Friends Letters Hi there, Just a quick hi and to share a picture or two with you. Florrie is well although have also become somewhat deaf of late but can't decide if it is genuine or simply when it suits her. She sleeps a little more and somewhat deeply now and sometimes it’s quite difficult to wake her. We snore now and break wind a little - nothing that I won't do at her age! |
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We have an otter down at the lake which Florrie likes to check up on now along with the mink. I have to bring the lead with me now just in case she refuses to leave the Water Ski Club. Basically if there is food cooking on the BBQ madam refuses to leave. Normally when I am skiing Florrie is always to be found in the boat but now the BBQ watch takes preference! She also has a new game - the Staring Game. Basically if you blink you give me a sausage! Flo has worked out that the women are an easier touch than me for snacks. My sister brought me a kilo bag of biltong back from South Africa which I had been sharing with Flo on long journeys in the car. I went to get the bag it from behind the driver’s seat the other day to find an empty bag! Flo is not normally a thief but it must have been too much of a temptation for her. Whether it was eaten in one sitting I do not know but thankfully it stayed down! Regards Dermot and Flo I have only recently become aware of the delights of the Irish Terrier. Having been made redundant after working in a Bank for 32 years, I embarked on a training course to learn dog grooming. Of all the dogs that passed through my hands in those weeks, only one took my breath away & made me long to own one. That dog was an Irish! I attended Terrier day at Crufts & met a lady showing a gorgeous IT dog called Finn. We chatted & I found out that she had bred her bitch the week prior. I had to put my name down, I said for a boy. However, when the pups were born & I went to see them, although they were all lovely, I only had eyes for one cheeky fluffy little bitch. So began the anxious wait to see if I could have her but joy of joy all worked out & I now have her at home. Just the sight of her makes me smile, she just radiates happiness & fun. I can never imagine being without her & cant wait to take her out to share her with the world. I am so pleased to join your ranks & look forward to meeting new friends at the events ahead. Look out for us, her name is Balyrolyat Morning Mist but I call her Flo. Sue The beautiful Flo
Dear Lucy, Thank you so much for your great website. It is delightful to read such wonderful things about Irish Terriers. I'd love to send you a picture of our 11 month old 'Connie'. Where should I send it? Many thanks.
Dear Lucy and Jane, What a delightful newsletter. We got our new Irish Terrier four weeks ago and as you can see she is beautiful (see her on the puppy page). We called her "Bonnie" after our old terrier who sadly died aged thirteen and a half. This new lady is full of character and loves exercise. Have a wonderful summer,
Dear Lucy and Jane, These pictures are of my 6 month old puppy, Brannighan (see puppy page). We took him to his first dog show (not to be shown) for socialization. Needless to say, he thought he was His Royal Highness and all these dogs were just commoners! ;) Thought you might like to see him. Please feel free to give me your thoughts on him. He will be shown but not for another couple of months. In a few days he will be 8 months old. Jessica P.S. regarding the trim of the ITs at the show and how short their coats were, I would like to add that I don't think that is an "American" influence as much as it is the response to NOT having the correct coat. I'm not taking your statement personally as I am not American, however, I asked that question before because I live on the West Coast and when we go to shows on the East Coast in America the coats are trimmed a little differently. The fact is that many ITs do not have the correct coat so therefore they must trim them shorter because if they don't, the obvious appearance will be a dead giveaway! .....my two cents. Dear Lucy and Jane, Thank you as always for such a wonderful newsletter. I love reading about our beautiful special friends. They are just such an incredible breed. Attached is a new photograph of Jamey with her very good friend Mel to add to our features! They do agility together! With Love Jane, Jamey and Bollinger xx Letter from Finn – Logic Hotch-it came second in the best dog of the village. But it was in France and a French dog won, of course! Hello Lucy and Jane, Another blow for us this week. Caron is far more upset than I am, but I must say that my feelings are not devoid of some sense of being victimised or of racial prejudice. Logic Hotch-it our Irish Terrier only came second in " Dog Of The Village ". Regards, Response I do think second place is very splendid in a French village so don't let Logic Hotch-it be in the least bit down-hearted. Regards, Hi Jane, Thanks for your reply. Cassie is now 6 and still full of fun and mischief, we actually have 2 Irish and our 2nd is Paddy a Carolmac dog who is now 5. Both are fantastic and work wonderfully as PAT dogs at a local brain injury hospital where they have many friends. Nice to hear from you, Richard Kelly Dear Lucy, Thank you for your reply. I am currently awaiting delivery of some more books and will forward one to you once they arrive. Hope you like the pic. Wesley is a 2 year male and we have had him for about 18 months now. (We needed to replace our eldest son who went to university.) He was bred by Sue Seabridge here in sunny Lincolnshire and I happened to work with her husband. We had never owned a dog before or in Wesleys case, been owned by a dog. So after his glowing references about Irish terriers and a visit to their home we were hooked. He has the most fantastic personality and I have been amazed at the amount of attention he gets when we are out. People who had previously ignored my good mornings now hurry to greet me and talk to Wesley, as though we were old friends. Total strangers stop to ask after him and friends have even purchased his cousin. I am a great outdoors person and Wes has joined me and friends on many a day long excursion into the countryside, A great companion, friend and addition to our family. Rick Dear Lucy, We have chosen our puppy. We have called him Toby Vallentine and Toby for short. He will come home in 2 weeks and 3 days. I hope you see him one day. Mummy will send you some photo's of him.
Dear Jane and Lucy, Sybil and Whistle are constant source of amusement-apart from this eve when they chased a deer and came back 20 minutes later tails wagging...!! I could kill them sometimes!! Dear Lucy Thank you for the latest Newsletter. We are so sorry to hear of Isobel's passing, such a sad time - we know all about it......... It prompted me to look back at the 3 Irish Terriers who have 'owned' us over the years:
First there was Molly - daughter of Kiera Bentley's Tatty (Breezy Star Turn) & Jumping Jack Flash. We lost Molly to a heart condition at 11 years old. She had been the constant companion of Amber - daughter of Lyn Fegan's Ishky & Jumping Jack Flash. They had been together for over nine years. Then, as you know from previous correspondence we lost Amber nine months ago, aged 9 from an undetected tumour. Some months after losing Molly we bought a friend for Amber - Tattie - daughter of Ann Bradley's Brilliant Mr Sirius & Philippa (Fuff) Allen's California Cool Cat. She is now 22 months old & an absolute darling. She only knew Amber for a few short months but I am sure she loved her dearly. Attached is a poem - written by Amber! It is called 'Amber's Story' . This deals with the loss of a lifetime friend & the acceptance of a new puppy. I sent it to Fuff when we first bought Tattie and she said "Send it to Lucy Jackson"!! I don't know whether it would be good enough to be published in the next yearbook but I thought I would send it to you anyway. Love from Lynne & Tony Leber (&Tattie!) AMBER’S STORY Molly was my lifelong friend, we were together every day Lynne Leber Hi, I always love reading the newsletter and the articles about our beloved Irish Terriers that I had to share this little tale with you. Picture the scene, Friday evening, the end of a long week at work, a large glass of Baileys with plenty of ice foolishly left beside you on the floor... enter one very cheeky Irish terrier named Rosie who, before my very eyes carefully lifts the glass and carries it away to her favourite hidey hole under the dining room table and begins to drink....!!!! The glass was intact and not a drop of Baileys spilt. I couldn't quite believe my eyes. She was so very pleased with herself!! With best wishes, Caroline Russell
Lucy and Jane, Florrie is in great form. About three months again she was unable to get out of bed and I thought her time was up but the vet changed her heart pills to Fortekor from VetMed and also put her on Frusemide as well. Initially there was a bit of coughing but she has gone from strength to strength although is quite happy to sleep if we are not up to much. I went to a 50th birthday party on Friday night and left Florrie in the car as there were just too many people there. Needless to say madam had other thoughts and barked solidly until I brought her in at midnight! She has developed a snore which almost equals mine. She will be 14 this year and is finding it a little hard to jump up onto the bed so I got a stool which is about a metre by a metre to make it easier for her to get up. However Florrie has now decided that at our age that we should have separate beds and the stool has become her bed. She pops up for a chat when we go to bed and then retires to her stool. I bought a child’s duvet for it which she loves. I must tell you a story which happened before my
accident. We were out on Inish Bofin, an island off the west coast of
Connemara
. I was walking her along the road one
afternoon in the east village where we stay. Picture a row of 20 to 30
cottages fronting out onto a natural horseshoe harbour when she suddenly
disappeared. I thought she had slipped in between one of the cottages but I
searched high and low which much calling and whistling and no sign of her.
In the end decided to start at one end of the village and work my way back
knocking on doors asking people to keep an eye out for her. When I got to
roughly where she disappeared I knocked on a door which was opened by a holiday
maker. Behind her sitting in an armchair was Florrie. It turned out the lady had
opened the front door to flick a cigarette butt out the door and Florrie had
shot in and jumped into an armchair! Anyway surrounding Florrie were half a
dozen kids and a few more mothers all tempting Florrie with everything from
cocktail sausages to cream scones. Panic over but knowing my dog only too well
now came the job of getting her out of there. In my sweetest voice I tried to
coax her out but Florrie had other ideas - sensible dog that she is, and looked
at me as if to say ‘Dad, you can come and collect me in an hour or so when I’ve
had my fill. To cut a long story short Madam had to be rather unceremoniously
dragged out by her collar which was highly embarrassing. I can only wonder what
the people had to say about how cruel an owner I was after the door shut.
Meanwhile I led an Irish Terrier home which looked more like a hyena after a
buffalo kill with a very extended stomach. Regards Dermot
Response Dear Dermot, Thank you so much for your email. We love your letters and will put it up on the letters page. Getting on the right side of friends when you’ve done a disappearing trick has happened twice to me. Once with Princess Beega, who disappeared on Hampstead Heath behind a crocodile of school children, and was found an hour later taking tea with a very concerned lady who lived on the edge of The Heath. This was ten years ago and I still hear regularly from her. Her letters are full of greetings to ‘her lovely Irish Terrier’. Hattie, one from a previous generation of family dogs, disappeared from the Salt Marshes in Lymington and was found sitting by someone’s fire eating buttered toast and completely terrorising their old Labradors who were hiding behind the front door. We can’t believe we’ve never met Florrie but we all love her anyway. Many greetings, love to Florrie, Lucy and Jane
I love Lucy’s books and have quite a few of them. My favorite is .. for Irish Terriers & Other Dogs Too. I just found your website today. In the photo, Pippin is on the left and Mike on the right (Mike has the one ear up. Pip looks like he’s sniffing the flower.)
Mike will be nine years old in January. He is our first IT and has been an incredible ambassador for the breed her in the upper Midwest of the US. I did agility with him for several years; in January we hope to enter a program at a local hospital so he can become a certified therapy dog. They have never taken any terrier into the program, but Mike impressed them with his attitude and kindness and he has been invited back for further temperament testing…. I’m very proud of him. Pippin will be two next March. We just brought him into our family this past July. While Mike is a few inches over the standard for the breed, Pip is 1/2 “ under the standard – which made him too small for the show ring since the dogs he would show against are actually large for the standard. Show ring’s loss, our gain! He is a real snuggler and a very well-behaved little gent. He certainly fires up when he has critters and other dogs to bark at, but quite calm around the house. My husband and I do travel frequently and take the boys with us whenever we can, so they (Mike in particular) have been all over the US impressing people with the charming qualities of an Irish Terrier. People think Pip is a puppy next to Mike, but I tell them there are different sizes of any dog breed just like there are different sized people. Sometimes we just call them Mike and Mini-Mike J
Thanks for your interest in my boys. I’ve attached a few other photos. Judi
From John Heap
“You gave us such encouragement about our Irish Terrier Dooley and he’s grown up so quickly. We’ve survived his puppyhood and now have an amazing, wonderful, naughty loving, bright, gorgeous ‘lad’ who seduces all (adults and children) who meet him.
Hi Lucy, my "Mick" is 14 months old name Murphy, I live in NZ in a semi rural location, Murphy is a natural hunter and excels at it, I return home and the mayhem he may cause up the forest is matched by the gentle nature he shows with my two kids around the house. I love him he is my dog and my mate and not only acts on command words but reads your expression no words needed, they are a brilliant breed, like you I get stopped all the time "wow what a great dog" I beam with pride, like Murphy as I am Irish too.
Mike Nugent Morning to you both, I hope you have had a better summer than we have had in Ireland. Florrie is her usual bouncy self and everybody who meets her can't believe how old she is! In May, Florrie got sunstroke on our May Bank Holiday in about the only sun we have had all summer. A big lesson for the future as she was actually in the shade for most of the day. We have been in Dublin a lot this year which Florrie loves as it means lots of public park walks for her and many exciting ‘P mails’ to read and reply to. Apart from her usual fan base which she adds to every day, numerous photos of her have gone back to America. American tourists simply love her, with the usual cry of, “Is that a real live Irish Terrier.” I have so far resisted the reply of “No, she's the latest in Japanese Doggy Robot technology etc.” I have some pic's of Florrie in the west of Ireland in a curragh which I will send on to you, very picturesque! We have water-skied through the bad weather and Florrie has found where the mink live by the lake and has become very interested in them. Not sure what is going to happen when she actually meets one! We have a temporary new addition to the family, a small black kitten, which I found on the road. Florrie is dealing with it very well. The kitten has taken to tormenting Florrie at every possible opportunity and baring a few warning growls. Warfare hasn't broken out although Florrie has taken to wandering around muttering “kill kitty” under her breath. Hoping to find a home soon for the little thing. Life, as always, is a fuller happier place with herself by my side. Regards Dermot
Dear Mrs Jackson, Thank you so much for writing a book about the Irish Terrier. There are no books in Dutch about my favourite dog but your book was perfect for me. It has given me lots and lots of great information. My Irish terrier Diesel will be two years old next weekend. I just adore him. He is a real Irish Terrier and very very naughty. He makes me laugh but also is my best friend in troubled times. He's a friend for life! I can send you pictures if you like. Sincerely, Annemarie Dales
Letter from Vera Deak
I am also very pleased to see "dogs from my home" (Hungary) appear in an English website. Kind regards,
Have a look on our features page for the photographs Regards,
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