We've dabbled in the show ring, in agility, and we are currently working on attaining our CDX at the Open level in Obedience Trials. My motto is: Dog ownership is what you make of it! I have explored some of the many directions the pure bred dog owner can follow, learning as I go, and plan to share my and Maggie's experiences, as well as future endeavors, in upcoming columns. The other doggie people I've met in my travels are a friendly supportive group more than willing to advise and encourage the neophyte. Using this goodwill, as your intrepid explorer, together with the resources available on the internet I hope to hold forth on topics of general interest to dog owners.
Any suggestions for future topics will be taken seriously and I encourage any reader to share their experiences through the purebred discussion forum at the end of each column. May your leash be loose!
The Dog from County Kerry
The dog from County Kerry,
The tousled tyke and grey,
See how he meets the merry
And tires them all at play.
Yet though he's raced and tumbled
With many a motley crew,
The proudest shall be humbled
That slight a Kerry Blue.
His fathers lived by battle,
Where crags and lakes and bogs
And glens of small black cattle
Had worked for small grey dogs.
Shrill Poms he'll scorn with kindness
Gruff Airedales they shall rue
The day when in their blindness
They roused the Kerry Blue.
Dark eyes afire for slaughter,
White teeth to hold and kill
Great otters by the water,
Big badgers by the hill.
The gamest eighteen inches
That ever gripped and slew -
Wise is the foe that flinches,
That flees the Kerry Blue.
Ah! pup that came from Kerry,
Unfriended and unfed,
To maul my boots and bury
Your beef bones in my bed.
You dream of Munster gorses
But, (here your heart shines through)
You let my tame resources
Content a Kerry Blue.
author unknown -- Marilyn Brotherton, Aisling Kennel.Perm.Reg Winnipeg, Manitoba,Canada
*This was first Reprinted in Punch" magazine" on Feb.7, 1923.
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