Why Buster looks like he does

The story of why Buster looks as he does is a slightly shameful one, one that we hid from, to some extent, when it happened. To go back to the beginning, my husband and I, for many years since we got our first Schnauzer in 1987, spent much time showing, and then breeding pedigree dogs, first schnauzers, and then pharaoh hounds as well. Then we realised our hearts weren't really that interested in the pure bred dog game, that seemed less and less like a fine way to spend our weekends, and we gave it all away.

Before we gave up dog showing, something happened that made us stop showing for a while, half a year in fact. That thing was something that purebred dog people should never be involved with, and that is cross-breeding. We had two different breeds of dogs at the time. We had Schnauzers and we had one Pharaoh Hound, our first. The Pharaoh Hound was a handsome thing, and one of our schnauzers obviously felt the same about him.

Nena was having her first season, and was at theat stage when she really, really, really wanted to do something about it. She went through two fences to get to Kharis, he did what came naturally to him, she did what come naturally to her, and Nature did what comes naturally to animals when they mate ... Puppies arrived around 63 days, as is usual, and we then had to find homes for what were certainly not as sought after as our usual pure bred puppies.

So these puppies are exactly what Buster is, a Pharoah Hound, Schnauzer cross. A lean dog, built a little like a greyhound, with a mostly smooth coat, but with a slightly bushy face. Slightly like a Pharoah Hounds face (big pointy ears), slightly like a Schnauzer face, bearded. It was a mistake that we didn't keep Nena locked up, but it was certainly not done by us, it was done by the dogs.

We certainly make sure we keep our in season girl dogs well away from out male dog, who is the son of Kharis. We still have Nena, but she is desexed now, and far too old for puppies now anyway. She had some litters of lovely pure Schnauzer puppies after that mistake litter, puppies that had proper Schnauzer ears, not big stick up in the air ears!

The litters are all over now though, and the dogs just lounge around the house, or race around the yard, with no need to prance around the show ring. Life is good.

We still have more dogs than the average person (four of them), but we are happy to have our weekends back so we can do the things most (non-show) people do. Being involved in dog showing is the kind of thing that can certainly take over your life.

Anyway - we just have pet dogs now, so being involved in that bit of cross-breeding is no longer something we have to keep hidden. It was never our idea anyway, it was the dog's idea.

So, if you were to name the offspring of the mis-mating that happened, you would call them Pharaozers perhaps. Whatever you call them, they were cute enough. Having shown dogs for about twenty years, I was against cross breeding of dogs, and looked down on those who had puppies without pedigrees. I've settled down on the idea about that now, to some extent.

I have friends with beloved pet dogs, of various shapes and types, and I can see these little bits and pieces pets bring much joy to the lives of their owners. I'm thinking about Cathy's Bess, and Suzanne's Mozart, and I know these dogs are absolutely perfect! Oh except for Mozart's shoe fetish ...
So many shoes chewed ... But he's so cute and loving!

Ridding Garden of Pest Creatures

This picture shows our Pharaoh Hounds hard at work in the garden. Keeping the garden free of unwanted creatures is something they do often. Sadly they are not always terribly humane, and it is up to us humans to attempt to assist these pests finding humane ends to their timer in our backyard.

I don't mind the birds in the garden, if fact I love the birds who visit us. Fortunately, most of the birds are able to avoid becoming a meal to our hounds. It's a bit of a trade off - the pharaoh hound is an imported creature to our land, and the reptiles are all native to our land.

The snakes are one species I don't shed tears over, if they lose their life here. When our dogs capture a lizard though, whether it's a bearded dragon, blue tongue lizard or sleepy lizard, that pains me. I don't like it when the dogs find one of these wanderers... I just wish they would wander further, and stay in the places the dogs can't get to.

Our schnauzer is now an older lady, and she's not of the same nature as the pharaoh hounds, so these creatures, and the birds as well, are all safe from her. I just wish the dogs would all focus on the mice who invade our kitchen every now and then ...

Spring is Waking Up the Hounds!

Well, the sun is shining down (in between spring showers), and the dogs are leaving their sofa far more often, and venturing out to the garden. As I may have mentioned before, Buster is not a real dog, but the dogs he is based upon certainly are real dogs. They piss and shit, dig and race around, just like all dogs do.

Three of our dogs are Pharaoh Hounds, one of them a Standard Schnauzer. So this means the three hounds add chasing things into their mix of daily doings. The Schnauzer, being an older lady, and a sensible dog, leaves the chasing up to the leaner, crazier dogs... Schnauzers were originally created by German farmers to use as general farming dogs. So they were obedient and useful helpers. They were also child-friendly, earning the term 'Kinderwatcher', meaning child minder.

Pharaoh Hounds were originally named something else entirely, in their nation of origin - Malta. The Pharaoh Hound, or Kelb tal Fenek is the National Dog of Malta. They were used by farmers too, but weren't required to be obedient - their role was to hunt rabbits. Having owned this breed for over 10 years, I certainly know about their love on hunting!

Our Pharaohs will hunt any creatures that are available, outside. They've caught and killed lizards, birds, mice and at least one snake. Inside, they tend to ignore the mice, which is soooooo annoying! I've seen our pharaoh hounds snapping at flies, grasshoppers, butterflies and other assorted insects. And I've seen our Pharaoh Hound girls watching Air Force planes as they zoom by overhead ... It makes me wonder what they'd do if one ever landed here!

So, Spring is here, and the birds are all coming down with a dose of Spring Fever. The birds are so busy gathering nest building material, and engaging in the mating game, that I fear they're not always paying adequate attention to their safety. I suspect our hounds have been getting the odd bit of home killed meat, complete with feathers, here and there. I love birds, I love watching them, and it always makes me sorry when one of them falls victim to our dogs.

I love our dogs too, though, and I know it's perfectly natural for them to hunt and kill. The Laws of Nature can seem cruel, but that's just me beeing silly. Nature has many Rules and Laws, and I'm just one person, who is also subject to the Laws of Nature. I can only hope Nature continues to be kind to me, as I endeavour to be kind to Nature ...

Our Diggy Dog

Well, Graham and I took our diggy dog La De (pharaoh hound) as well as our schauzer Nena to the dog park two days ago. He could have dug there as much as he liked and no-one would have got upset.

There were some nice piles of sand at the park as well as some interesting looking areas with bushes and dirt. He ran around sniffing and peeing, but he didn't dig at all!

Which just proves the saying 'you can lead a hound to dirt piles, but you can't make him dig.'

The visit was lots of fun anyway, for all of us. It's lovely watching a pharaoh hound run - they are such beautiful movers. Nena seemed to enjoy running around too. She's not as super elegant as La De, but she does move well.

Nena peed on almost as many things as La De did, silly girl!

A good day was had by all!

It's raining, dogs quiet!

We just had a huge rain shower and I think all of the dogs have lost their collective powers of communication.

All of the Pharaoh Hounds are outside, and not a single one of them is woofing. It's a miracle. Of course they have probably retreated to their sheltered spots outside. I'm not game enough to poke my head out the door in case they start barking again.

If they're lying down somewhere comfy out of the rain, well that's good for all of us.

The Schnauzers are both inside at the moment. One of them is our oldest girl, Rangler (CH Holkschter Ranger Jane), and the other is Nena who I have a very soft spot for. I think Nena feels the same way about me.

That will all change soon enough, Jake will come home from school, dogs will have to woof at him to say "hello, let us inside please". Then it will be dinner time for the dogs, and even Rangler, especially Rangler, will woof at me to make me work faster.

Rangler hasn't figured out yet that I take exactly the same time to make dogs' dinner whether she's barking her had off at me or not. She'd annoying, but at least she's not one who digs holes in the back lawn!

Dogs in the Garden

I was talking to someone the other day and they told me their dog doesn't do any gardening. Doesn't dig holes, or chew plants, none of that naughty stuff.

Then they remembered. Their dog likes to move plants around a bit. He digs plants up, moves them to another part of the garden, then replants the plant in the new spot.

The person said it almost apologetically, like they were sorry their dog wasn't destructive! I would love to have a dog that did what that person's dog does. One of our dogs had a real thing about a camelia we had in a pot.
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Helga, our first schnauzer, would dig the camelia out of its pot, time and time again, until the inevitable happened and we got sick of putting it back in the pot and just chucked it away. The camelia was looking sicker and sicker all the time. They don't like having their roots mucked around with.

Helga is also the dog that taught us how tasty bonsai trees are, or possible how bad out protective fencing abilities are. In the end the bonsai trees lived on a table on the back patio, surrounded by chicken wire and posts. It wasn't the most attractive display in the world, but it kept the plants safe.

In her defense, I will say that Helga was a puppy at the time, and she grew out of the habit. Or maybe she didn't do it any more because we moved house and the bonsai was kept in a part of the garden the dogs didn't have easy access to.

Anyway, our bonsai are safe from dogs now. It's just the bugs and the sun doing them damage these days.