I am so proud of my little dog ...

[Zed]

Actually my dear Zed, you were the one to coin the term 'yapster', or don't you remember the reputation you gave me.

Richard

No. does my avatar look like an elephant ? what sort of memory retention do you think a 1 yr old chimp has ?

[Zed]

now, these are REAL dogs!

[Daddles]

Ahh Driver, back in the dim, dark ages - PD (pre-divorce), I owned a holiday house. At said holiday house were the sort-of-operational remains of an old, fibreglass dinghy. So I thought I'd build a new one. In my innocence, I chose a design that would fit into the back of my Tarago ... so, of course, a month after starting the boat, I sold the Tarago. I've since lost the holiday house as well.

Grrr.

Anyway, I persevered with the design. Afterall, it was from a respected designer wasn't it . I tried to ignore the experienced boat builders who rolled their eyes and muttered things like 'that's a horrible way to build a boat'. I suffered through the errors in the plans, the sheer insanity of some of the things I was required to do, made the appropriate 'fixes' and 'redesigns' to make the thing actually buildable, and finally got it into the water. Only to discover that the flamin' rowlocks are miles out of position :mad: . It works well if I have a 50kg child sitting on the back seat. So you may assume that I'm not overly happy with said tub. Having said that, it does work, I just have to be careful about how I ballast it and where I sit when rowing. She's roomy and stable for fishing in flat water, which is what she was built for, but I certainly wouldn't want to take some of the long, rowing voyages the designer talks about without a 2hp motor mounted on the back (at a weight of about 50 kg surprise, surprise).

But the new boat.

Oh joy, the new boat.

Fifteen feet of purpose built rowboat.

Designed by one of nature's true gentlemen.

With more than enough room for dog and daughter

But more of that when I build more than a cardboard model.

Cheers
Richard

[echnidna]

now, these are REAL dogs!

Poor frightened puppies too scared to fix up a pussy cat.

A spitz would be wearing it as a furcoat very fast.

[Daddles]

Now, my avatar vessel.

That is a rendering of David Payne's Yellowtail. Fourteen feet of sailing vessel. I did a 6 month boat building course at TAFE where we built two of these. The boat in the avatar is one of those. So, although I can't claim to have built it, I have handled every piece of timber in that hull. Currently, I am cleaning out the epoxy overruns, preparing her for filleting and final construction. She will become the family sail/motor boat ... eventually. I keep getting sidetracked. For instance, the last couple of weeks have been wasted building another Mouseboat ... so my son's friends can go boating with him.

Cheers
Richard

[Daddles]

Poor frightened puppies too scared to fix up a pussy cat.

A spitz would be wearing it as a furcoat very fast.

To be fair, that cat's name was 'Sgt Major' and the dogs watching were all especially chosen for their common sense - they knew not to attack said cat.

It's a great piccy of well trained dogs isn't it. Some of those dogs aren't even acknowledging that cat, let alone feeling tempted to chase it, though one does have to wonder about the arrogance of the cat. :eek:

Richard

[Zed]

if you look closely there are a number of dogs who are exceptionally well trained, they acknowledge the cat, are eagerly tracking it and have even shifted hindquarters to track it better but still remain seated.
I used to train dogs and it is exceedingly difficult to acheive dogs in a row let alone with a distraction like the cat. its quite easy to see which dog has no eyes except for its master - they are looking at the boss not the cat. i reckon if one breaks the rest will tear the cat to peices as they'll break together and one will bump another etc....

having said that this could be a frame up - maybe the cat is not really there!

[Daddles]

I've been into the dog training as well. I'd like to think it's a genuine photo and a testament to the handlers. Most of those dogs are pretty young (look at their colouring) so it's a good effort. I'm not sure I want to be told it's a con job.

Funniest thing we did when training dogs was to leave them all in a group at night, and then move out of the range of the light. We all moved around them, telling our dogs to 'stay' periodically, so they got to hear our voices coming from all sorts of directions. It was funny watching those dogs do their out of sight stays for the next month or so - they'd keep looking all around them for their handler, whereas the dogs who didn't do it just looked to where the boss had disappeared. Mind you, I don't think it improved their stays any, but it was fun.

Richard

[Driver]

having said that this could be a frame up - maybe the cat is not really there!

There's something not quite right about this photo. I've met cats who would have no problem playing "Chicken" like this with any number of dogs, well-trained or otherwise. When I was a kid, we had an old tomcat at home who could terrorise any dog in the neighbourhood merely by walking past. Picture Horse from the old Footrot Flats cartoons and you'll get the idea.

However, back to the photo. Moggy chutzpah notwithstanding, I've never seen a cat who would casually stroll through a puddle. It's a feline instinct to avoid treading in water when jumping over it is such a simple option.

(Incidentally, Zed: thanks for the greenie but don't be offensive! I'm not a lawyer and, anyway, what makes you think a lawyer would write that well? )

[Daddles]

My Siamese would walk past a line of dogs like that ...

but that's because he's an arrogant halfwit and would be dog breakfast before he'd even realised he was in trouble

Cheers
Richard

[E. maculata]

G'day all,
many moons ago me ole mate reggies' (11 yr old red P/Bred B/collie, 90cm nose to base of tail, 22" at shoulders, square muzzled, 35kg of raw energy in his prime in other terms a bit on the largish size for his breed, and still loves the kids to the death, but don't come through the door at night if he doesn't know you well) Grandad was torn to pieces and killed by a bull mastiff x rotty, yet 6 months beforehand SWMBOs' old ginger cat had terrorised this "pigdog" right up to the point of it standing on the roof of its' owners car, while said cat circled the car growling at it.
Simple tactics, get in rip dogs nose to streds, circle round do it again, worked on every dog it ever met, size and ferocity were irrelevant to it, I still have scars on my forearms from the B!tch of a thing.


BTW if you couldn't work it out our collies are part of our pack.

[Daddles]

The thing to remember with cats is that they have six ends, five of which are pointy :eek:

Richard

[Gingermick]

Hey Daddles,

Are you a boat-person?

[Daddles]

Hey Daddles,

Are you a boat-person?

Yup

Richard

[Gingermick]

Queue jumper, I've got about 40kg of hairy, slobbering Malamute cross and he barks and is loud. Except when he's asleep and you could come in a steal the house, but bump his food bowl, even if he's 50m away and he comes runnig. Also three cats that meow in this incessant, caterwauling cat wail. I'm not cruel but I do sometimes ask them to be quiet,...with my foot.