AlTRPD

If you don't see what you want, please ask, as we have a storeroom behind the scenes that is topped up on a daily basis and currently almost full! We have also received some super new trim designs for fancy collars, leads and harnesses, and are introducing relective silver flashes on many of the dog raincoats. For those members who are making items such as blankets, coats etc., we have started to offer our surplus materials, including threads, bias binding and will soon have various materials available too.

Cross-posting this... Doglost helpers are trying to get as many people as possible to email THE SUN newspaper to run a story on the stolen dog ... could EVERYONE who is concerned for this dog please just email The sun NOW (address below) and beg them to run the story .. ask them to go to the dog lost site (address also below) to get more details and contact names etc ... thank you. (please cross post) Sun email address: [email protected] Doglost site: http://www.doglost.co.uk/forum.asp?logout=true&ID=11724 For more details, please see the home page at this website: http://www.freewebs.com/valgraysbcrescue/ Thanks.

It seems that I'm going to be hooking on Christmas day - all in a good cause, of course. Anyone is welcome to sponsor me. See this link for further details: Hacks and Hookers Christmas Challenge

I like the way the light highlights and contrasts with the dark areas in number one especially, so if no one else feels one of the others might be best for the purpose, I'll get that graph finished off and a hard copy printed up so that whoever is going to start hooking can get busy. Thanks so much to Cycas and everyone else who has helped to get this project off the ground. Some members are kindly sponsoring me for any rows I might manage to complete on Christmas day, and for my next bit of the related challenge. Hacks & Hookers Christmas Challenge - Greyhound Rug I'll do periodic updates on progress over on the TRPD board and at that link.

Thanks. I also like the colours and contrasts in the first two as well. For me, possibly the first one has the edge. Would anyone else like to share their thoughts, please?

I have managed to do some test graphs of several of the photos posted by Cycas now. The ones that seem to be most promising at the rug canvas count are these... and one of Lisa's (Greyhound Gap) Bearing in mind these are now graphs to use as possible hooking guides, I'd be interested to know which one or ones others feel work best for the project concerned. Thanks.

Certainly not! The nearest thing to that would be in some respect of rescue work for the racing rejects or oldies that have survived such, bless them. Thanks so much. I never seem to have a camera with me when seeing to the poultry, but you should see how fast old Scampi scoots out of the way when they approach - and hear how loudly he yelps if he's not quick enough or has a close shave!

Brilliant photos, thank you so much for allowing them to be used for this project. I will test chart those I think may work best at the rug canvas count and let you know what works best. However, a couple would chart really well for cross-stitch or needlepoint. Would we be permitted to use them for that, please - or for any of the art group members to try and paint at some future date? I wish I could take action shots like these. Mind you, the most action I see out of old Scampi seems to be when he slides off the sofa or else if the gander or chickens chase him!

I have emailed you. I really hope we don't have to abandon this project with the Hacks and Hookers, but perhaps someone has a very similar photo they would allow us to use instead, if we can't identify the original picture's owner and gain consent to use it.

A photo of this dog has probably been posted in a competition or photo show on the TRPD forum at some point. I thought I knew to whom the photo belonged, but was mistaken. I now urgently need to discover the owner for the reasons stated at the following link: Christmas Challenge The owner has nothing at all to worry about, but they may be able to help me out of a predicament, as you will see! If anyone knows the owner, please can they ask them to contact me? [email protected] Thanks.

It is a really easy, FREE ENTRY competition requiring you only to copy and paste a list of items into a post and to alter the numbers from a 0 to however many you think I might have made during the previous week - if you think I'll have made any of those items. You then simply nominate a rescue that has not yet won a Christmas parcel to win one if you have a winning number of points. You can enter every week even if you have already had a win, but rescues may only win one parcel each and worth approximately £25 per parcel. Find it at this link: Win A Christmas Parcel Comp Please have a go, as just a few minutes of your time really can benefit a rescue and more than one winner per week is easily possible. Thanks.

I must have missed seeing the details of this walk, and not too far from me, too. What a super time everyone looks to have had. Some fabulous photos, too, and I am green with envy. Kira would have been in her element meeting lots of new pals, but old Scampi might have found it all too much. He can be a grumpy old chap when overwhelmed by numbers, bless him. When is the next one, where and at what time, please?

I must have missed seeing the details of this walk, and not too far from me, too. What a super time everyone looks to have had. Some fabulous photos, too, and I am green with envy. Kira would have been in her element meeting lots of new pals, but old Scampi might have found it all too much. He can be a grumpy old chap when overwhelmed by numbers, bless him. When is the next one, where and at what time, please?

There could be soon, if you tell me the style (greyhound or standard) and size needed, Ange.

Can you give me some idea of the sizes you would want in inches, please? The faux sheepskin is really cosy, having a dark chocolate coloured, faux velveteen suede outer layer and a cream sherpa fleece inner layer.

Did someone mention Christmas Collars? There are also kennel coats that can have velcro fastening belts, if required. This picture is of Gloria, at Tailends, who apparently loves the one won for them in the September Sales challenge. (Photo taken by Angela at Tailends.) Please remember that every sale benefits an animal in the care of a rescue in some way.

There are now lots of fun, glittering and Christmassy TRPD collars & harnesses available and with more to be added soon... All proceeds are to help fund the postage costs for Christmas parcels being sent out to rescues throughout the UK and Ireland. Please see this link for more details... Christmassy Collars Extraviganza

When I was doing my pair this evening, I was told of a 13 years old black, registered Welsh cob mare for sale very cheaply (like for meat money) and due to go to Llanybydder market on Thursday unless sold first. Phoned up only to discover she's unbroken, but might have been backed as a two-years-old, and is a lot more money than I was told because of her bloodlines. Apparently she was covered a few months ago but hasn't caught in foal, hence the sale. Isn't it silly, but I had actually allowed myself to get excited! (And at my age, too! ) It looks like the old Merlyn monster will not be retiring yet awhile! Kimba's Mum - Good luck this weekend.

Well done, Jacky. It sounds as if Kane's education is progressing nicely. Bobbysmum, were it me, I'd ask myself why it would matter what others might think? It is easy to get sucked into situations we are unhappy with or uneasy and uncomfortable about because we are afraid of the opinions of others. However, to me, that is a case of pride versus common sense and, possibly even one's own safety. Listen to your gut instincts. They are there for your benefit as a form of warning to keep you safe. Allowing others, or even your beliefs about what others may or may not think, is like handing over control of your life to others, rather than making one's own descisions. The only thing you need to decide is what is best for YOU. Sandra, so pleased you are back riding Wanda, I gave him that snog from Wanda but afraid he was more interested in getting his head into the manger! He was a right shitebag last weekend and demolished two fences to escape the field and take Bronnie with him. Luckily, they went over the footbridge nto the cycle track and old colliery site where there were hundreds of acres of fresh grazing and browse. I had to phone the ex to come and help recapture the pair of them and fix the fencing - yet again! Pleased to say they hadn't gone too far, only to visit that mare and foal kept in a field a few hundred yards along the track. Had they gone the other way, they could likely have ended up in Cardiff and about 16 miles away! Being such a greedy and lazy pair may have its advantages after all!

Had one eat a dishcloth once and that came out the other end... In fact, it was only then that I realised what had happened to it!

Thanks. A couple of people have said much the same thing now, so relaxing a bit. Blooming dogs, eh? Last night Megan or Moss managed to capture and kill a duck, this morning the horses got out when Merlyn wrecked the fences on oth sides of the adjacent stableyard, and now this!

I was just getting the rubbish ready to go out for the binmen when I popped to the bathroom to fetch and empty the waste bucket from in there. My back was only turned for seconds but when I returned one of the four dogs had tipped and emptied the kitchen bin grabbed and must have scoffed the elastic mesh from off the Sunday joint. One of them has certainly swallowed it but I've no idea which dog! All who will eat it, have been given a couple of slices of brown bread, but is there anything else I can do to try and ease its safe passage through, please? Also, any early warning signs I need to look out for that could indicate a blockage? I suspect it is either the brain-damaged staffy x or the collie, but really it could be any of them.

Thanks, Freya, I doubted it would be at the price and certainly not with SS buckles! I was thinking of picking one up for when the time comes to mouth and start Bronnie, as I have absolutely nothing around in her size and it was save me having to make something to fit her. If anyone has a second hand, pony sized English bridle in reasonable condition, I have an unused black, cooler with blue binding and a fleece pad at the withers I'd be willing to swop for it. The cooler is size 5'6" and in a ribbed jersey knit fabric that keeps the horse warm whilst drying off. I had it for my mare but never used it and it's still in the bag. No chance of it fitting either Merlyn or Bronnie. Freya, I used to love cleaning my old stallion's brass mounted bridle, but I know what you mean about the time it takes to get them looking as good as possible! Do you wrap Duraglit wadding around a cocktail stick to get in between the clinchers on the browband and the crevices on the brass rosettes? I even used to buff them up with my son's very soft old baby hairbrush! pmsl

Freya, do you know if Tesco's bridlework is made from English leather, please? (Or does anyone else know?)

Bronnie had her first encounter with the blacksmith today. Only the front hoofs actually needed a little trim, and I've been so pleased with the progress made since she arrived with getting her to pick her feet up nicely. We went from tantrums, tap-dancing and the hokey-cokey to her barely noticing, and all that while she had her head in the manger, so not even wearing a headcollar, let alone being held. Not so today! Hoof one - she tried to lift both fronts off the ground at once! Hoof two - a hind - she did a tap-dance with the fronts while the smith had that one held up. Hoof three, and she came close to sitting on her backside on the back edge of the farrier's van! Finally, she did a three-legged crab waltz across the yard and with a friend (my size) and I trying to act as a barricade. Oh, well, I have seen worse first-timers! Merlyn, on the other hand, and not to be outdone, also decided to enjoy his shoeing experience in an unexpected way. He promptly produced his fifth leg for the blacksmith to admire! That whilst leaning heavily on him when each hoof was raised to be trimmed and shod. Despite the farrier's cussing, and threats to tap the fifth leg with his hammer, Merlyn didn't put it away and clearly fancied a bit of rough or whatever! He became increasingly excited! Thankfully, after a bit of belly slapping with his extra leg, I am glad to say the result was not as bad as I feared it might be, and little more than a few drips and dribbles! God knows if the farrier had been shoeing an in-season mare prior to Merlyn, but I have never known him get that excited - not even when one has been turned out with him and flirting madly under his nose! He usually just bites their backsides as if to tell them to go away and leave him alone! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I know he always does it when eating, but never before when being shod!