Not-so-mighty oaks and lurchers
Feb. 16th, 2016 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnOak tree on top of Kit Hill, 1095ish feet up in the sky. He is perhaps two feet tall, and has a definite air of clinging on by his toenails. This must be at the limit of what an oak can survive
And more oak trees on the top of Cadsonbury hill fort, just 350 feet up. You can walk under them and only have to duck a bit.
Brythen being a very good dog and staying by my side, even though Rosie was off hunting rabbits.
I didn't even bother calling her, there is no point when she has that look in her eyes, she can't hear, or won't.
People ask me, why does Brythen wear a bell. Without the red harness and the bell, Brythen is very nearly the Invisible Dog. He runs at speed on silent brindly feet through the tiny trees, and when he stands still he looks like treetrunks.
Being good again, and pointing me to the location of the Iniquitous Saluki half way down the hill with her nose in a burrow. Sometimes he even does the pointer thing, and points with his nose down and one foot raised to show me where she has gone. He's not *always* right, but his accuracy is improving. I can barely believe how loyal and reliable he is becoming.
Technically this is a terrible photo, but emotionally it is brilliant. This is Rosie in a world full of rabbits, noticing that I am not there, and coming running to find me.
Where did you go? Where did you go? I FOUND YOU! she says desperately, as if I had deliberately hidden, ignoring completely the fact that she took off at speeds I could not hope to match down a hillside that would probably have killed me if I had tried to navigate it with my absurd inadequate human feet.
It's still very on and off, Rosie's recall. But I've had this with all of them, specially Brythen.
At first they are kind of OK offlead and do recall like the dog behaviour books say it's supposed to work. And then they find their wings and they realise that if they want to run and run, no human agency can possible stop them. And there is nothing they want more than running and hunting, and yes, they very much DO know if they are on a longline or not.
But eventually they decide if they want to be dogs and keep a human. So far, all of mine have decided to be dogs.
She was not keen to come home, and required considerable persuasion to leave the sunshine and the bunnies behind.
And more oak trees on the top of Cadsonbury hill fort, just 350 feet up. You can walk under them and only have to duck a bit.
Brythen being a very good dog and staying by my side, even though Rosie was off hunting rabbits.
I didn't even bother calling her, there is no point when she has that look in her eyes, she can't hear, or won't.
People ask me, why does Brythen wear a bell. Without the red harness and the bell, Brythen is very nearly the Invisible Dog. He runs at speed on silent brindly feet through the tiny trees, and when he stands still he looks like treetrunks.
Being good again, and pointing me to the location of the Iniquitous Saluki half way down the hill with her nose in a burrow. Sometimes he even does the pointer thing, and points with his nose down and one foot raised to show me where she has gone. He's not *always* right, but his accuracy is improving. I can barely believe how loyal and reliable he is becoming.
Technically this is a terrible photo, but emotionally it is brilliant. This is Rosie in a world full of rabbits, noticing that I am not there, and coming running to find me.
Where did you go? Where did you go? I FOUND YOU! she says desperately, as if I had deliberately hidden, ignoring completely the fact that she took off at speeds I could not hope to match down a hillside that would probably have killed me if I had tried to navigate it with my absurd inadequate human feet.
It's still very on and off, Rosie's recall. But I've had this with all of them, specially Brythen.
At first they are kind of OK offlead and do recall like the dog behaviour books say it's supposed to work. And then they find their wings and they realise that if they want to run and run, no human agency can possible stop them. And there is nothing they want more than running and hunting, and yes, they very much DO know if they are on a longline or not.
But eventually they decide if they want to be dogs and keep a human. So far, all of mine have decided to be dogs.
She was not keen to come home, and required considerable persuasion to leave the sunshine and the bunnies behind.
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no subject
Date: 2016-02-16 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-16 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-16 04:59 pm (UTC)I bet even Bolt would find himself hampered running sideways through bushes at a more than 45% angle. Humans are comically slow animals :-D
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Date: 2016-02-16 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-16 05:57 pm (UTC)Wonderful hounds-in-sunshine pictures. I see what you mean about Brythen's near invisibility. And I thought spotting a brown spaniel in brown heather was difficult...
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Date: 2016-02-16 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-16 08:08 pm (UTC)Mr Bolt has reached nearly 28mph between the 60th and 80th metres.
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Date: 2016-02-18 01:11 am (UTC)The tiny oak is awesome, I'm rooting (no pun intended) for it.
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Date: 2016-02-18 08:30 am (UTC)And Rosie (?) looks adorable in that last photo. Simultaneously noble and daft.
no subject
Date: 2016-02-18 09:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-18 09:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-18 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-18 09:30 am (UTC)