Cu Liath Deerhounds and Whippets

03/09/2025

Leashes and Harnesses

I have a thing about harnesses. I hate them. I totally get the reason that people use them: their dog pulls, and they don’t want to strangle the dog or possibly injure him, so they get a harness that will “gently” correct him. Maybe. Harnesses that reduce the dog’s desire to pull do so by making the dog uncomfortable if he pulls. And while uncomfortable is a step up from strangled, I suggest that you take a step back for a moment.

If your dog is pulling, so are you.

Anyone who has walked with me and my dogs knows that I regularly walk two, three or even more dogs, any two of which outweigh me. And they have a lower center of gravity, and better traction. They would win any tug of war, which is why I don’t let them pull. And I do this with a simple leash and collar. As it happens, I usually use a slip or “choke” collar. But since the leash is almost always slack, the dog is never strangled. (The method works equally well with a buckle collar, but I don’t have the patience to keep buckling and unbuckling collars.)

So try this. Attach a leash to your dog’s collar and just hold the handle of the leash. Repeat after me: “Excuse me; we’re attached.” If your dog pulls, resist while you say “Excuse me.” And then - this is the important part! - relax your hand and let the leash have a little slack while you say “We’re attached.” At first you will probably have to repeat the action several times before your dog gives up and stops pulling, and he will pull again at the next distraction. After a few times, he will stop pulling after the first or second resist/release.

To make it stick, you have to recognize an implicit contract you are making with your dog. You set the length of the leash and the direction of travel. Your dog is responsible for keeping slack in the leash. If he tightens the leash, you will remind him (excuse me) and then reset the slack (we’re attached). You can call your dog, or move closer to him in order to shorten the leash, but you cannot reel him in, because you are never going to put tension on the leash.

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.

07/06/2019

It’s true that dogs are pack animals. But a pack is different from random collections of other dogs.

19/12/2018

Finally home from my Southern Pilgrimage: six weeks of wandering around in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. The first weekend was the AKC National Lure Coursing Championship in Weirsdale FL; the next was 4 dog shows at Ocala; then came Thanksgiving with Lynne Pickard Lozano and her family, followed by 3 dog shows in Montgomery AL; then back to Lynne’s for a couple of days before a 5-show weekend in Perry GA. Then back to Lynne’s for a few days (and a meeting with a real-life -as opposed to dog-life - client), followed by a few days with Joi and Gary Hosker before finishing out the trip with 5 days of shows in Orlando.

The NLCC was fun, and I got to see some outstanding dogs run, but it was also disappointing on two fronts. First, I was the only Deerhounder there. And second, my stronger dog, Vivi, pulled something in her shoulder in the finals run of the Sunday trial, so she could not compete in the NLCC portion of the competition. I could have run the veteran, Nelson, but he was not going to be competitive, and was pretty tired after the finals run, so I elected to pull him as well, rather than risk an injury.

I had several goals for the dog show portion of the trip. I hoped to finish titles on Whippets Jive (who needed 2 singles for CH) and Cash (who needed 6 singles for GCH) and on Deerhound Vanguard ( who also needed 6 singles for his GCH). Mission accomplished! Vanguard finished in Orlando after picking up points in Montgomery and Perry (he wasn’t shown in Ocala). Cash finished in Montgomery after picking up some points in Ocala. And Jive picked up one point in Ocala, and got the second on a technicality, also in Ocala, but I only found out about it when I was in Orlando.

But beyond titles, I also wanted people to see Seaforth, who will turn 8 on February first, and I wanted my puppies, Kilbourne Regulus (aka Derby - pronounced the English way, Darby, since he is an English import from Derbyshire) and the Whippets, Cu Liath Loudoun and Cu Liath Layla, to get some ring experience. That they did! Not only was Seaforth seen, but he picked up points toward the gold GCH title (that he will almost surely never earn, given his age) and several NOHS wins, including an NOHS group 2, along with a nice breed win under Anne Katona. Vanguard and Cash also picked up some NOHS points on the trip, including a group placement for Cash and two for Vanguard.

But I was perhaps proudest of the puppies. Loudoun and Layla went from whirling dervishes on pogo sticks at their first couple of shows to contenders, earning a reserve or two along the way. Special kudos to Victor Kemp who handled Loudoun to his first successful circuit of the ring in Ocala (which enabled me to focus on Layla enough to get her around the ring as well). Baby Derby was only able to compete a few times in the 4-6 month competitions, but he managed a baby puppy Best in Show at one of the Montgomery shows!

19/11/2018

A good weekend of shows in Ocala.