The Last Word
Most recent blog posts, far far more pictures and far far less ranting and giving out about things that might have annoyed me years ago can be found at
***** http://bailielands.blogspot.com ********
and at http://anbrocairebui.webs.com ********
The Wet Lazy Morning.
My goodness it must be a blue moon, i'm back on this blog twice in 1 morning. Its lashing now (10.30 am) and all the basic morning chores are done. Most of the dogs are huddling out of the rain in their kennels and here in the kitchen, Sooty, Sraotha, Shannon, Nugger, Honey Pup & Pippa are sitting around glumly at my feet, smelling strongly of wet dog.
Our Plans for a nice walk in the bogs later as Peter is at school & Nanny at Day Care have all come to nowt. Looks like i'll be cleaning out the fridge and mopping the floors a lot today. Not that i don't like walking in the rain i do & so do most of the dogs, especially the Glens who aren't bothered by mere summer showers, but a general heavy laziness is on us all today, even Jester has gone into the barn & staring blankly out at the rain.
Do you like free stuff ?
We do & part of living lightly on the land is to make use of as much stuff as you can rather than throw it away. On a typical Wednesday like this after leaving Nanny into Day Care i collect used newspapers from the shops in town for the dogs bedding & to make home made briquettes for the fire, boxes of out of date fruit & veg for my goats & a few bags of meaty bones & trimmings for the dogs.
But here is some free stuff i found online
www.free-ebooks.net
www.fullbooks.com
On fullbooks there is an interesting old book on dogs, called "Dogs and All About Them" by Robert Leighton. With very interesting chapters on Terriers, The Old Working Terrier, The White English Terrier, The Black & Tan Terrier and so on. No direct mention of the Glen in there i think i'm still ploughing through but an interesting & FREE read. (Still chuckling at the numerous mentions of various breeds having been IMPROVED for the show ring so much from the uncouth 'brutes' of the past).
Also in there is "Greyfriars Bobby" by Eleanor Atkinson & "The Call Of The Wild" By Jack London, 2 fabulous reads but have your hankies ready. Frustratingly the last part of Call Of The Wild is missing but we all remember the end (sob).
Also interesting me at the moment is the whole subject of Raw Diets & Natural Rearing for dogs & us too. What is our natural diet? us humans, ever wonder what our natural or original diet to which we are most finely adapted???? (no other creature on earth cooks its food...), try Googling 'Raw Diet' & see what comes up for us humans from 100% raw vegan diets to Paleoithic Raw Fruit/Veg & MEAT diets. Bloody hell! What to make of it all? But its an interesting subject.
We've been dipping our toes tentatively into natural rearing for dogs for years and do strongly believe in Raw Meaty Bones, Fresh Green Tripe & Herbal remedies, but have found it hard to commit 100 % to the regime as espoused by Juliette De Bairaclii Levy, say. Now i'm checking out the UK Barf Club at www.ukbarfclub.co.uk to see what i can learn there. Been looking at Shirley's Wellness Cafe for some time, another supporter of Juliette De Bairaclii Levy, check out www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/sampleraw.htm#support .
Anyway i've been thinking about a trial this year of rearing 1 glen pup exclusively on raw food & the other on our general combination of mostly raw & some dog biscuit. Maybe i will maybe i won't but if i do i'll pick 2 closely related pups, of similar weight & build at a given age & chart their growth rate & progress. Measure weight,height, length & skull length/diameter, onset & duration of teething etc. You never know it might be an interesting project. Maybe not, we feed biscuit only 2x a week to our adult dogs as it is, not much. But pups generally get biscuit every day. Anyway else interested in joining me, email me.
Also ongoing is our Glen Measuring Project.
To clear up fluffiness in communication over 'big' vs 'small' Glens, 'fat' vs 'lean', 'heavy build' vs 'lighter build'.
We have resorted to using the common standards of numerical measurement & hard facts! All in inches and lbs.
Get your tape measures & get measuring!!
We've made a homemade measuring stick like used for horses to be absolutely acccurate on height, using a metre stick and a spirit level lashed together with cable ties, all available at your local discount store.
A dressmaking tapemeasure can be used for the other measurements.
Now its a good idea to take each measurement 3 times, and if you keep getting different readings keep at it until you get the same measurement each time, this is the only way to be sure you have taken your measurement accurately.
Having another person help you hold your Glen will aid your accuracy.
I'll be posting me own dogs measurements as we go & if you like you can email me your dogs measurements for statistical analysis.
I still have to work out some type of condition scoring to link to weight measurements, as not all bulk will be flesh & bone. (Sooty i'm looking at YOU)
Good luck & Good Measuring
The Most Lovely Days.
We've been very busy of late, not much time to spend on the blog & website. The weather has been fantastic for most of may until this morning really. This morning the hot dry spell broke with a dull wet start to the day.
All the dogs are well. The goats are well and the kids are ready to go to their new homes today. Jester is looking tiptop in his glossy new summer coat and well muscled from hacking out 3 times a week. Angel and foal look great too & Angel has been mated to a nice piebald cob last week so fingers crossed for next year.
I've not been so well, a persistent sore throat has just lifted this morning after a week. And last week Tommy had a nasty flu that only lifted on Friday. Peter is well and shocked us all by needing SIZE 9 shoes on his latest trip to shoeshop last week, he is only gone 10. Nanny however is keeping very well and hearty please God.
One of the nice things about this time of year is all the fresh new life around. The swallows are nesting in the old cottage and the stables, a yellow wagtail has built her nest of spagnum moss and GLEN HAIR in a cavity block on the half finshed extension. The cuckoos have been calling in the woods and the young foxes starting to venture about. Foals, calves and lambs are playing and running around in the fields. The grass is lush and dark green now, the trees are heavy with leaves and hawthorn blossom. On the bogs the bog cotton is waving in the breeze and the frocains are ripening on the bushes (yum).
Thankfully it appears as if Setanta (Mayo's Limited Edition) has done his job. Misty (CoCo Chanel), Sona & Amhain appear to be in pup by him. This is an exciting time as Misty has not had a litter in 3 yrs and Sona & Amhain will be having their first. Having kept back no glens last year, i'll be looking to keep back a few promising bitches this year. Misty is getting on, this year she will be 7 on the 18th of July, so i'll be praying she has a fine wheaten bitch for us.
Sona & Amhain are unknown quatities so i'll be keeping a special eye on them, ESPECIALLY Sona daughter of not very brilliant mum Sooty. We'll be hoping that Sooty's not very great mothering skills WON'T be passed on. She just doesn't seem able to rear any more than 2 pups so far, no matter what she has.
Shirley McSweeney's lovely bitch Knockroe Earball Fada (Tina) has done very well on her first litter. 6 bitches &1 dog by Bruce on the 21st May i think.
Sooty has developed a love of mink hunting in the neighbouring fields. It is quite funny considering she isn't the most co-ordinated of Glens and only rarely catches one, as she has always HATED getting wet passing through a stream or shuck, but now it is ok! I'll post some pics of her bumbling around in the ditches, she looks like a big old badger from the back, waddles like one too :-)( Loverly mover, hur hur hur ;-) )
Cailin & Bruce's sister Bonny owned by Mr. Ger Noone, Galway is in pup to Setanta too, due perhaps a week before her mum Misty.
Over in England, more true Irish bred Irish line Glens on the horizon, Aoife (Anan) sister of Cailin, Bruce & Bonny owned by Ms. Tanya Berlow is in pup by Mr. Lover Lover ( can't remember his pedigree name but i'll sort that out over the week) but McGeoghagan Bran is in his ancestry. Enquiries to Tanya (00441308861376) email bornjoyful@hotmail.co.uk
That's all for now folks
Byeeeeeeee
