a budgie.

Remember Bess? My little feathered friend from the 1960s? She would fly to my left shoulder, nuzzle my ear then NIP my earlobe! Sensibly she would then fly to my curtain rod.

Hmmmm none of my various canine friends past or present would live happily with a feathered friend of mine. Not even Tiffany our chihuahua—she HATED birds! Once she even >nearly< grabbed a big bird by the wing, I was very happy she >just< missed.

Hmmm, a bit earlier today, I took Socks on a walk in a nearby village. I was horrified to see a big, fat, lazy, suicidal chicken slowly toddling down the opposite side of this fairly narrow road. Who could blame Socks for coursing this idiotic avian moron?

Its owner for one, the local council for another. Not wanting to cop some fine or whatever I held on tightly to Socks’ lead while sternly intoning “Leave!”

There was no problem. I know what Socks would have LOVED to do, what she was bred to do: staghounds like Socks were bred, a couple hundred years ago, to be poacher’s dogs, to course, catch and kill rabbits, hares, chickens, foxes, deer etc. In Australia—hunting kangaroos and now they are still used in hunting feral pigs here and to control coyotes in the US.

Not lapdogs, but dogs faithful to their adoptive family, not needing huge exercise but daily walks and the odd run on field or beach etc beneficial. You could find worse dogs to adopt!

But—a budgie AND a staghound/sight coursing hound (greyhound, deerhound, wolfhound, whippet etc) or a terrier (or a damn cat!) will NOT mix.

DAMMIT!

I really am wanting a budgie. Too hard. Socks still casts a calculating eye whenever a bird or two is near us as we walk.


LOL! Socks has a looong neck, a giraffe neck as I once jokingly remarked to someone. She normally carries it high. ahahahaha if a wild bird or a chicken or a sheep or goat or a cat etc is near our path that head drops. She adopts a real predator stance: head down so not too noticeable I guess, looks VERY calculatingly at whatever attracted her interest.

The prey drive of ten Jack Russells as I once described Socks’ nature.

She—her ancestors—WERE bred to be poachers’ dogs, remember!

It is very good that I am bipedal, not quadrupedal. Means I can see targets Socks would be interested in way before she can. Mind you, sight coursing hounds have very good peripheral vision, very good at detecting motion.



When the greyhound was first bred with a deerhound the resulting hound had sturdier legs than the greyhound. Ideal if your hound was going to be chasing rabbits, hares, pheasants, deer etc through rough country, scrub. Even better, staghounds could run as fast as greyhounds and do it for longer!


Socks is in many ways a staghound. BUT she is not a full breed staghound.

Having looked at Socks I see she is pretty much all staghound, no problem there. Long legs, deep chest with a bigger heart than most dog breeds and efficient lungs—the result of breeding for speed and endurance. Her snout is where she is different. Having looked around at different breeds I think Socks has some Great Dane genetics.

I am very happy to know Socks has mixed breed ancestry: means she has a bigger genetic heritage to draw on if she were to get sick.

While not as big as a purebreed staghound Socks is bigger than all whippets. She is also stronger than whippets and none could beat her in straight running I am sure.

Sprint dog events—the dogs/hounds are timed across a measured distance. Handicapping will allow short legged mutts like terriers etc to compete and have the advantage of REALLY long legs like those of Socks, whippets etc be adjusted to even the field.

Happy with this AS LONG AS RAW TIME SCORES ARE PUBLISHED! Love to see how Socks rates!

Terriers have a really big prey drive—I know this, our Australian terrier cleaned out a whole rat colony all by herself, no problem! Demi, the terrier in my avatar photo had a HUGE personality where Socks is a bit bland? Happy to have them chase the lure around the course, no probs! I had two terriers share my life. Headstrong little beasts, lots of fun.

As long as Socks can chase the lure at high speed why would I want to prevent other dogs doing the same? For all I care a daschund could toddle around the course for 20 minutes! I really don’t mind, really funny sometimes to see some breeds do the coursing!


BUT

How the hell could I have a free flying budgerigar in the house AND have Socks?

Socks is perfectly capable of putting up with a budgie UNTIL I leave them accidentally in the same room!



DAMN! I really really would LOVE a budgie!