whippet in the article was one of his or not though. If my memory serves me well it looked like a tiny, slim, mongrelly German Shepherd.
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I keep mine in the back section of the garden which is a kind of mini-orchard of around 24' x 24'. I've currently got two bantams but I believe that's about enough space for up to four bantams. However, this is based on having them free-range and not turning the area into a dust bowl in summer and a quagmire in winter. If you have them in portable arks etc then you have more per square yard etc.
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I've got a pair which are great apart from the poor grip in muddy conditions. However, I've recently seen a model with vibram soles which I expect will be better and more hard-wearing though probably heavier too.
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I always used to give all my dogs the original double set of puppy jabs and follow up with the annual boosters. However, thanks to information and links from this site and a couple of others I stopped getting the annual boosters a couple of years ago. There was a thread on here last week, I think, with a very informative youtube link on the subject.
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Patience Grasshopper: I've got a nine year old kelpie with a dodgy pelvis who didn't catch his first rabbit until he was five but he's since caught more rabbits than my previous lurchers...admittedly my lurchers were crap but...
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Thanks!
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I'm having a similar problem; I've tried it several times but it keeps failing. I'm assuming it's because the image is too big. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
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second season second phantom!?!
Neal replied to danny boi's topic in Working Dog Health & Training Talk
I don't know how much truth there is in this but I've heard that a phanton pregnancy follows every season, it's just that some are more noticeable then others. One of my bitches even went through a "funny" phase after being spayed at about the same time as she'd have normally had her phantom: only the once though as she's fine now.