Having buried Alex the ex-Yorkshire terrier at the bottom of the garden earlier in the summer (he was 19 and still going strong, but he was hit by a truck), my daughter Alma has now acquired Jack, a Silky terrier. They are Yorkshire terriers crossed with Australian terriers; slightly larger than Yorkshire terriers but still pretty tiny, with very soft fur like a cat’s. He’s now 11 weeks old.
If you click on the pictures you will be able to see him in his full glory – and practically at full scale:
He hasn’t had much contact with the goats yet, but he gets on very well with Topsy, who treats him like a small child and generally looks out for him. He’s too young to take for walks; we’ll probably start in the spring, he’ll still be too short to walk around in snow this winter.
A Bad Guide 
Oh, pleeeease! He’s absoutely adorable!!
¡Bienvenido, Jack y felicitaciones!
(Do you think he’ll understand Spanish?)
Of course. Don’t you think all dogs understand Spanish?
Yeah? I’ve never thought about it… Some people here talk to them in German. Or is it English? I’m not sure
Jack? Because he goes «Rip! Rip!»?
But he’s a good-looking bastard!
I think Spanish & English. Some people here talk to them in Norwegian, which is clearly ridiculous.
Hello, Jack! Welcome!
My dogs seem to handle English, Catalan, Castilian and French. But all the dogs in the village “sit” in English. Could it be the dog treats in my pocket?
Again, condolences on the loss of Alex, and some strokes to Jack.
(The “carosel” isn’t working here. No idea why.)
What a wee beauty. Anyway, the advice is never buy a sheepdog in Wales. He’ll only speak Welsh.
Thanks. He’s very nice.
Wildlife news.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/First-wild-wallaby-spotted-in-Cambridgeshire-16102012.htm
I’d no idea there were wallabies in Cambridgeshire. They must look right at home, bouncing across the fens.
“Police said they had … contacted wallaby owners in the area”: do they keep a master list of wallaby owners? Why? How composed?
I think I meant “how compiled?”, but “how composed?” is also a good question.
It also makes you wonder how long their kangaroo list must be. Were kangaroo owners contacted too? And what happens when they bounce into Norfolk or Essex: do enquiries cease at the county boundary?
I’m surprised this story about there having been wild wallabies in Cambridgeshire for the past sixty years has slipped by me. Is it only ever mentioned in the Cambridge News? You’d think the university would advertise it in its prospectus.
Now it wants to be a celebrity.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Wild-wallaby-snapped-today-in-Cambridgeshire-village-18102012.htm
a Shepreth Wildlife Park spokeswoman now says the wallaby is most likely to be an escaped pet – as it appears to be alone.
No logic there. I’m often alone, but I’m not an escaped pet. Dare I say the picture is a very good one for the Cambridge News? They could make sightings into a weekly column, next to the weather.
It is the Greta Garbo of wallabies.
It continues to back into the limelight.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Germany-Not-me-says-wallaby-that-decided-to-hop-it-19102012.htm
Enter Gloucestershire.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-18979283
Perhaps it’s time for a round up?
(Oh what a fine joke!)
i) Wallabies in UK: http://www.ptes.org/?page=152
ii) Cornwall: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7825467/Wallaby-colony-living-in-Cornwall.html
iii) The terror dimension: http://britishbigcats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/three-wallabies-found-savaged-to-death.html
iv) Kent: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4308874/.html
vi) video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_e27xd08dY
vii) Wiltshire: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=wallabies+in+Britain&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1671&bih=895&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsu&tbnid=EFDjsXsz4D9p7M:&imgrefurl=http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/108444&docid=TGYOa7a9pYNQMM&itg=1&imgurl=http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/10/84/108444_b8b644d2.jpg&w=640&h=427&ei=pRuBUIW6LIm80QWSyYG4BA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=649&vpy=282&dur=2035&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=84&ty=104&sig=102374284518826898076&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=211&start=0&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:96
The BBC (Gloucestershire branch) says we suspect it was just student high jinx. I didn’t know wallabies brought bad luck. Maybe it’s just to students.
Red-necked wallabies are the only species of marsupial known to be at large in the British countryside. They are not native to Britain but were introduced from Australia in about 1940…They have no natural predators in the UK.
So why aren’t they all over the place? I suppose they’re being killed by all the panthers.
A telling question is posed.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Skippys-owner-reveals-how-he-made-escape-19102012.htm
The photo dept. at the Cambridge News is cursed, how did they manage to make that picture half yellow and half blue? Is it a Polaroid? It’s rather nice that William Fernando didn’t bother to chain him up, but surely he could have come up with a better name than Skippy, especially if he’s sending him to Germany. How about Angela, with a hard G? I wonder how high they can jump.
About Norway not Wallabies.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Fish-of-the-day-is-halibutand-the-next-and-the-next-25102012.htm
Cambridge is about the last place I’d look for a 180 kilo halibut, but, but since it actually came from Norway, it’s really a steinbit. Huge. If a fisherman told me he’d caught a halibut bigger than a man, I’d tell him to pull the other leg.
No news of Skippy? He’s probably got a Christmas job as a mascot at one of the older & stuffier colleges. Trinity has a scholarship for Australians.
Ahoy, Crown. This might interest you (or Jack).
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/10/please-design-me-dog-house.html
I sort of knew about this, but I can’t remember ever having seen it. Nowadays they do this sort of thing every so often, architects’ bird tables and dog kennels in Long Island etc., particularly during recessions, as a way of drumming up business. I admit I’ve considered making one, but our dogs are used to sleeping indoors on beds now. Do you think they’d buy it?
Sometimes trees fall down.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Teenager-lucky-to-be-alive-as-tree-topples-30102012.htm
How do the tree surgeons make urgent checks on Cambridge’s trees, do you think, and will they be checking all 15,000 today? What about the trees in people’s gardens? There’s a tree that’s on its last legs in our garden, it’s leaning on a next door tree, but I’m going to leave it until the spring.
Just think what’ll happen when the tail end of the NYC hurricane reaches us. Ooh! (Or, indeed, you.)