Anna the dog

[david44]

You've definitely gone native mate

We all deserve a Pedigree chum

[Mendip]

^ Indeed we do!


Maya is our only long-haired dog and I do feel sorry for her in the God-awful stifling heat of the Isaan hot season. It's bad enough for humans.

Yet I am also growing weary of losing the top spot in the bed every night... bloody dog.



Here is her beautifully luxuriant coat in all its glory, in the morning sun.



I called her away from the garden into the shade by the side of the house... and immediately she sensed that something was up...



How right she was!

In contrast to Maya's worry-ridden face, Lola was positively enjoying the situation. She seemed to know it had nothing to do with her!



I jammed Maya's head between my knees and got to work with my Wahl beard trimmer.

It works well on my beard and if truth be told I've even attempted a bit of this 'manscaping' on occasion with some success, but the Wahl wasn't really man enough to tackle Maya's thick coat.



I trimmed her flanks and was hoping to have a go at the thick fur on the backs of her rear legs, but it was still soaking wet due to her sitting in the pool beforehand, and the Wahl wouldn't touch the wet fur.

So after a few minutes I called it a day.

Another factor in finishing early was that Maya absolutely hated the experience and made strange groaning noises... which in turn set off Tommy and the rest of the pack into a full-on howling session. They seem to sense when one of their members is in distress.



Not a huge success if I'm honest, and there was a lot of sweeping up to do.



I mean, fukk me. Now I know what Reg Dingle's barber feels like after Reg pops in for his annual beard trim!

[david44]

I trimmed her flanks and was hoping to have a go at the thick fur on the backs of her rear legs

Now that's what I call a Tombstone, well done Mendy trying to make locals cooler an interminable task IMHO.

Another day another doggy shag story

[Reg Dingle]

^^ Just the back and sack left?

[DrWilly]

Could you not buy a separate dog trimmer?

[dirk diggler]

Wtf have you done to that poor dog?

Poor maya will be the laughing stock for a while for that one.

People often comment on my husky being too hot in Thailand but their coat actually helps keep them cool

Does Maya have a double coat?


It is generally not recommended to shave a Husky, except in specific medical situations, as their double coat is crucial for regulating body temperature in both hot and cold weather. Shaving a Husky can lead to overheating, sunburn, skin damage, and even potentially alter the regrowth of their coat.







Here's why shaving a Husky is generally a bad idea:

• Temperature Regulation:
  Huskies have a double coat designed to insulate them. Shaving it can make it difficult for them to stay cool in the summer or warm in the winter.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sun Protection:
  The outer coat of a Husky provides protection from the sun. Shaving it can lead to sunburn and an increased risk of skin cancer, especially in areas with lighter skin pigmentation.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Coat Regrowth:
  Shaving can alter the natural cycle of coat growth, potentially resulting in an uneven, soft, or even permanently damaged coat.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Increased Sensitivity:
  Without the protective outer coat, Huskies can become more sensitive to environmental factors like insects, parasites, and even grass and pollen.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• No Shedding Benefit:
  Shaving a Husky won't stop shedding. They will still shed, but the shed fur will be shorter, and they will need to be brushed regularly.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

In Summary:


Shaving a Husky is generally not recommended as it can disrupt their natural temperature regulation, increase their vulnerability to sunburn and skin damage, and potentially alter the regrowth of their coat. It's best to focus on proper brushing and grooming to help them shed their undercoat, rather than resorting to shaving

[Reg Dingle]

I get the sunburn thing but care to explain this load of Lulu....

Huskies have a double coat designed to insulate them.

HTF does wearing two coats make you cooler?

[taxexile]

the outer layer prevents the heat from reaching the body in hot weather, and in cold weather the outer layer is the canine equivalent of an overcoat over a the thick sweater of the inner layer.

got to feel sorry for the state of that dog now. its self esteem must be right down the toilet. mendy should immediately take it to a beauty salon for some hair extensions.

[Reg Dingle]

in cold weather the outer layer is the canine equivalent of an overcoat over a the thick sweater

So how does wearing a coat over a jumper keep the heat off in hot weather?

[BLD]

^ Indeed we do!


Maya is our only long-haired dog and I do feel sorry for her in the God-awful stifling heat of the Isaan hot season. It's bad enough for humans.

Yet I am also growing weary of losing the top spot in the bed every night... bloody dog.



Here is her beautifully luxuriant coat in all its glory, in the morning sun.



I called her away from the garden into the shade by the side of the house... and immediately she sensed that something was up...



How right she was!

In contrast to Maya's worry-ridden face, Lola was positively enjoying the situation. She seemed to know it had nothing to do with her!



I jammed Maya's head between my knees and got to work with my Wahl beard trimmer.

It works well on my beard and if truth be told I've even attempted a bit of this 'manscaping' on occasion with some success, but the Wahl wasn't really man enough to tackle Maya's thick coat.



I trimmed her flanks and was hoping to have a go at the thick fur on the backs of her rear legs, but it was still soaking wet due to her sitting in the pool beforehand, and the Wahl wouldn't touch the wet fur.

So after a few minutes I called it a day.

Another factor in finishing early was that Maya absolutely hated the experience and made strange groaning noises... which in turn set off Tommy and the rest of the pack into a full-on howling session. They seem to sense when one of their members is in distress.



Not a huge success if I'm honest, and there was a lot of sweeping up to do.



I mean, fukk me. Now I know what Reg Dingle's barber feels like after Reg pops in for his annual beard trim!

And his annual back shave

[dirk diggler]

So how does wearing a coat over a jumper keep the heat off in hot weather?

A husky's double coat consists of a dense undercoat for warmth and a longer, water-repellent top coat for protection, working together to regulate body temperature and shield against the elements. The undercoat provides insulation in both cold and hot weather, while the top coat helps repel water, dirt, and sun.







Elaboration:

• Undercoat:
  This is the soft, woolly, and dense layer closest to the skin. It traps air, creating an insulating layer that keeps the husky warm in cold weather and prevents excessive heat from reaching the skin in hot weather.
• Topcoat (Guard Hairs):
  This is the longer, coarser layer that lies over the undercoat. It sheds water and dirt, acting as a protective barrier against the elements.
• Combined Effect:
  The double coat helps regulate body temperature by insulating the husky in both hot and cold conditions. The top coat also provides a waterproof layer, keeping the undercoat dry and maintaining its insulating properties.
• Shedding:
  Huskies shed their undercoat twice a year, typically in the spring and fall. This shedding process allows the dog to adapt to changing seasons and maintain its optimal insulation.
• Grooming:
  Huskies require regular brushing to remove the loose undercoat and prevent matting, which can hinder the natural cooling and warming processes.

[taxexile]

So how does wearing a coat over a jumper keep the heat off in hot weather?

well, humans wouldnt dress like that, unless they are one of those homeless dosser types you see on buses that drool and shout a lot.

dogs have different temperature regulating mechanisms to humans, they cool down by panting and they sweat though glands on their paws.

[Reg Dingle]

^ +^^
Why do they moult like fuxk in the summer then?

[Mendip]

I see what you're saying Dirk, but surely when 'hot and cold' weather for a husky is spoke about, whoever wrote that was assuming a husky's normal home, ie the Arctic? Not the tropics.

I can see that on a hot day in the Arctic, and they have plenty and I have experienced 30 degrees up in Hammerfest, an outer coat will help keep the sun off and the inner coat will provide added protection. But that's when the heat is in the sunlight, and the ambient air temperature is much lower.

In fukking Isaan, how can an outer coat protect from the heat when the fukking air is 38 degrees? You don't need sunlight. Everything and everywhere is 38 degrees. The walls and tables are 38 degrees and radiate heat, the air in my crotch and armpits is 38 degrees (you should see my fukking rashes right now), even the fukking pool water is 34 degrees at the moment. If a Laplander ever comes to visit me in Isaan, I won't expect him to wear his seal skin and polar bear fur parka with thermal underwear when walking around downtown Korat... I'll suggest he wear a light T-shirt with shorts and sandals.

I don't see how Maya having her double layer of fur will miraculously giver her a locally cooler temperature, when the actual fukking air is 38 degrees? Her body temperature is also 38/39 degrees... that heat needs dissipating.

There's a reason they shear sheep in the spring.

There's a reason that woolly mammoths died out at the end of the ice age.

I used to have a mate in Ulapool with an Old English Sheepdog... and you should see the fur on those things. That dog used to scratch on the door to sleep outside in the middle of the Winter. His coat didn't protect him from the heat of an open fire. He wanted the cold because of his thick, cold weather coat.

Anyway, I am very happy to be proved wrong, but you see my point. My brain doesn't accept that a thick coat designed for the Arctic is suitable for the God-awful, airless, relentless, all-pervading heat of Isaan.

And anyway, I am calling this a smile, not a look of reproachment. This after a half hour spent sitting in the pool.

Happy happy dog!



In fact, tonight Maya has been the most cheerful and friskiest I have seen her for a long time.



I really think that she is happy to be free of all that fur? I may even do her hind quarters tomorrow.

To be honest, the change has been so miraculous I may even hold the Kommandant down tomorrow and give her a trim.

It may cheer her up a bit?



But Maya is the same as me. We dress for comfort, not beauty these days.

Well, almost always...



And the Kommandant will go fukking mental at some point in the near future... hopefully after I'm safely offshore.

[Shutree]

I am calling this a smile

Like 'Thank you God, it's over now.' Smile!

[dirk diggler]

Hahaha I do see your point, but I’ve researched it enough and I’m happy my Husky is better in the sun than most dogs.

At the peak of the day when all other dogs are hiding under cars and benches he is just as lively as any other time of the day or night.

He’s just started slowing down a bit now and will be 12 this year. He’s dropped his rat and pigeon hunting game too.

So, as of yesterday, there’s a new killer in town!

Toto:

[Mendip]

What's his provenance?

Toto looks like a real ratter!

Maybe you could get him some work in Brum?

(Tax, there's really good article in The Telegraph about a gang of ratters offering their services to Brum... but I'm not sure how you manage to post Telegraph articles? ... hint, hint...)

[dirk diggler]

Jack Russell Terrier from a breeder in, I think, Nakhon Pathom.

Sourced by searching for the breed on FB groups.

I think he was 10k including his taxi to Songkhla.

No idea if there was papers, but I can ask.

[Mendip]

I like Jack Russells.

The taxi must have been a fair chunk of that 10k?

Should have stuck him on a bus.

A greyhound maybe?

[dirk diggler]

Well it was more like a ride share situation and it was either 2k or 2.5k.

Next one’s getting a bus!

Probably gonna get another one after he’s settled in.

They seem to be better in pairs but he was the only boy in the litter.

[Joe 90]

Cute dog!

[armstrong]

Well it was more like a ride share situation and it was either 2k or 2.5k.

Next one’s getting a bus!

Probably gonna get another one after he’s settled in.

They seem to be better in pairs but he was the only boy in the litter.

In the short term the 2nd one is incredibly annoying but I can see how much easier it'll be in a few months when it realises it needs to piss outside every time.

[dirk diggler]

My dogs are outside only so no problem there.

If they start chewing motorbikes we have a problem.

[david44]

My dogs are outside only so no problem there.

If they start chewing motorbikes we have a problem.

A gem I think while dogs may chase bikes they seldom chewing bikies unless Hells Mongrels or Bandildos

[taxexile]

Country ratter offers to help tackle Birmingham bin strike rodent plague.

‘My terriers will kill them all,’ Tom Bowen claims as he warns removing refuse will only send rats scurrying to gardens, cellars and sewers

Albert Tait

11 April 2025 12:16pm BST





Tom Bowen and his 'rat pack', Paul and Callum Fletcher and Ben Bowen with their specialist ratting dogs, plummer terriers Bramble, Ivy and Bella
Tom Bowen, left, and his ‘rat pack’, Paul and Callum Fletcher and Ben Bowen, with their specialist ratting dogs, plummer terriers Bramble, Ivy and Bella Credit: Heathcliff O'Malley
Tom Bowen and his pack of working terriers are the scourge of rats across the West Midlands countryside.

For almost two decades, the 61-year-old rat-catcher has been sending his dogs into farms and fields to sniff out and destroy rodent populations.

It is typically a rural affair, but he has now offered to unleash his dogs on to the waste-strewn streets of Birmingham to help with the worsening rat problem that is the result of a long and drawn-out bin strike.

“We could help 100 per cent,” Mr Bowen told The Telegraph. “Those streets need closing off and they need to get blokes like us with terriers to remove the rubbish and kill them all.

“It’s just like what we’ll do now on a farm. We’ll go and the dogs will use their noses to mark where the rats are. Whether it’s piles of rubbish or bales of hay, we’ll move it – if we have to we’ll put a net up if we know there’s a lot there – and then the dogs will move in.

“My terriers have incredible bite power on them. One on its own will kill a rat in seconds, and if there’s two, the rat will be dead in a split second.”

Giant rats in Birmingham


Rats the size of ‘small cats’ are infesting the bin-filled streets of Birmingham Credit: Jeremy Selwyn
Rats sightings have shot up in England’s second city as 17,000 tons of rubbish remains uncollected amid an ongoing bin strike.

Residents claim some have grown “as big as cats” while health experts have warned of an increased risk of Weil’s disease, a bacterial infection found in the urine of rats and other wild animals.

This week, a man appeared at a council meeting dressed as a rat to shame Labour over the state of the streets.

Appearing at the city chamber on Tuesday, the unidentified man asked officials when they planned to collect the rubbish.


Thirty miles away in Stourport-on-Severn, a town in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, Mr Bowen runs Severn Valley Ratters with a team of six family and friends.

Their most regular clients are farmers and, with a pack of eight to 10 dogs, they can often kill between 150 to 300 rats at a time. For 16 years, he has run the operation free of charge, saying: “It’s just something we enjoy doing.”


After following Birmingham’s rat crisis on the news, he has offered his free services to the city council which he believes is failing to deal with the situation.

He said: “This has been going on for a month now. If there’s a food source there, rats will move into it and start breeding. By making a situation ideal for rats to breed in, and then not dealing with those rats, the properties nearest those piles are going to have a real issue.

“As the council works its way down that rubbish, those rats will start to disperse because their cover is gone and they will start moving into the nearest gardens, houses, cellars, sewers, everywhere.

“It’s going to be a hell of a problem for the council. It’s like they think if they move the rubbish, the rats will disappear. But they’ll just go and live somewhere else.

“If it was organised properly, they’d have terrier lads like us who could get in with street closures.”


Mo Metcalf-Fisher, of the Countryside Alliance, said: “Ratters provide a free, humane and effective service. Given the shocking rise in rodents as a result of the Birmingham bins crisis, the services of ratters would seem an ideal solution to a problem that is only going to get worse.”

Rat control treatments were previously free to Birmingham residents but the council introduced a £24.60 pest control charge a year ago.


A council spokesman said: “The council continues to treat for rats for a contributory fee. We accept there are citizens who will no longer have that free service but we have done our best to mitigate against the impact.

“The fee is far less than the cost to deliver the service and is less than charged by some neighbouring local authorities. People can also purchase and treat themselves, as supplies are readily available in shops and online.”


The terrier that can kill 300 rats in a single hunt.

The plummer terriers used by Severn Valley Ratters are a favoured breed of rat-catchers due to their rugged determination and hardiness. They were first bred in the 1960s and 1970s by school teacher Brian Plummer who tried to create the perfect ratting dog by mixing a Jack Russell terrier with the beagle, fell terrier, and bull terrier. The result was an exceptionally intelligent breed with a sharp sense of smell, powerful jaw muscles and a narrow chest to manoeuvre into tight spaces. With a high prey drive, a pack of plummer terriers have been known to kill up to 300 rats in a single hunt. Some also hunt foxes and rabbits. The dog is not always recommended as a household pet as they require firm handling and lots of exercise and are not recognised as a pedigree breed by the Kennel Club because of generations of selective breeding.

THE TELEGRAPH

just cut and paste them from the online edition.