Dogs and Cats and Chinchillas!

[Scotsgun]

Little Tash, my springer that i use for tracking deer.


Charlie and Gilly, my Chespeake Bay Retrievers that i use for wildfowling.





And lastly wee Tam, our Border Terrier that i use for ratting and is actually a great guard dog - he barks and the big'uns wade in! Just ask the very silly boy who thought he's climb over the fence to steal the springer

[alan108]

My two cats, the black one is Alice and the other is Rupert, my grand daughter calls him "rude pot" brother and sister,now coming up for 6 years old.Persian X.

Alan

[ovenpaa]

Little Tash, my springer that i use for tracking deer.

Charlie and Gilly, my Chespeake Bay Retrievers that i use for wildfowling.

And lastly wee Tam, our Border Terrier that i use for ratting and is actually a great guard dog - he barks and the big'uns wade in! Just ask the very silly boy who thought he's climb over the fence to steal the springer

I have had a couple of Welsh Springers in the past and my parents have owned English and Welsh Springers, not a lot you can say about them, they are good dogs. I remember my father putting a 6 foot garden gate up on the side of the house, and my son training their last Springer to clear it in a few minutes

I have always been a fan of the Chespeake's they sound like very focused creatures, were they much different to train compared to the Springer?

[Scotsgun]

I have always been a fan of the Chespeake's they sound like very focused creatures, were they much different to train compared to the Springer?

Very hard charging dogs that will accept only one owner and listen only to them. A Chesapeake will only follow an instruction if it wants to; it doesn't give a toss whether it pleases you or not, so they can be increadibly stubborn.

Not recomended for inexperienced or impatient owners, but once trained and focused on task they just excel over any other dog.

[ovenpaa]

We have a Weim that can be stubborn, very early on we found out that his eyes would just glaze over if he was told to do something he did not feel inclined to do. To this day give him a command and on occasion he just carries on for a bit before doing it, as if to say 'I will do it, but over here, or in a bit'

I remember reading an article years ago about a Chesapeake owner, he and the dog had to have words very early in the relationship but everything was good after that point. The bit that amused me was his description of a wild fowling trip with a friend, he let his Chesapeake out of the car and instead of waiting nicely it charged down the mooring to a row boat with two Labs in, and promptly physically threw them in the water and kept them at bay until he and the Labs owner (His shooting partner) arrived.

[Scotsgun]

Problem seen by many poor trainers is that you can't use 'physical encouragement' with a Chessie. That'll just p*** it off and then you'll never win its trust.

An american friend who specialises in training Chesapeakes once said, if you want a dog to go fetch you a beer then get yourself a lab. But if you want that dog to go get the beer, drink it and then smash the can against its forehead, get a Chesapeake.

The Weim is a popular breed amongst deer stalkers. I would have said that the only problem with them is that too often they are more intelligent than their owners. Unfortunately they have became a popular fashion accessory due to their colour and are now victims of over-breeding from greedy breeders. Hopefully they won't go the way of dalmatians.
They do however make excellent deer stalking companions. My mate's bitch will point to deer hundreds of yds away if the conditions are right, can follow bloody trails even days old and will readily bring a wounded deer down and hold it until dispatched.

[ovenpaa]

An american friend who specialises in training Chesapeakes once said, if you want a dog to go fetch you a beer then get yourself a lab. But if you want that dog to go get the beer, drink it and then smash the can against its forehead, get a Chesapeake.

Nice description :)

The Weim is a popular breed amongst deer stalkers. I would have said that the only problem with them is that too often they are more intelligent than their owners. Unfortunately they have became a popular fashion accessory due to their colour and are now victims of over-breeding from greedy breeders

This is exactly why we ended up with ours. A friend told us of a Weim that needed a new home at 7 months old. He had his own couch in a huge house with nice cars outside and he was a fashion accessory, the man in the house used to give him a daily kicking to discipline him, the son just wanted a 'hard dog' and the daughter used to dress him up in clothes to make him look pretty (Ever known a dog that actively seeks hugs?)

They were splitting up and he needed to find a new home, we had planned on looking at him, introduce him to our dog, take him for a couple of walks and get to know him first. No chance, 20 minutes later he was sitting in our car regally surveying everything he owned. He was chosen by them because of his impressive pedigree, size and price tag alone. Sad way to choose a dog I think. Some six years later he is a fiercely loyal and protective dog especially where Christel is concerned which can still be a problem, he is also far too big for breed and hovers around a very muscular 45kg mark which will not help him in the years to come.

He is asleep at my feet right now, every bit the puppy that came into the house all those years ago but take him out across the fields and he will do his utmost to interpret a move before it is made, as far as intelligence goes he is in a different world to any other dog I have ever known.

Our biggest regret is not knowing him for those early months.

[Robin128]

Nothing like a loyal animal.

[ovenpaa]

Hmm... we were not always convinced in the early days. Christel would think nothing of two route marches a day with the dogs and rang me one afternoon from the wilds of nowhere to tell me she had a problem, Blu the Weim had been running about like a loon, and had misjudged his line and had run into her left leg and it hurt like hell, she assured me she was not capable of walking which surprised me as she was a roughy toughy Viking. The problem was she was quite a distance from civilisation so I had a fair walk to get to her. She had hobbled over to a handy stump to lean against and had two dogs patiently sitting next to her and assured me she was going nowhere in a rush. Ever tried explaining in a 999 call that you need an ambulance at a grid reference?

Paramedics managed to find us after a bit of a wait and tried to get a helicopter medevac but it was tied up elsewhere. As luck had it North Beds had a 4x4 that was due to be taken out of service that very day so I assume Christel was it's last passenger. So she was stretchered off through ditches and under a barbed wire fence to a 4x4 that moved her to an ambulance that took her to hospital whilst I walked home with the dogs thinking what a lightweight.

That got her many weeks in a full length plaster, the surgeon who put her knee and Tibia back together told me he had seen less damage to people who had been hit with a baseball bat.

[Robin128]

Betrayal!