grahampeters

G'day I rather liked the Malinois and surely they've given the same message as all of the more intense herding dogs (GSD, Corgis, Border Collies etc.) give. You should go and buy them a small flock of sheep and 40 hectares so they can organize someone. We've had several Corgis over the years and all of them believed firmly that "The Devil makes work for idle paws". My sister claimed that one of them reminded her of a High School Physical Education teacher and she surely had a clip board and whistle tucked away somewhere to chase up slackers. The Corgi was a bit wearing. more recently, Mum's Border Collie has shown similar tendencies. Cheers Graham

girl

G'day That is Indy saying Hello to my Sirius, half Pharoah Hound, half Kelpie. The body language is lovely but they are probably comparing fly chasing notes. Sirius can spend a happy hour chasing a fly around our courtyard without catching it. Cheers Graham

G'day After long experience, we now have a house rule that Sirius does not get dinner on the night we have a barbeque. She seems to dine well enough on scraps and the odd sausage slipped her way by an indulgent mum. After the busy afternoon, Sirius has been stretched out on my bed sound asleep and having doggy chasing dreams with lots of paw twitching. She has just woken up, refreshed and in need of a small snack before bed time. Cheers Graham

G'day Looking at the layout today, the maximum angle at any of the corner pulleys was 90 degrees so I guess that is some sort of constraint. The fishing line was fairly heavy but still broke once that I saw. This was simply tied off to join and appeared to not cause problems.. Working from the motor around, the course followed the following layout. Right 90 Right 45 lef 90 at complex pulley arrangement right 90 right 90 (apex at extreme distance from motor) right 90 left 90 at comple pulley arrangemt right 45 right 90 back to motor unit Barrels placed over each pulley arrangement protected the dogs from contact with machinery. 2 meter lengths of 100mm orange poly pipe were cut into 270 degree section to prop over line for hiding spots. Section near motor was protected by a combination of 2 metres of poly pipe and a half barrell to give resonable protection from keen dogs wanting to turn the pipes over. Each pulley wheel was secured onto a vertical spike hammered into the ground. Arrangement for spacing from ground uncertain. Absenced of noise in a dusty environment suggests nylex bearings or similar. Possibly reused lawn mower wheels on vertical shaft with tyre removed Motor unit appeared to be a washing machine motor or similar but was probably running at 24 Volts. Reversing was through a gate type switch with variable speed control probably by rheostat. Motor was mounted on a four legged A frame with base dimensions of about 750mm square. drive from the motor was carried accross an idler wheel turning from vertical (or about 80 degrees from horizontal) to horizontal. Battery pack was mounted to a light wheeled buggy. All pulley sheaves were fairly deep to avoid line jump offs. Lure was a plastic shopping bag, tied at the bottom end and leaving handles loose. Handles were slashed through, probably to reduce entrapment risk. I think the motor and battery unit were fairly elderly and a more modern set up would probably be farily easily designed. Cheers Graham

G'day Sirius loved the social life but was absolutely useless at the lure coursing bit. She seemed to be more fussed about reading who had visited the paddockrecently. Good think that lovely Basenji was there to give her a run around on the second try. Sirius chased him rather than the plasic bag. Mighht try teasing her with a ball in a plastic bag to chase around the local park before we try again. Wasn't it a beaut day. Lovely to see such a happy bunch of dogs (and owners) Cheers Graham

G'day I'm intrigued. Sirius was one of a litter of nine Pharoah Hound x Kelpies which were born 5 July 2001 and were passed over to the RSPCA. She was adopted and returned after six months. She was terrified when we got her and still urinates in fright if someone raises their voice. She also does not approve of my Mother in Law (who actually is very nice and has beagles) suggesting abuse by an older woman. A near neighbour has one of her brothers from the same litter but he is much heavier than Sirius and a darker, almost liver colour. Sirius is a lovely flecked golden brown and has a lovely temperament. Our nine year old son has a mild form of autism that makes communication difficult for him and he tends to get picked on by other kids looking for easy sport. Sirius has a little list of kids she won't let near him and places herself between any child who has ever casued problems and my son, barking loudly to warn the child off. We gather that Pharoah Hounds were historically raised with the family in Malta and naturally tedn to protect their pack. She has a fairly strong chase instinct or maybe hat should read prey instinct. The photo is whilst inspecting a possum which had climbed the carport. It required her to stand on her hind feet for couple of minutes to inspect more closely. Cheers Graham

G'day We've got a very well behaved four and half year old Kelpie Pharoah Hound cross who we think would like a bit of lure coursing. Do the dogs have fun and what do you have to do to enter them. She's not Obediacne trained that we know of (RSPCA rescue) but well behaved Cheers Graham