CEN BHEALACH ANOIS

What Way Now?

What way now for the Glen?

I urge you to think about this sincerely. If the direction of the Glen is to be influenced by the show winners, then you are putting the breed under the judgement of men & women who are merely generic show judges.

is it not enough to see how many breeds have been destroyed by the ongoing pressure of show driven breeding? Why does the glen an already rare breed have to be driven down further?

Please i urge you to start training & testing your dogs for the field, show champion or not and start selecting for the best workers, the hardest workers, the easily handled dogs at the dig, the fittest and healthiest dogs after a hard day in the damp and the chill.

it may show you something that ma transmute your breeding programme into a drive for health in the raw & vital sense, health of body & mind.

If you do not actively select for these traits it is pot luck if you get them. Work with terriers will help you select, you see how coat quality, dog aggression, size, build, agility, courage, inquisitiveness, obedience, stamina, hardiness and physical overall fitness affect a living breathing dog. Not one of many to be made up, please!

Don't think i live in an absolute vacuum. I have many serious show people mates & friends. That is their path, work & performance is mine. But show breeding degenerates a dog, body & mind, INEVITABLY. Please even if you show enthuasiastically consider selecting for performance.

None of us breeders, work or show or pet are perfect.

but please let us make every new generation of glens better than the last, body & mind.

NACH BHFUIL AMADAN MISE!

Amn't i a fool?

Do i live under a rock or not?

Isn't Harry O'Donoghue the man who judged Glens over the states a fair bit this year, don't tell me you Glen Folks didn't know about his petshops in the North East of Ireland, where pedigree and non-pedigree pups have been sold for years.

Now i'm out of Dundalk about 3 years now so i don't know if it still goes on, but i can easily check.

You see the hypocrisy of it gets me, that breed club ethics and kennel club ethics advise against puppy sales from pet shops over and over, AND as an ex pet shop owner who DID sell puppies from my own shop i can tell you why it really is a bad thing.

The pet shop puppy is more likely than not to be an impulse buy, not thought through, a pity purchase... because there is something absolutely wretched about seeing puppies in a pet shop.

Now the puppies i sold were bred by myself and taken home each night to their mums and often spent a fair amount of time loose around the shop with us, but that doesn't excuse us from doing what is not good practise.

Because as you good dog owners and breeders know out there getting the right home for your dog isn't just a matter of getting the money out of someone, you have a lot of matching up to do between your dog's requirements for a happy, healthy well loved life and what this person can offer the dog.

This CANNOT be done in a petshop where you are pressed for time no matter how sincere you are about doing right by the pups. So yes it more than likely goes wrong, a puppy bought out of pity in a petshop, it is more likely to not work out, to be sold on, passed on, end up in a pound.

And oh deary me, you didn't know this is what Harry O'Donoghue had been doing for years and now his sons continued doing in the 3 shops across the northeast up to 3 years ago at least. Harry was well known as a bulk buyer of litters across the area and believe me the pups were often sold at very high prices compared to the going rate of the times.

Well we live and learn but i'm glad i'm out of the petshop game, its not what you think, its all about money and if you are honest, sincere and genuinely care about pet welfare, you won't last in pet retail, its a jungle out there!

TORTIS

Tortoise

Here's someone you haven't met or heard of before,

COOKIE MONSTER.

Cookie Monster is our African Spurred Tortoise we imported from Spain shortly after her hatching about 5 years ago i think.

In those days surprise, surprise we ran a pet shop in Dundalk the North East of ireland.

We set up in 2001 as Dundalk Aquariums & Aquatic Supplies in Bridge St., Dundalk during the heart of the Foot & Mouth Crisis.

It did so well we upgraded to Williamson's Mall & Mega Pets 8 months later. In MegaPets version1 we did very well, now importing our own tropical fish from malaysia, africa, singapore & china, our quarantine fish room was 150 x 20 gallons, we had Penang Discus & Malawi & Tanganikan cichlids, it was heaven for a fishophile. We kept small animals, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, chinchillas, pet birds, african greys, cockatoos, canaries, budgies, finches & then exotic reptiles....

First we bought off a pair of reptile dealers, Martin & Paddy from Tyrone, who sold us out to their competion fairly quickly, later we learned to buy direct & cheaper hence COOKIE MONSTER who i bought for myself direct from a farm in Spain.

Soon we decided to get an even bigger premises for MegaPets and we took another unit in the Shopping Centre, even bigger and spent a fortune creating an EXOTIC ANIMAL ROOM a sort of small town zoo for displays and teducational tours of our diverse exotics. We took in an investor & foolishly despite teething problems pressed on.

Well yes it all went pear shaped, we indeed are not business people as we were so often told, just animal lovers.

Well we learned a lot!

We enjoyed caring for the many animals the wonderful fish & reptiles & small animals!

We learned you can sell PUPPIES FROM YOUR PETSHOP FOR YEARS & YEARS, that you buy in by the litter for cheap.... if you are a certain person, well respected in the IKC & KC, with a famous prefix known for Cruft's level Fox Terriers & Lakelands....a judge also i fear, may have judged Glens too, & i assure you what does this man know about glens???????

Harry O'Donoghue

OOOOOOOpppps!

BREACHADH AN LAE NUA

A New day Breaking

After the misery of nursing & losing Timmy and Wolfie its been a relief to feel a new day breaking and the somber mood here starting to lift.

First of all this morning i went for a nice brisk walk with roxie the rottie nothing too long, about 20 mins up the road & back, we took some pictures

Then out went the orpington babies who are no longer chicks but fully feathered little chickens in the miniature.

Fed the turkeys, Cranberry & Sauce, think they are a cock & a hen, its very debatable whether we'll get round to eating them as 2 were bought so the one for christmas wouldn't be lonely, guess that says it all...

Took some pics of the Cuckoo Maran cockerel

And Peter caught one of the Khaki Campbell Ducklings now 4/5 weeks so i could take her picture & cuddle her.

Put out the babies then, glen babies and jack babies, both litters about the same age, 6/7 weeks now.

Fluzzy checked out the puppies, our newest rescue case, by gum that's a story.

CROIBHRISTE

HEART-BROKEN

On 9th october Wolfie, Gerrardstown Wolfgang was put to sleep. He had lymphoma all through his body & bones, he was only 3 in August.

At first pneumonia was suspected, then poisoning by weedkiller when he failed to respond to the usual medications. When he was xrayed & bloods examined the truth was found he had incurable cancer.

We're still destroyed.

He was a lovely mannerly dog, who grew out of a boisterous dog-aggressive young dog hood into a mannerly gentleman. He was affectionate & obedient to myself to the extent that he did not accept any other masters. he was a one person dog. He was a proven worker of such speed & efficiency that had been rarely seen in recent glenhood. He was a return to the glories of old. Dubhie is lost without him, they were like a wee married couple.

He's gone now & i miss him dearly. wee wolfie