Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Still more gratuitous dog images
For the end of the year. Jutta's girls in Germany once again, on a bright windy day...
An end- of- the- day game painting Jonathan found in a museum in Brussels, with greyhounds.
And Princess Ataika, who can find a throne anywhere... at home or on the road, in this case Jim and Penelope Caldwell's place outside Laramie.
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9 comments:
What gun for peacocks? :)
Ummm... in its native habitat, where a tiger is always possible, maybe a Greener double twelve- bore, in the plain sturdy "Empire" grade meant to stand up to heavy use in the Colonies, choked cylinder and full; or if the shooter is richer, a Holland and Holland "Paradox" with rifled chokes for shot AND ball...
Still life of hanging or game after the hunt has been a theme in paintings and carvings for centuries. The peacock probably was shot by the landowner--they crank up in the dark and can bug the dickens out of someone trying to sleep. Despite the stack of death in the woods that would drive my wife crazy (not me, trip complete), the artist tastefully omitted playing cards in the dog's paws during post-hunt game of chance. I've got to get out of 2013 quickly. Happy New Year. Gil
Peacocks are considered bad luck in New Mexico, probably because people run screaming naked into the night with shotguns after listening to them, or die of heart attacks when one cuts loose overheard.
I just couldn't resist imagining what you would carry mounted on an elephant for a drive in the terai in Edwardian times (actually Jack O'Connor lived long enough ago to shoot a tiger in a drive, though he well overlapped us).
I owe a letter and was waiting to have time to do it long, but will shoot one over before we go out tonight. I have Craighead films of a Gir forest lion hunt!
The yoke-heavy collars on the greyhounds are interesting. Were they beasts of burden as well as sporting dogs or are the collars there by artistic license?
Good eye, Guy-- I hadn't noticed.
The English still use such collars for coursing dogs; I was told that they spread the weight on a straining dog so it doesn't choke itself, though this may just be a tradition. Terence Wright made such a collar for Plummer that he wore all his life, and Lashyn still wears a simpler version. I may post photos later.
Great photos!....And I have a coupla funny Brit poacher tales in my library regarding peasant-class poachers "reducing to possession" peacocks kept by nearby wealthy landowners for decorative purposes, but transferring them to their cooking pots! I say, old chap, good bit o' meat on one a them birds!.....and regarding those collars--I also have some sighthound collars like that--BEAUTIFUL collars I bought at Saluki Specialty shows I visited long, long ago. The design is as "slip" collars, making it easy to release lunging dogs quickly for coursing. Two of mine have little falconry hawk bells sewn on them! For me, they are too purty for daily use--I keep them only to show off on rare canine-oriented social occaisions(and I can't really remember when the last one of those was!). As for dogs as beasts of burden, from a sled dog afficiondo and practitioner's viewpoint(that's me)--you NEVER use the collar to pull, the collars just keep dogs hitched to the gangline in tandem, or to each other. They PULL from the back, with a harness. That one greyhound in the painting also looks like it is wearing a coat--I wouldn't think they were dog backpacks! Which can come in purty handy, too, however.....L.B.
Those collars do sound beautiful- can you provide pics? Thanks, Guy
Sorry, Guy Boyd, I have not the technology from my only access to the computer world--my workplace computer--nor the know-how to send photos! I CAN "forward" photos someone else sends me--that's about the limit of my abilities! Maybe I'll put those collars on my Tazis and get some old-fashioned photos, and send them via sloth-mail to Steve, and he can scan and post them one day on this site!? That WOULD give me an excuse to get them out(dust them off) and use them for a change! Whatever, that'd obviously take awhile, so don't hold yer breath!.....L.B.
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