Bailielands Irish Glen Of Imaals

See also a blog at http://bailielands.blogspot.com which I've been using a lot lately as I can email in Pics real fast and not have to travel into town to a 3G area for broadband.

As you may have guessed this is Amhain behind electrified sheep netting  !!!! Its the only thing that will keep Shannon in the garden and not wandering onto the road in front of the house....

Yes Shannon has destroyed the interior of one Landover Freelander, one caravan, 2 metal foldflat carriers and one galvanised steel dogrun pen

Proof positive that a glen has more strength per pound body weight than most other dogs. 

 See also http://bailielands.blogspot.com for more pictures which I am using a lot lately as I can email pics to it in a flash unlike this blog where I must ravel into town to a 3g area to upload more quickly on the mobile broadband

 Wah Hey the lads and lasses step it out In Lough Key Forest park on a smashing Roscommon day, driving rain and cloudy skies

Here's Orla Caffrey in the foreground with Beanz and Enda Buckley in the background with Max.

Maeve Buckley with Fionn and Enda Buckley with Max

Aisling with Bracken, Linda's dog.

New glen man Ray with Molly a pup bred by the O'Tooles by Knockroe Big Boy.

 Ray and family, all lovely folks and I'm delighted to meet new people such as themselves.

linda Christie centrestage with Sally, bracken's dam a bitch out of ballyfoyle banrion by cregane Broc, a full sister of my first glen ballyfoyle To Ground aka Whisky  btw I did not ever breed him  those pups in Holland came from his previous owner when he was bred to Doneraile Pudsey, who I also owned for a short while.

Maeve, Enda and Linda.  AJ Cotter squares up to take some pics

Thank you very very much guys for organising this day out in the West for us boggers we really really appreciate it and hope to see you at the show Sunday the 13th of September

*****WARNING THIS BLOG ENTRY IS UNUSUALLY LONG IN THE TEXT &

FEATURES CONSIDERABLE CRITCISM OF SHOW PEOPLE &

AN APPEAL FOR INTELLIGENT FREE-THINKING.******

Wistful.

I sometimes feel a little wistful when I contemplate the world of dogs.

THE world of dogs itself is elegantly simple, uncomplicated and joyful because that is what dogs are.

The human world of dogs is complex and to my mind riddled with strange inconsistencies.

Is there ever such an animal that brings up such strong feelings in us humans as the dog?

Those of us that love them feel blessed and priveleged by their unconditional love and the joy of their presence and those of us who dislike them well dog people don't really hang out with non-dog people do they really? 

You know what I mean non-dog people wrinkle their noses getting in your car when there are dog hairs on the seat from where Cailin sat this morning, refuse to visit your house in case there is a dog loose on the property etc.?

And among us dog-lovers there are of course degrees of our dog love.

Some of us love our dogs so much we are always trying to show others how much we love our dogs. 

By this I mean the 'holier than thou crowd'. 

....You don't really love your dog unless you keep it this way, treat it that way, only breed it twice in a life time, don't let it do this. well in some dog circles this seems to be a mania well out of control.

There is of course a place for common sense care of your best friend ever.

Would you like to be denied medical help when you need it or even when you might need it ?  Of course a dog needs a good vet and to see him about anything just as if it was you being a bit poorly or what ever.  Doesn't that make sense ?

Would you like to be left on your own for hours a day, with no-one to talk to and nothing to do.  Of course you could bear it for possibly a few hours, you'd find something to do but hey fill 8 or 10 empty hours a day, mmm can see it foiling me   Your dog needs this too, especially as he like us is a social and intelligent animal.

Ok we'd all like to have gourmet dinners every day possibly especially if someone else was handing it up to us but what we really need is good wholesome food and the occasional treats

Don't you like a nice comfy bed to flop into & to be clean and acceptably well-groomed? 

Of course you do, but you know you can sleep as well in a fresh clean bed with simple cotton sheets and a good mattress as well as in a silksheeted luxurious king size (mmmm kingsize).  You know a dog doesn't need fancy fleece lined beds etc. etc. but if you choose to give them that is fine too and yet 20 years ago our pets slept happy in cardboard boxes with cutup old blankets in them   You know your dog doesn't need to be styled to within an inch of his life, he needs to be comfortable, free to be a dog,clean and free from parasites.

I know you understand what I am getting at.

I am not a monster because I keep a lot of dogs and I breed them. 

I train gundogs & guard dogs too, does that make me worse or better. 

Its dogs dogs dogs for me & Tommy & Peter. 

We rescue our own breed Glens & Jacks and other dogs as needs arise. 

 We can't afford to neuter everything but we can vaccinate, treat for parasites, pay for emergency vet care & re-train for general obedience and manners, is that a problem or because we are not 100 % perfect does that make us all bad ? 

I don't deny them proper care, I don't deny them freedom and play and social interaction, I don't deny them good food.

I don't ever abandon them and if they are in need sometime in the future I always find room & a good home eventually for them, wouldn't you do that for one of your own ?  of course you would.

I certainly don't deny them affection and interaction with other humans, and a nice clean yet very basic home enviroment albeit a slightly muddy country one from November through to March in this part of the world.

You may not approve of me but ask yourself what harm am I doing really, I have my interest in pursuing a completely healthy, physically outstanding, temperamentally docile, sporting dog as prescribed by my breed standard, doing my best to hold to the ethics of the IKC & the Irish Glen Of Imaal Sporting Club Of Ireland.  Its a hobby I enjoy.

I support folks who take my pups as best I can & never refuse them & my grown up babies aid even after years. 

I support anyone who comes to me for advice or assistance as best I can no matter wher you got your glen or who you got it off. 

I am straightforward about my views and do not gossip behind people's backs. 

I use my sporting glens to protect my poultry & for gamekeeping duties and I do not kill for sport, pleasure or out of laziness.

I want to learn more and am willing to listen but I won't be bullied ( anymore) or treated unfairly.

I have initiated a yearly PRA clinic to be held at my home because I can see the sense of health testing.

I notice noses being turned up at other dog people including myself by people who should really have a bit of sense.

I am not perfect.

I am rough & ready.  I live in wellies and jodhphurs most of the time & either smell of dogs or horses unless its time to get ready to go into town

I am suspicious of strangers but welcoming to friends and respectably referred people. 

In Louth my home was broken into 3 times in 2 months, my dogs were terrified and abused and an attempt was made to take them and you know what glens are taken for !!!!!!

I am slow to bring people to my home until I am absoultely sure of them for the above reason.

This is not South County Dublin no-one will hear your burglar alarm & eircom phonewatch will get here too late , general break-ins, theft of terriers and destruction of property are not as easy to prevent as in the suburbs of Dublin so I keep 3 rottweillers   Loose 24 hrs

I have bred a lot of dogs & I have nearly established my own true breeding sporting strain. 

3 full sporting generations on the ground now, all bred to the IKC standard in full.

The standard has been around a long time, hey much longer than me & certainly much longer than my involvement in the breed

The standard is a blueprint for us to follow & a yardstick for us to measure against.

Why is it being flaunted by certain Glen persons particularly the clear limits of height & weight ?

And this is what common sense tells me a mere 'breeder' in the West, if you breed a beast heavier and heavier what happens to it ? 

You got it, just like fat people it develops joint problems.

And our bowed legged dogs have no joint problems when sensibly reared, fed properly as young uns, even when at ten to two.  You'll get joint problems when your dogs are tilting way over the clear limit of 35lb ( 16KG) at 14" which is still a pretty big dog.

Which brings me to another common sense point, these ARE still terriers, right so why are dogs so big being produced who cannnot enter the 'terra' , the ground for which they are named ?

I just can't see what it is all about.

But when show people tell me they breed only 2 litters in a  lifetime because they are responsible breeders, well I strongly suspect you only breed a couple of litters because....

a) you don't want too many of your bloodline out there to compete.

b) you don't have enough friends you would bless with a dog that might beat you in the show ring to justify more pups.

c) once you have your dog made up, the ultimate accolades achieved, you need to move onto the younger ones to chase ribbons for them instead, interest wanes with the older dog.

d) you are too busy running around the country to shows to be bothered with staying at home with the babies & the pup rearing season ( best months of the year) co-incides completely with the prime show season

(SEEN IT HEARD IT KNOW IT)

And when show people say these overexaggerated dogs look nicer, I say oh that makes it ok then to deform them ? ( mmm isn;t that what happened to the english bulldog, the basset, the english dachshund and the large guarding breeds bred heavier & heavier...  they don't look ok now, some of em can hardly walk ) 

But hey they are responsible breeders, they health test.  They only... breed a limited number of pups ( in my mind the above reasons always sneak in somewhere  .... you may not admit it but that's ok  )  & I tell you if you were willling to breed more and ponitificate less there would be more would be pet owners in your breed who would be under your wing, you experienced dog person than going off to 'unresponsible' breeders.

Even farmers bloody health test their sheep & cattle !   , its a modern privelege and tool for animal health ! 

Breeding physically sensible dogs could be responsible.  Mating intelligent & tractable dogs could also be responsible.  Rearing animals well & settling them with homes who will suit them is possibly responsible. Always standing by your young uns no matter where they go or how long passes is potentially responsible. Using Health testing & co-efficients of inbreeding & researching pedigrees, heritability etc. might be responsible, is it not?

And so the Glen is now clearly split into a true to standard old working type and a new OUTSIDE the standard show type.

But what really amazes me is that this playing with health of a dog is glossed over by clinging to other pretensions of perfection..... the responsible breeders, the perfect pet owners, the glamour, the bleeding hearts, the expenditure of vast sums of money, the wringing of hands over injustices.. crying something should be done.

And I never met such a shower of cringing sycophants !

Explanantion for the unknowing a sycophant is someone who fawns on  a greater one, mmm a suck up basically, no-one thinks for themselves because no-one wants to offend the higher ones in the pack order & lose their positon.

Way I see it showing dogs is for those who love the praise of people.

When you win you feel good about yourself and your dog.

When you win enough you know you are better than most people and your dogs are better than theirs.

Oh and at the top are the bullies. 

Grade A1 bullies who will not even permit the whisper of anything contra to their world view. 

Hey that's why I'm not on the Glen-lists, driven off it 2 years ago by bullies at a time when I was pretty low in myself. 

Won't happen now though  

Of course winning others to my side doesn't matter to me as much now, I realise that people do what they do, its a big world & its their free choice. 

I just say my piece here in my own blog where you have the choice to come here and read it or not & I did warn you ahead of time what this article would be about.

I offered you choice, I did not foolishly butt into your world like I may have done in years past & deliberately shook you up. 

You chose to come here, I warned you, You chose to read this. 

You are very welcome to comment, but please don't do anonymously isn't that so scummy & cowardly. 

Be a man, be a woman & speak your piece to me, if I am in errer, teach me, I invite you, I choose to be contradicted and challenged if you wish to do so.

And so to the weary finish .....

That is why I despise showing, to my mind it is all an act.  It is not a fit process to drive the evolution of a breed over time.  I appreciate the social benefits of showing that it gets you out to meet people especially in your breed, but I see & hear a lot of bickering & factions.

It is all competitive mind-set jostling for superiority and riddled with snobbery, hypocrisy and blatant disregard for animal welfare,

YES BREEDING THESE MASSIVE GLENS IS INVITING DISASTER MAYBE NOT YET BUT IT IS COMING I GUARANTEE YOU.

You may agree with me you may not.  But in your own heart you know I am telling the truth.

Be happy, enjoy your dog, let him share his enjoyment of life with you