I have emailed a breeder about seeing an adult dog , no answer yet but does anyone know how much puppies are before I get excited?
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moosemama ·
31/03/2014 16:08
There's some stuff about coat types here. I've never seen an Irish coated pup, but have met a few adults - over in Ireland actually and they feel soft and silky and have a bit of a sheen. I'm told their coats can be quite harsh as pups, but develop in the soft ringlets they have when they're older. My girl's coat changed a lot when she was spayed and became quite cottony, which was really annoying and much harder to groom.
I was actually at college to do canine studies with a woman that had several beardies and we did notice a similarity in their coat and the tools we both used to groom them. I bought a copy of the breed club's video on grooming and trimming (it was a video rather than a CD because I am that old) and taught myself to do her coat rather than paying a groomer. I loved it doing it though. When she was elderly I kept her trimmed short, as she never really enjoyed having her coat done and it seemed kinder not to stress her out with it.
runningonwillpower, is right about them being muck magnets, their coats suck up mud and dirty water and they do get cold when it's wet out, as they don't have an undercoat to protect them.
I have a great photo somewhere of dh holding our girl at arms length because she was literally dripping with mucky water after a particularly memorable walk when we got caught in a thunder storm while walking in a forest. She looked like a swamp thing! 
Our girlie hated getting wet or dirty though, so it wasn't too much of an issue. I do think she was unusual in that respect though, as the ones we've met out and about have been more than happy to wallow in every muddy puddle.
Odd that your girl is vocal, running, our girl never barked. I think I can only recall two occasions when she ever barked, one was telling off our upstart of a puppy when she really overstepped he mark and the other was when the same pup escaped from our garden. She was the quiet matriarch of our household and despite being the smallest, ruled the roost over both our other dogs without ever raising her voice. 
They are clever and easily bored. My girl had passed her gold good citizen award by the time she was 1 and loved heelwork-to-music, agility and obedience (she was a real show-off ). She thrived on training and would badger me to train her rather than free-run when we were out on walks by constantly throwing fancy heelwork and heelwork-to-music moves at me.
It's important to remember that they are terriers though and - some more than others - retain the terrier traits. Like running's girl, my girl had the sweetest natures and was extremely gentle and patient, but I know others that are pretty full on terriorists.
As running said, if you aren't scared off by a lot of grooming and plenty of muck - which you probably won't be having had beardies before, then the SCWT could well be the dog for you.
moosemama ·
31/03/2014 16:35
I think the hard to train thing comes out of the terrier stubbornness/independence. We used clicker training and it's certainly true that it was never worth locking horns with her, she had to believe things were either her idea or worth the effort - so creative thinking was sometimes required when it came to training. I do think it also helped that we started her training very young, as then it was all just a game.
Recall training was definitely hard work, as she wanted to say hello to every single person in the park and we had similar issues with loner stays, as she'd rather get up and go and flirt with all the other owners than lie down quietly and be ignored.
She was never all that fussed with other dogs, although friendly if they approached her, but couldn't walk past a human being without being suitably adored. I think 'diva' would probably be a good description of her, as she loved to show off her training and thought every single person she met should tell her how beautiful she was. She never could understand people that weren't interested in her. 
moosemama ·
31/03/2014 21:53
Ah, that would make sense. Our breeder told us her bitch was unusual for the breed, because she was quiet, my girl certainly seemed to inherit that trait from her.
My lurcher pup has a talking voice that has to be heard to be believed. I'm told it's common among Salukis and their crosses. He has a wide range of noises for different things - everything from a clear teenage style 'it's so unfair' to something akin to a screaming seagull if he thinks he's missing out on something. He reminds me of those old public safety films for child safety with Charlie the cat in.
It's funny what you miss as they age isn't it? My girl used to grab the back of dh's trouser leg if he went near her food bowl. Never did it to anyone else and wasn't a food guarder generally, but she seemed to fixate on him and develop it as a habit, as she did it to him the first time we fed her after bringing him home (she was from a litter of 10, so lots of competition for the puppy food). When she became old and frail she stopped doing it and I remember dh saying he never thought it was something he would miss. 
moosemama ·
31/03/2014 21:54
Oo, how did that happen, I didn't insert it as a video - it just appeared. 
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moosemama ·
01/04/2014 09:28
No, that's not my boy. Mines a Lurcher - Saluki cross. That was just a video I found of a dog talking like he does. There are some picture of my boy on my profile - he's nowhere near as regal looking as the Saluki in the video - he's a proper scruffy Lurcher.
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