Gutendog Press

Marley and Me

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:37:00 +0000

This dog needed a prong collar.

That pretty much sums up the whole book.

"Marley and Me", by John Grogan, is not exactly a book of profound revelation, in fact, the deepest thought that Grogan elicits is, well, jealousy. Two thirds of the way through the book, the Grogans rip up their "Bocahantus" South Florida sunshine roots and retire to pastoral, bucolic Pennsylvania to manage an organic gardening magazine.

Who wouldn't want that?

The 'catch' of Marley is the breezy, cheerful, inclusive story. Unfettered of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas-like anthropomorphizations, Marley's life is an attempt at control and a success at happiness.

There is a great message in loving your pets for who they are, and fulfilling commitments. But there is also great moral in learning from someone else's mistakes, and training your dog! And there is great warning too. Grogan describes how they trusted Marley with their human babies. Fortunately no harm came of it, but it made Ms. X cringe.

Ms. X Recommends: Marley and Me was the best option at the airport bookstore to while away the hours on a cross country flight. Worked perfectly for that, but now I think it's going to sit on the bookshelf for a long while.

Beverly Hills Tex-Mex

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Beverly Hills Chihuahua released last year. Ms. X watched it this afternoon. That is pretty typical of Ms. X's responsiveness to the Entertainment Industries latest panderings.

If you don't like Chihuahuas, well, you probably aren't even reading this post.

If you do like Chihuahuas, but you can't stand all the clothes, bling and crap - not to mention lifestyles - those poor little dogs put up with, you might be able to stomach the movie.

It has redemption.

It loses redemption at the end (in a BIG way; more about that later) but for a little while, in the middle, an ugly black and tan sloped back GSD freed the socialite bitch from a dog fighting ring and from the golden chains of her past.

Chloe lost her booties, lost her diamond collar and gained a eau' de Mexico No. 5 with the help of a well fed and groomed crew of Mexican strays.

That's where animal movies always lose it for me. Come'on. We're supposed to believe there are fat purebred bulldogs running (quite cleanly I might add) around the streets of Mexico City? Or the infamous alley cat gang in Stuart Little: if memory serves me there was a British Shorthair, Abbysinian, a couple Orientals and the ringleader was a Russian Blue?

Yeah right.

After wondering around for a while Drew Barrymore and Andy Garcia - I mean Chloe and Delgado - stumble upon the Lost City of Chihuahuas, deep in the heart of Mexico.

Hidden in the barren desert ruins is an enormous free ranging pack of ... Chihuahuas. Their ancestral home perhaps. How they survive is as questionable as how their leader, a long haired applehead, gets his grooming done.

But I suppose if you can feed a 100 odd tiny dogs in the desert, you can keep your long wavy locks, long and wavy.

Plump, well cared for dogs posing as strays is minor nitpick. Purebreds posing as strays is probably not so significant either, if it weren't for the moment at the end of the movie, after Chloe and Papa "kiss" (Papa, btw, voiced by George Lopez was one of the few voice-dog duos that really worked. Drew and Chloe, not so much.) that the movie producers forgot they were making entertainment, and slapped a warning label on their product. The warning was something to the effect of 'owning a pet is a big responsibility', 'lifetime commitment', ask your mommy and daddy first...

Now why the heck not, you might say.

Sorry. I am not one of those people who sit back and go "WOW. How Great was that of Disney to put that message out there! I of course would never irresponsibly purchase a dog, but I am well aware there are very few people like me and it is soo important that all the stupid people who just think Chihuahuas are cute and would run out and buy one so they could put ugly bling all over it get this very important message!".

Nope. That message was directed at me. I was the idiot Disney had in mind (so were you, don't kid yourself). And it's just another notch in the belt tightening around the neck of pet ownership.

Look at the movie for what it was. Paris Hilton covered her little purse dogs in bling from head to toe, and it was so popular that Disney made an entire movie about little purse dogs. They didn't have to do that. But if they hadn't, they couldn't have made a lot of money off purse dogs covered in bling.

While telling us those little purse dogs are too big a responsibility for the common man.

Especially those much loathed deer head chihuahuas. (Which Chloe is.)

Why, did you know that some people abuse deer headed chihuahuas just because they are deer headed? Yup. Says so right on the internet. So only evil people would breed dogs with such obvious faults that make people abuse them.

(Ignore the fact please, that appleheads have much higher c-section rates than deerheads. Forced c-sections are not abuse.)

Ok. So maybe Disney is right that the world is full of stupid people. Ms. X resents being lumped with any of them.

No Mas.

Some interesting articles on the dogs in the movie:
The Dogs from Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Ms. X recommends: Go ahead, show it to the kids. All in all it's not bad and if you don't mind Piper Perabo grinning like the Joker, you can watch it too.

The Hidden Life of Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:15:00 +0000

I'm delighted to share The Hidden Life of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas with you, because it gave me an excuse to read it again.

The Hidden Life of Dogs is a captivating record of observations about what dogs do, thoroughly mixed with a creative anthropomorphization of the dogs' motives. Ms. Thomas herself writes in the introduction that

A book on dogs must by definition be somewhat anthropomorphic, and reasonably so since our aversion to the label is misplaced.

It is a clever diversion to lend credibility to your words by acknowledging their biggest flaw, but it doesn't dispel the fact that this book needs a large WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Ms. Thomas kept a dog pack in her house. Contrary to the advise of dog experts, her pack was not carefully managed or controlled. It was instead allowed to morph and spar as naturally as possible. We get to watch the pack cohere and tear itself apart through a rose-colored window behind which our pets and our wild canids, the wolf and coyote, seem to exist in a state of tantric but terse equilibrium. We are left there to judge the good from the bad.

The pugs, Bingo and Violet, monstrosities of mankind, merely exist on the outer edge of the tantric circle. Tragic characters from a human folly, Bingo pines for the "real" dog, Maria (a husky), a natural canid and one of the 'beautiful people', while Violet pines for Bingo. It is Bingo and Violet who begin to raise questions about right or wrong.

When Bingo passes, little Violet is allowed to live the last year of her life crouching and trembling under a table in a self-imposed prison. We must conclude that this is what nature has decreed for Violet. But there is nothing natural about Violet, from the intentional design of her ancestors to the (most likely) artificial insemination of her mother, to her life in a home with a dog pack not of her choosing.

One could argue that leaving Violet to the caprice of "nature" was only wrong in the sense of abdicating for her the self-imposed responsibility humans took in the creation of the pug. But how is that Ms. Thomas' fault? Should she be responsible to the sins of past show breeders?

In Ms. Thomas' world, dogs only want each other. And so she reminds us frequently how her role in the dogs lives was only to allow, as much as possible, those natural canine interactions.

Should she have intervened? If dogs are self destructing, do we have a moral obligation to intervene? What about an owner/pet obligation to intervene? Ms. Thomas tells us humans are mere "cynomorphic substitutes" - outsiders in the canine inner circle. That is something to be thankful for. The canine inner circle is brutal, and Ms. Thomas interprets the canine conscience as a mirror of our own, mixing attachment and pain.

Consider the case of Viva, the dingo outcast who, like Violet, was unable to integrate into the dog pack. When Vivas' pups were born, Ms. Thomas anthropomorphizes a "single mom" figure, alone, frightened and utterly incapable of stopping the horror that was about to consume her.

The death of Vivas' pups is painted as merely the unavoidable consequense of being born to the lower ranking dog. Do dogs commit murder? It is Koki, the murderess, who emerges as the sympathetic figure because she didn't want to kill -she just had no choice.

But what about Ms. Thomas? She is the outsider, the observer, the human. Did she have an obligation to prevent the slaughter?

Ms. Thomas doesn't try to answer the tough questions. She writes her story for what it is.

I will confess to not being entirely sure of her intent. Is she advocating for humans to withdraw from the lives of animals? Or is she illuminating our similarities to remind us of our forgotten interdependence? Ms. Thomas writes that dogs have shared our lives for twenty thousand years, our world is their natural habitat. Interdependence, it seems, is our existence.

The Hidden Life of Dogs was first copyright in 1993, right before the clicker training popularity boom. If Ms. Thomas thought excessive training was "brainwashing" before the advent of shaping and luring and working for every mouthful of food, we can only guess at her reaction to the modern uber-focused canine performers.

If nothing else, Ms. Thomas does succeed at getting us to look again at our dogs basic canine nature. And perhaps, after all, that was her only intent.

Ms. X recommends: The Hidden Life of Dogs is one of my favorites. But perhaps the best thing about it is that it sparked my all-time favorite Dave Barry column.

Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:24:00 +0000

(This blog originally posted on 7/22/2006.)

Well, I've done something I don't often do. I've read a book twice. And not a fiction book either.

Don't Shoot the Dog is a collection of Karen Pryors' opinions, observations and conjecture regarding the real-life application of certain scientific principles of positive reinforcement.

The middle section of this book, Chapter 4 to be precise, is rare and useful resource. Ms. Pryor creates 10 typical household scenarios from a grouchy spouse to a cat that won't stay off the table. For each scenario, she presents a way to address the problem using a wide range of approaches from pure punishment to purely positive.

This section is absolutely invaluable to anyone who has to deal with other people or animals. It gives a way to say "if I do this... what might happen?" Or "so and so does this, I want them to do this... how can I change their behaviour?"

When I first read this book, I was new to the whole world of behavioural manipulation. Now many years and much wisdom and experience later, I read it a gain with a new and suprisingly more objective perspective.

I have never been convinced that the purely positive approach is our evolutionary destiny, and Don't Shoot the Dog reinforced me. There are wonderful things you can do with positive reinforcement, but most of the successes seem to come from the timely use of a marker signal. And when the subject does the right thing, of course he should be rewarded... But I digress. This is a review of Ms. Pryor's opinions, not mine.

For an ethologist, or anyone trying to sew together evolution, biology and behaviour, there are a lot of frayed edges in this book. But average Joe and average Jane, looking for a way to make dinner with Grandpa tolerable, will quickly pick up on the books main theme.

Reinforce the behaviours you want, while giving minimal attention to those you don't.

The most novel thing about this concept is that the behaviourists think they invented it. The underlying principle however, is really the foundation for that other social institution we call "manners". Judith Martin has written advice columns for the past few decades reflecting this approach over and over and over.

The behaviourists did explain it to us though, and gave us insight on how it works and how to refine and perfect it.

Ms. X recommends: Don't Shoot the Dog is good advice for getting along with grandpa, grandma and that annoying Aunt Bee. Chapter 4 alone is worth the price of the book."

Pro Pet Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:06:00 +0000

(This blog originally posted on 5/14/2005.)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Designer Dogs
Complete Idiot's Guides
Margaret H. Bonham - Author

Ms. X hasn't read this book, so don't consider this an endorsement, yet. However, I think the concept's sound.

"With photos, descriptions, specifications, and characteristics of more than 22 designer “breeds,” this helpful guide provides detailed information on everything aspiring pet owners need to know, including finding a breeder."

This is a great idea. Crossbreeds are an 'idea whose time has come' you might say, judging from their popularity. But truth is while the advantages of crossbreeds have only just begun to be sought in dogs, crossbreeding is a long established practice with other domesticated animals.

And finally, some ambitious, dynamic and caring dog lover (stop now, I know what your thinking but it wasn't Ms. X ) has stepped up to the plate and written an all-persons guide to these modern advancements in pet choice.

And what's her reward? The pedigreenatics claim "How Irresponsible!"'

The Worlds' Window

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Throughout the course of history, when someone or a group of someones have wanted to gain control of society, they push their agendas by influencing emotions and undermining the real knowledge of the masses.

In other words, buying indulgences to keep your loved ones out of hell was par for the course, until the Bible was translated in everyday language and Gutenberg invented the printing press and Viola! People could learn truth for themselves.

Today there are many books, all printed in common languages. But that doesn't mean they are actually read. Certainly in dogdom there are still many someones pushing agendas through emotional appeal and suppression of fact.

You see it in the breeder who tells her vet how to treat her dog. "You have to do it this way" she says. "Because an experienced breeder said so!" And THEN she gets on her chat group and asks "why do we do it this way?"

It's in the dog trainer, that espouses "purely positive" tactics but has never heard of Breland or Bailey.

In GutenDog Press, we'll share insights from real educational works, and go to ground after emotional hype.

The Dog, Structure and Movement

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:05:00 +0000

(This blog originally posted on 4/26/2006.)

The Dog ... Structure and Movement by R. Smythe, M.R.C.V.S

This little gem of a book isn't cheap. But it is Essential. It's a major weapon in the arsenal of the smart puppy buyer.

The only thing that will ever improve the quality of pet puppies in this world is the educated puppy buyer. This book is a beginners textbook to the structure of the dog. WHY do the bones fit together the way they do; WHAT happens when breeders purposely change one little thing here or there. And most importantly, Dr. Smythe tells the reader where the "withers" are, what a "barrel-shaped" ribcage looks, etc.

When you finish this book you will be able to pick out the dog with the long, obliquely angled shoulder blades, and you will know if it is a good or a bad trait for that type of dog.

Ms. X has often heard the complaint about a pet breeder whose dogs don't match the standard, and she's heard the show breeder using this as an excuse to tell pet buyers they should only buy from show breeders. Yes, Mrs. Show Breeder's dog may match the standard better, but she may also be matching an interpretation of the standard that is BAD for the dog's structure.

How's a puppy buyer to know?

With Dr. Smythe's book, you can. With Dr. Smythe's book in one hand, and a standard for ANY breed of dog in the other, the now-educated puppy buyer can look at the parents of any potential new family member and tell 1) do they fit within the standard for the breed? and 2) do they have a strong, healthy structure?

Ms. X recommends: BUY BUY BUY. The Dog, Structure and Movement is about putting the power to make smart choices back in the hands of the puppy buyer. And the puppy buyer's intelligently discriminating decisions will benefit all dogs.

New to Breeding?

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:42:00 +0000

(This blog originally posted on 6/26/2005).

"Raising Puppies for Pleasure and Profit" by Elizabeth Schuler, copyright 1970.

"Raising puppies can be one of the most rewarding of family projects. I like to think that boys and girls who grow up with dogs around the house somehow get to be the best men and women. Certainly having a mother dog is an easy way to teach some of the facts of life; she provides some fun money for Mom; and really it's not all that much trouble." - page 1, Chapter 1 "Puppies for Pleasures and Profits".

"Heresy! I tell you! Mad, mad heresy!" giggles Ms. X. Should she say, "Finally, a book that treats dog breeding in a realistic, sensible manner for the average person"? Except this particular gem was written in 1970.

Oh, then that means it's an outdated, antiquated manual based on folklore and old wives 'tails'. Books like that are the reason shelters are full and purebred dogs have health issues.

Right?

Nope. Wrong again. There is nothing antiquated about the advise in this book. Ms. Schuler gives ample warnings about health problems in breeds and genetic disorders to be watchful for and to test for. If she fails to list all of the ones known today, even the dullest reader can extrapolate her intentions to cover modern ailments.

What's more, Ms. Schuler gives great advise on caring for and housing the mother and the babies, what to do during the delivery and tips for socializing and training puppies. Careful selection of proper homes for the babies is not neglected either.

And she does this all with a friendly, helpful, easy-to-understand style, respectful of the new breeder and encouraging of their sure success.

In fact there are only two areas where Ms. X found Ms. Schuler to be behind the curve -
1) in nutrient recommendation. This is easily understood when you realize that the quality of kibbled and canned dog foods was not as good in 1970 as it is today.
2) Ms. Schuler recommends yearly vaccination schedules. Understanding of vaccines, and improvments in vaccines have also changed since 1970.

Just like with nutrition, today's new breeder will surely research beyond any single text to provide the very best for their pets.

But for every new breeder, and many old ones, this book would be a valuable addition to the dog library. Ms. Schuler wisely captures truths that have evaporated from most modern dog literature - that something is wrong if breeding dogs is just back to back problems.

And most appealing of all, Ms. Schuler respects her readers.

Ms. X recommends: "You won't regret tracking down a copy of this Out of Print gem. Great overview of breeding, just don't make it your only dog reference book."

Genetics and Breeding Strategies, essays for the dog breeder.

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 05:16:00 +0000

(This blog originally posted on 1/24/2006.)

Genetics and Breeding Strategies; essay's for the dog breeder. By Dr. Susan Thorpe-Vargas.

(This is an e-book, and not so easy to get. You may request a copy for 14 dollars by emailing the author at docvite NOSPAM_OR_SPACE @aol.com).

-- A flat out advocation of out-breeding.
-- A promotion of open stud books.
-- A warning of a bleak future for purebred dogs.
-- An insiders' perspective.
-- A wakeup call to today's purebred dog breeders.

Well, it ought to be the latter, but Ms. X is betting many breeders will just hit 'snooze'.

Ms. X found herself agreeing with the author on much of the book's content, but there was also a sad flareup of AKCitis, and an oddly conflicting push for genetic testing as the ultimate health panacea.

It's a bumpy start at the front of the book, where Dr. Vargas, despite her advanced education, promotes a long list of "responsible" breeder practices. You know, the ones breeders push to cover the breeding problems widely experienced because most breeders don't believe what she goes on to write in this book. Mmm. If you followed that you know exactly what I mean. It's tempting to roll your eyes and put the book down here, but don't. Keep reading. It's worth it.

In chapter two, Dr. Vargas explains a lot of genetic terms. Put a bookmark here. The best way to understand them is to keep reading, then flip back when you come across one of these concepts. Then you will learn it in context of usage.

At times Dr. Vargas almost sounds like an epigeneticist, like when she writes "One should be aware that no matter how high the genetic heretability of a trait, there will always be some environmental component in the expression of that trait."

There's a great section on the immune system. Dr. Vargas writes "When inbreeding occurs, the chance that the puppy will inherit an identical set of these genes from each parent increases. This, in effect, cuts the functional ability of the immune system in half and seriously compromises the quality and duration of life for the puppy."

Amen and amen! Eh?

But by the middle of the book, the commendable has slid into the mundane as this author pronounces "It is strongly suggested that breed clubs look at the heritable diseases associated with their breeds, and establish a well-defined screening protocal mandatory for all dogs owned or bred by members of the club."

Quickly followed by a placatement to AKC ("we are them, they are us") and calls for breeders to fund research - but only research for genetic disease, markers and tests. Not a word about research into environmental influences.

One other interesting footnote, this author also co-authored a multipart paper on Hip Dysplasia that said the disease was about 30 percent genetic, and she states in this book: "Over the several decades that hip x-rays have been done, the incidence rate of hip dysplasia in the general dog population has been virtually unaffected. OFA and Penn Hip, both closed registries, have had minimal impact." She seems wholly to blame this state of affairs on OFA and PennHip being closed registries... not a word about environmental impact studies.

Don't dispair though. This book is a good first step (you'll get this reference when you've read the book) we can hope, to opening epigenetic dialog and studying environmental influences.

Ms. X recommends: Read it. It won't tell you everything you want to hear, but it says a lot you want to know.

Cesar's Way (by Cesar Millan)

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:24:00 +0000

Cesar's Way. By Cesar Millan

Ms. X has been waiting for this book her whole life. Cesar brings to print, to page, to life! That evasive quality of communion between man and dog. I don't know about you, furry reader, but Ms. X has always envisioned an epitomical relationship between man and dog, where the faithful canine companion trots at your heel, attentive and intune. Responsive to you slightest movements, he follows you trustingly and confidently through sunny meadows and bramble lined paths.

But Ms. X spent too much time as a kid chasing the family terrier down the road. The vision of that perfect relationship seemed just that, a vision. Unattainable, except for a lucky few that had a "knack" with animals. You know them, Dr. Doolittle, Ellie May Clampett...

Dog training was somewhat effective, the traditional methods bring obedience, and clicker training brings attention to your every movement. But traditional methods require a lot of work, a certain amount of harshness and a dependency on training and retraining commands. And clicker training creates a dog that obsesses over getting tangible rewards. There are schedules of reinforcement to implement and perfect timing to achieve. And the end of both methods were always the same, a dog that was trained, responsive to the commands he knew, but without any deeper connection.

There had to be a better way.

Cesar's Way is just that way. Cesar is one of those guys with the "knack" for animals. What has made Cesar a famous, household name is his unique ability to cognitively describe his knack.

Cesar has made it possible for every dog owner to achieve that epitomical relationship between dog and man. And it's simple. But not easy. Cesar presents a three step program, Exercise, Discipline and Affection - in that order. In 275 pages, he repeats his simple message approximately, oh, 275 times.

The Exercise part is the hardest. It means we dog owners have to get off our lazy hineys and walk the dog, at least 45 minutes a day. The more the better. And Cesar tells us why this is so important to achieving his desired dog-state of calm submissiveness. The 'calm-submissive' state for a dog is the one that allows the dog to follow us faithfully and confidently through the sunny meadows and the bramble lined paths.

Discipline is the next hardest, maybe the hardest for some owners. The single most important element of discipline is consistency. And some of us were surely hatched in the waffle maker! But again, Cesar hammers his message home oh, 275 (approximately) times, and lets us know (unequivocally) why Discipline (and consistency) are key elements of the calm-submissive dog.

Affection is the easy part. And it's a full third of the equation! That's great news for us hard to motivate dog owners. If we complete the first two parts, then Affection can be OUR reward - and the dogs. Cesar is very sensitive to our deep affinity to our four legged children, and his respect for us is reassuring.

Drawbacks to this book? Well, there aren't too many, but one thing Ms. X wishes there were more of is detailed examples of Cesar working with his pack of 40 (yes, FORTY) dogs. HOW exactly does he get them all to be "calm-submissive" at dinner time? I imagine he has many helpers, to watch and correct signs of aggression etc., More of those kind of details about pack interaction would have been fanstastic.

Hey, maybe it will be the subject of his next book! (Cesar, if you read this...you don't have to give me any credit ;-) )

Ms. X recommends: Don't wait for Christmas to buy thisbook. Buy it right now and read it before New Years. This is the stuff of New Year's resolutions! And your dog will love you for it. An added plus? The 45 minutes a day plus of exerise will negate the need for unpleasent dieting resolutions. It's a win-win!

BOOK REVIEW: "Of Pedigree Unknown"

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. X) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:18:00 +0000

"Nothing spoils dogs like shows. Scientific breeders have exaggerated superficial appearance, often at the expense of stamina and courage and brains, until many modern showdogs are but miserable caricatures of the original animals which made their breed famous." - page 1, Chapter 1, Of Pedigree Unknown

Thus begins a fascinating, spellbinding tale of a lifetimes' adventure with real working dogs.

Beginning with Mick, the bull terrier mix ratting companion of his youth, Mr. Drabble introduces his reader to the arts of ferreting for rabbits and rats. As he grows, his tastes in sport mature and the excitement of netting gives way to lamping and coursing hares with the fleet lurchers.

Along the way he shares the struggles and trials of working dog breeders and players, the sad fate of the pit bull and vanishing of working whippets. In the real working dog world, ability is the key, not pedigree, and many workers pick their best dogs out from the animal shelters.

"They were not quite like the modern show whippet, which is a hunched-up, weak-looking creature, tail tucked so tight between its legs that it appears to be trying to ward off the worst effects of chronic colic." - page 78, Chapter 5, Of Pedigree Unkown

When Mr. Drabble wanted a replacement for his pedigreed german shephard, with the showdog hips that cut short her working years, he went out to a 'backyard breeder' ad in the local paper. The female was chained, the male (from an animal shelter the owner said) was penned and both were as threatening and intimidating as could be. The pups were carousing with the human youngsters and Mr. Drabble was pleased. A wise and experienced working dog owner, he knew what he was looking for and he knew what he saw. The boistrous little girl he picked out of that litter turned out to be one of the best dogs he ever had.

Phil Drabble was never a libertarian but his early involvement with working dogs developed a true appreciation for the natural relationships between hunted and hunter, an appreciation that doubtless held at bay more emotional sympathies for the anti-human activists.

If you want to learn the thrill of the hunt, feel the excitement of the dogs and breathe the crisp dale morning air, Phil Drabble provides a solid afternoons diversion with dogs 'Of Pedigree Unknown'.

Ms. X recommends: Get it. Read it. Live it.