Cu Liath Deerhounds and Whippets

30/09/2024

On Friday afternoon I got a message from the dogs’ agent looking for a Deerhound for Saturday Night Live. I was at Canine Camp Getaway of NY, where I run the lure coursing. But the other staff figured out a way to cover for me, and with the support of the camp owner, staff and campers - and my son who brought me the dog who seemed most appropriate, and cared for the dogs I had at camp in my absence - I drove down to NYC on Saturday morning.

It was a fun day of rehearsing and hanging out with Emily and her Dachshund Elliot, and Erica from the agency. In the end, the skit was cut from the live show (they had WAY too much material!). And I figured that was that. But one of the campers thought she caught a glimpse of Solenn in a montage at the end of the show, so I went on YouTube to see if the montage was posted. And lo and behold, they posted the whole (rather long) skit! Solenn appears at the very end of it.

In this Cut for Time sketch a group of friends (Heidi Gardner, Andrew Dismukes, Devon Walker, Ashley Padilla) try to watch a new season of their favorite sho...

23/06/2024

Had a good couple of days at the New Paltz dog shows, a convenient location for a group of us with some young dogs to show. Vicki Smith Grandin brought Arwen, Paula Hogan brought Cici, and I brought Zoë, all of them at their very first AKC shows, and I also had Tessa and Solenn entered. We chose to enter Friday and Saturday under hound specialists Fred Vogel and Patricia Clark. Arwen was WB on Friday and Tessa took that honor on Saturday, with Cici taking the reserve both days, and Solenn taking breed both days. On Saturday Solenn went on to an owner-handled Group 3. The heat was miserable, but Paula had a terrific camping site under a lovely shade tree, and we all enjoyed both a shaded ex-pen and the air conditioned trailer.

02/10/2022

We here at Cu Liath are proud to announce the arrival of 8 vigorous Whippet puppies on 1 October. Plumcreek Aperture I’m a Game Changer x Cu Liath Layla.

23/12/2021

Lots of food for thought here!

Let your dog sniff, unrushed, when out on walks (yes, you might not get to walk that far - and that is okay too!)

Both Emmy (my Lab) and Barr (my Collie) are working stock - they are both high drive, born to work all day and love being busy. A very common thought is ‘these dogs need to run to release all the energy!’ Well, yes and no. I do exercise my dogs daily, they are off lead for most of the walk and if they want to run, chase each other and do zoomies, then I leave them to it.

BUT… I don’t encourage running - I don’t throw balls for them to chase and I don’t even own a ball flinger.

BUT WHY! Well, if I encourage lots of running they come home pumped full of adrenaline and struggle to settle, and if I use running to tire them out all I will do is make them fitter, then the next day to tire them out I need to run them more, then I make them fitter and so on (you get the idea!)

INSTEAD - I let them sniff to their hearts content! Dogs see the world through their noses. We go on new dog walks, let them explore, let them sniff every blade of grass if they really want to (if they are in this mood, we walk slowly with them - we don’t walk far ahead and then call them to us - that interrupts sniffing). This mental stimulation tires them out in a healthy, relaxing way.

(P.S. a little side note - I do go running with Emmy and we Cani-cross together, this isn’t daily - it can be 2-3 times a week at the most. After each run I encourage sniffing, licking and chewing activities (e.g. using Kongs, licklimats etc.) to help her settle and release all the ‘happy stress’ - adrenaline).

Happy sniffing!