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BeastBlog: March 2005

About The Beastly Beasts - By The Beastly Beasts

This is where we, the Beastly Beasts, tell you all about what we've been up to.

We love hearing from you too, so please leave us a message by clicking on "Post a Comment" at the end of the story.

Love and licks,
Kai, Monty, Jack, Troy, Lucy, Mack, & Rosie - The Beastly Beasts

28 March 2005

Out & About at Delapre Abbey

posted by Chris at 18:43

Just got back from a wander down at Delapre Abbey with Gill and the boys. Really nice sunny afternoon here in Northampton, so loads of people were out and about with their beasts.

Jack in full flight

As always we met some really nice people: a couple with two rotties and a deerhound bitch, who was so big she looked like a wolfhound. And even though she's eleven, looked stunning. Also met a very nice lady who had recently, like on Friday, rehomed a greyhound from Northants Greyhound Rescue; a beautiful brindle bitch called Dolly (spookily enough, Gill's nickname). She was asked us about how soon it was safe to let her off the lead. Errrrr, not the best person to ask. We're lucky in that Kai keeps strictly to where the rabbits are, Monty is joined at the hip to Kai (it's like having one dog sometimes), and Jack sticks with them or close to me. (Message to the lady we met: if you want to walk Dolly with the Beasts leave a comment here.)

The Beasts

The Beasts & Gill

27 March 2005

Kai helps fly the flag for White Lodge, Greyhounds & Lurchers

posted by Gill R at 08:30

Yesterday, (March 26th), I took Kai to Syston to help at the White Lodge "Meet & Greet". The idea of these is events is to raise funds/awareness for White Lodge Longdongs (a small greyhound & lurcher rescue located in the East Midlands - where we have rehomed Monty and Jack from - see http://www.whitelodgelongdogs.co.uk/).

Me & Heather with Donna

Although Kai was not homed via White Lodge, (he is a Wood Green rescue) he is the most laid back and "sociable" of the three and always more than happy to be made a fuss of by anybody and everybody. He is a marvelous advert for lurchers!!!

Kai @ Syston
Although the weather was not great, there were enough people around to make the event worthwhile and we chatted to numerous folks about White Lodge and keeping greyhounds/lurchers as pets. There was a similar event in nearby Melton Mowbray; the two events raised £370 for White Lodge (and hopefully some of the people who expressed an interest will make contact with Claire & Gary at White Lodge).

Kai and I had a good time with people/dogs we have met via the White Lodge dog walks and methinks Kai took a shine to the lovely Winnie (2nd from right on the picture underneath).

The Syston Crew

18 March 2005

Jack - One Week On

posted by Chris at 16:21

Well, it's been a week since we got Jack from White Lodge as a foster, and he is doing rather well. He is an extremely happy hound, and just loves people company. And he's getting on really well with Kai and Monty.

He loves the garden and spends ages out there just mooching around sniffing at things. And when he comes back in, tail wagging nineteen to the dozen, he looks really pleased with himself.

Jack relaxing in the office

When he first arrived we had a few pees on the floor, but that only lasted a couple of days and now he's totally clean in the house. At meal times he tried to mussel in on everyone elses food to start with, but now he knows that his is coming and waits his turn. We did have a bit of dominant behavior, but I think that was because he wasn't sure of the situation. As all the beasts get to know, I am top dog round here, and Jack seems quite happy with that arrangement.

We also had a bit of counter surfing to begin with, but even that has stopped now. I suppose knowing that food magically appears twice a day means you don't have to go find it.

Caroline, Gill's sister, came to see him on Wednesday, and thought he was so handsome and charming. She's not wrong you know.

So, he's clean, well behaved, happy, etc. etc. Is the the totally perfect beast? Not quite - he snores. Not loudly I admit, but enough so you know when he's asleep.

Although we are only fostering him, he's definitely made himself at home, and one of the family. Me thinks this was Claire's cunning plan!!

And today is three months since Monty came to stay.

17 March 2005

Jack and Stairs

posted by Chris at 10:02

It had to happen; Jack has learnt how to do stairs.

When I work from home, the room I use is upstairs. Kai and Monty are of course quite happy charging up and down as necessary. Jack however would give a bit of a whimper, then curl up on his quilt. Not today, he knew where we were, and was coming to find us. And, surprise surprise, fell asleep on the office floor!!

13 March 2005

Bald Beast

posted by Chris at 20:18

Monty is going bald. It's really become noticeable over the last week or so. The areas affected are his back legs, chest and neck; though the fur on his flanks is also looking thin. It doesn't seem to be bothering him, but it can't be right.

Asking around at Crufts and at the Dog Walk today, this does seem to be a fairly common thing with rehomed greyhounds, especially black ones.

A lady at Crufts told us it may be an under active thyroid, and recommended Brewers Yeast (essentially the B vitamins); Claire at White Lodge suggested vitamin E. So Monty is now on both of these. We'll see if this helps over the next couple of weeks, but it may mean a trip to the vets.

If anyone else has any ideas we would be very pleased to hear from you.

White Logde Walk

posted by Chris at 20:14

Just to complete a few doggy days we went to the monthly White Lodge walk at Beacon Hill. Have to say this was the nicest place we've been to on these walks.

Both Gill and I forgot to take any money, so had borrow a pound for the car park (thanks Jackie).

As always non-White Lodge people look in amazement at the number of dogs being walked together. When we got to the top of Beacon Hill we found a young lady (about 2 I would think) who was facinated by all the dogs, and wanted to stroke one. Kai happened to be the nearest. You might have thought that like most beasts he would have been happy to have had a fuss made of him; but no - there was a photo opportunity!!! So here he is, posing for the camera.

Kai and child

© Copyright 2005 Terry Kiely - All Rights Reserved

There's more of Terry's pics of the walk here.

Claire was pleased that Jack was getting on with the others. In fact, he is getting on amazingly well. Yesterday morning he and Kai were having a chase in the garden. A proper chase as well; taking turns at being "it", and just having a good time. Jack has also stopped trying to get everyones food; he seems to have realised that his is coming. I think Claire is hoping we'll keep him permanently; we'll see.

12 March 2005

A Wolfie in the House

posted by Chris at 17:12

As you may have read earlier, I want a wolfhound, and a while ago registered with the Irish Wolfhound Rescue Trust. Today we had a visit from Lin, the local home checker for them, and Celt.

Now, I had two wolfhounds, Beamish and Murphy. Beamish was a big lad; 15 stone and stood 6ft 4" on his back legs, so I kind of knew what to expect. Celt was the next size up; he was huge!! Loveable, as all wolfhounds are, but huge. Lucie (Gill's daughter) came round specially to see a wolfhound. She was gob smacked by his size, as were the beasts. Kai and Monty were totally unsure at first, but both of them got used to the idea, and soon settled down. Unfortunately Jack did his growling bit,so to be safe we put his muzzle on for a while (I hate those things), and he did settle down.

As for me, well, having a wolfhound in the house again was just brilliant. I don't know what it is about them, but they just press all the right buttons for me. I was allowed to look after Celt for bit, and got a wolfhound lick, which is like having wash. Lin and I swapped wolfhound stories over a cup of tea, and of course she asked a few pertinent questions. The verdict? In her words; "I'm very happy with what I see here. I'll let Caroline (the lady that runs the IWRT) know."

After Lin and Celt left the other three, who are not small dogs, looked like small dogs.

So we are now approved for a wolfhound, and when the right one comes up hopefully we'll get a call. Can't wait!!!

11 March 2005

Jack the Lad

posted by Chris at 22:43

Claire at White Lodge has had an op on her knee, and has more rescues in than the kennels can properly hold. Consequently, we offered to foster one for her to help out. Today we went to see what Claire had in store for us.

Please welcome Jack.

Jack

Jack is a 5 year old ex-racer. He is very friendly, and unlike Monty, is not timid at all. When he first came in he was a bit growly, but tail was wagging. We thought is may be just his way of saying "Hello", so muzzle off and see what happens; and it was fine. So Jack came home with us. As you can see he is a very handsome lad, and his coat is sooooo soft.

Straight up Hunsbury to wear them out a bit, then home properly. We did have a bit of "I'm top dog" from both Kai and Jack, but once they were reminded that in fact I'm top dog, that soon settled down. Jack's rather keen on his food, and everyone elses, so we had to feed him in the hall, 'specially as Monty seemed a bit intimidated by him.

Anyway, they are all now settled down and asleep, and Jack seems to be right at home.

10 March 2005

Crufts

posted by Chris at 20:11

We went to Crufts today; Gill's first time. Today was hounds and terriers day; we went for the hounds; well, greyhounds, deer hounds, and for me, the wolfhounds. As always with the hound people, everyone was really friendly, and for me to be close to the wolfies was just brilliant (I want one!!!, but maybe more of that over the weekend).

We met up with some other people that post on the DogPages Forum. Nice to put faces to names.

We were also after dog coats and bedding, and decided to make our choices, then but at the end of the day to save lugging the stuff around. We decided on Sarah Spencer's pet beds. As we were deciding on exaclty what to buy Gill's back went. Sarah and the others on the stand were brilliant. In no time Gill had a padded chair and glass of red wine to wash down the paracetamols. They also helped out by giving me their trade entry pass so that I could get the car close to the stand. So many thanks to them for all their help.

We liked their products anyway, and they weren't mega expensive. So you might want to take a look at Sarah's website for yourself.

08 March 2005

Divers Find Bronze Age Wreck Site

posted by Chris at 09:06

OK, not on topic, but as I'm one of the South West Maritime Archaeological Group (the team that discovered the site) I'm going to blow our trumpet here.

We, that is SWMAG, found a Bronze Age Wreck site last year as we were extending the Salcombe Canon Site where we have been working for the last ten years. We declared the find to the English Heritage and Receiver of Wreck, and the artefacts went to the British Museum for conservation and research by Stuart Needham, the Bronze Age expert at the British Museum

The official press release on the Government News Network is here

As you can imagine, we are very excited about all of this. So how did we find it?

Following a magnetometer survey in 2001 it looked as though the site ran NW - SE, and we were in the middle. Two of us went to have a look in the SE area, as this was the biggest on the survey, about 100m off the main site. I found a couple of bits (a cauldron handle and what turned out to be an adze), and Dave found what turned out to be fragments of rapier blade. But we naturally assumed they were 17th century, i.e. contemporary with the main site. Even a professional marine archaeologist (who shall remain nameless) thought they were; he has since apologised to us for his mistake, and bought us a beer, so now we don't have to kill him, which is nice.

So, we knew we had to try and connect the two areas, and this is what we did last summer. When we had all the lines in place and began the search things started appearing; except that instead of 17th Century artefacts, they were Bronze Age. In total we found three Palstave axe heads, the first one being what put us on to the fact it was 3,000 or so years old, not 400, and looked like it was made yesterday, three amazingly intact rapier blades, various fragments of blades, a gold torc, a chape (where you kept your dagger; its the pointy bit of the sheath), and a few other bits and bobs which may turn out to be raw materials.

Palstave Axe Head

Rapier Blade

Gold Torc

The artefacts have been dated as 3,000 to 3,500 years old, which ties in nicley with the Moor Sand site, which is just in shore from us. Stuart Needham has told us that the artefacts, like those from Moor Sand, come from France. So what we have found is further evidence of trade between France and the UK 3,000 years ago.

We will be meeting with English Heritage, Reciever of Wreck and Stuart on the 22nd of this month to put in place our plans for 2005.