Bailielands Bruce "Brucey" was born in 2004, the first litter of Glens we had.
He was the last born of 8 pups to CoCo Chanel "Misty", and was the smallest and the last born.
He was vigorous and thrived, indeed all that litter survived. When he was 3 wks old he developed a snuffle, very unusual! He needed hand feeding at that time and did not fully recover until 8 weeks old.
We kept him then as he had become very dear to us. He is a fine dog now of very gentle and affable temperament.
Bruce is a bit of a softy and very good with other dogs even males, but we never ever let him and Wolfie get together just in case.
We have shown him very little, and will probably only show him or any of our dogs at The Irish Glen Of Imaal Terrier Sporting Club shows.
In type he is of typical working Glen, well built but not awkward, powerful but agile, hard coated and easy to groom.
He is an excellent stud and has sired 6 healthy litters so far, he is easy to mate but Wolfie is catching up on him!
He has sired about 50% of working dogs in his litters but is to date a renowned lazy ****** !!! but as Glens are notoriously late working may surprise us yet! He carries the blood even if he is currently a dilly dallier, any dog worked of his lineage so far has succeeded, so the 50% figure is 100% in respect to dogs offered real work.
At the very 1st club show he came 2nd in Open Dog, his father came 1st: Wicklow Lad Of Gerrardstown. At the 2nd club show sadly he came 4th but Wicklow Lad did win again, well done Fern!
Bruce is an easy going and obedient fella, who potters about the land taking a polite interest in everything.
He loves going out to the nearby forest park and down the bogs for a ramble.
He is now beginning to work, which is not unexpected as some Glens are late starters in contrast to his sisters, Winnie, Cailin and Bonnie were notoriously early starters. But female dogs of many working breeds start ahead of their brothers so with Bruce though it has been funny to slag him off as a big lazy lump, it has always been a matter of time until he settled to work.
He is a peacekeeper among the ladies, breaking up rows between female glens and occasionally holding an agressor down to the ground until they came down. If confronted himself by another agressive male, fighting is his last resort, he will attempt to knock the agressor down and hold them there until they submit or calm down. His father Fern behaves in the same way and his aunt Shannon, a very peaceable strain. So does Cailin, his sister, fighting is the last resort unlike other Glens i have known and know!
He assisted his sister Cailin at her whelping, you can find the story in Glen Girls under Cailin's section.
Bruce is a remarkeable male Glen in character and intelligence and breeds heavier than he looks, ( in other words his genotype is expressed slightly differently to his phenotype, but hey doesn't everyone's to some degree!) as the smallest male of the litter he wasn't an ideal choice for a stud, but he has turned out healthy and sound.
And his offspring have done very well as pets and workers.
We are not going to worry too much about show results until the Club Show in August :-)!!!! I'll be taking Bruce and Amhain ( his daughter by Shannon), hopefully Enda Buckley's Sally's Wonder (Bruce's daughter by Knockroe Poppy) will be there, we also hope to bring Dubhie (his daughter by Gerrardstown Delight).
He still dotes on my mum who spent some time nursing him as a puppy, Mammy's Boy...
Bruce's pictures are now in the Gallery.
Wolfie is only a young dog, d.o.b August 2005. Bred by Ian Mc Culloch, he is a superb blue with lots of zip and character.
He is out of Roisin's Pride "Nellie" by Knockroe Big Boy "Clyde", lookswise he takes after Nellie, personality he takes from Clyde!
A little lower at the withers than Bruce, he has a lower centre of gravity and is more feisty, but is a slighter and smaller dog.
Did not make it to Club show in Aug to much disgust, was much looking forward to debuting him due to his exceptional zip and fire, a certain athleticism about him, he is very active and alert. He is small but perfectly formed....
Wolfie's pictures are now up on the gallery. On the day of taking he was muddy and wet, but he looks well, strong and poised for action.
Wolfie's diet has been sucessful and he is slim and limber now.
As of late October 2007, he has made a spectacular formal debut into his working scene, under critical and professional eyes, who have declared him a very hard dog, ready to get stuck straight in, utterly determined, has a phenomenal grip and tenancity, a 'serious dog'.
