Washingtonians

[Stumpfarmer]

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Strangely enough, I used to know somebody who lived in your neighborhood-long ago, of course, in the '60s- who bred Elkhounds.

The bolded is because that's not only not what German Shorthairs used to be, it's absolutely outside breed standard. As the guy at Westminister says, they were developed to be a house and hunt dog, a joy in the field and at the fireside. In the last...twenty years or less? there's been an influx of high-strung (when the absolute average used to be mellow), difficult to obediance train (when they used to be eager to please and tractable on the lead from puppyhood), and utterly stupid (Matilda, our last old-type shorthair, learned how to herd cattle by sitting in the truck and watching us do it) strains into the breed. They're also more showy: taller, longer legs and noses, much higher action when the classic type was squarer and stockier.

It's discouraging, the results of people buying dogs as decor.

You're right on about Standard Poodles, and they're on my list of dogs to look at when the time comes; the only thing against them is that they do need clipped regularly, and are very large. I love their personalities.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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Sadly many breeds of many animals have been ruined by the breeding to show standards. Rather than going with true breed standards. And then going for the "MINI's".

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Yes Standard poodles are so overlooked. For a time we (Lewis County) had the only standard poodle in Search and Rescue in Washington.

 

[Kaneke]

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Sadly many breeds of many animals have been ruined by the breeding to show standards. Rather than going with true breed standards. And then going for the "MINI's".

yes -- I cry about what has happened to cocker spaniels !

I remember Posy and Missy, my grandmother's cockers ... lovable calm swim-with-you dogs ....

now the cockers I see are yappy hyperactive snappy destructive psycho terrors

I suspect we will need to find another dog to take over from poor old Jake ... these days he mostly lies on DS's bed, grieving for his master ( on work-release for at least the next two months ... stupid fellow and his DUIs ... he may languish in jail for the remainder of his sentence after that ) --

all this has played hob with our planned summer-and-fall travels to visit cousins .. since there'd be no one to feed and care for cats, dog, and chickens

 

[Stumpfarmer]

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There's been Standard Poodles on teams in the Iditarod, too. I like Miniature Poodles, too, and they're practically extinct in the US: people want great big show-piece dogs or tiny little purse dogs, but not a knee-high snuggly little human in fur pajamas.

 

[ReiMiraa]

I have finally gotten a predator that preys on my flock occasionally.... and for once i do not mind compared to coons and coyotes....

Our residential great horned owl population likes to dine about once a month on the chickens that roost in the trees.....

their kills look similar to a coon's... no head but the innards and breast meat are primarily eaten.... that and there are feathers everywhere where the owl plucks it out.

We have begun cherry harvest and one of my favorite hens Pidgin (a light brahma who is 2.5 years old and currently molting) loves to hang with the picking crew and get the fallen cherries.... she is the only hen smart enough to be up in that block...

My cayuga ducks have been over doubling their weight every week! i didn't know they grew sooo fast compared to chickens. 2 weeks ago 1 duck weighed .22, last week it weighed .54 yesterday it weighted .98 pounds... tomorrow they will be 3 weeks old..... 1 pound at 3 weeks of age... insane. they still have no wings but now they are starting to lose their fluff and grow in feathers.... i heard one ducking quack already....
I have no clue how to know what sex these ducks are going to be because both male and females are supposed to be solid black.... and weight ~ 8 pounds when done.....

oh and btw... summer is here for now... almost 90 and tomorrow supposed to be 95....

 

[cheryl98117]

The cat fence that I posted about earlier was just a reference of what it takes to keep cats in and other critters out. Was not in any form saying that you should or have to install that fence. Personally I think it is rediculous, but it does work.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

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It was a pair of GHOs that finally wiped out the Thousand Banty Army* at my sister's place, within two years of logging the eighty next door; all their old hunting grounds and cover was gone, and they moved into a hollow tree on the back of the place and systematically hunted out the young fowl perching in the trees around the house; the last to go were the five dominant hens who nested in the hay barn, but they were picked off one by one as they went to forage in the morning. What amazes me in retrospect is how much easier it was to keep large flocks of free-range chickens in this neighborhood when there was much more game cover and a larger populations of owls. There were two families within less than a mile of me who had game fowl/ barnyard mix flocks which at most had roosts in open sheds at night and three-foot yard fence to keep them from wandering into the road by accident (they had to do it on purpose, marching down the driveway). There were also red foxes and wild breeding ringneck pheasants here up until about 2001, but probably half as many coyotes and barely any raccoons. And no accursed possums.



*I've been interviewing my cousins because my sister and I were not always in on the gifts of unwanted chickens who interbred to make this flock- it started, as far as anyone can remember, with a trio of RIRBs or possibly BBR American Game or Dutch bantams, and had frequent inputs of AGB and possibly game fowl from friends of friends who wanted to get rid of their birds. There were BBR, Birchen, and Red roosters and all the hens were game type, bigger than current bantam standards but none of them over four pounds. I suspect Mom was buying some chicken feed on the sly, because they disappeared amazingly fast after she died.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

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I wasn't commenting on your intentions so much as what committing that kind of fence to the mere keeping of cats in says about someone who would do it.

 

[cheryl98117]

Hey VF!!! Your inbox is full!!! Dont change your travle plans. I'll go clean my Aunts place after you leave! So see you when you get here!!!