This was the year the Kerry pack moved to a new domain largely because…
[heavy sigh]
The man I considered to be my soulmate insisted on drinking on a daily basis, for purely medicinal reasons – of course. Chronic pain is a terrible affliction, and with it a tendency toward negative health habits that spiral downward insidiously degrading the body, the mind, and the soul. My life experience has caused me to feel that chronic pain is contagious. And I am sure beyond doubt that drinking is contagious, as it is very hard to tolerate unless you indulge at least enough to take the edge off.
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Way back when, the Kerries and -Dales met at a time when life was simple. It was just Aoife with the mother monkey, and the male had two dales. Though all people have a pain body, by some coincidence the two monkeys had each become mindful of that fact. They recognized the potential within each other. They eagerly faced the challenges of life together, and played really hard without taking life too seriously.
Overtime this all changed. The male took a different job with an odd working schedule. The mother monkey got more involved in dog fancy; showing dogs with less time on the trails. Stirling was added to the Kerry pack, and later Nollaig. The monkeys stopped playing together. And when alcohol hit the scene all reason was packed up and shipped to who knows where.
Before you judge the exodus, please factor in a pack of 5 with two unaltered male and two unaltered female terriers. People like to brag about their terrier packs getting along, and truly these people have bragging rights. No matter how great a dog’s basic disposition, sanity flies out the window when a bitch comes into season. With experience wise people become adept at canine body language, and precautions are taken well before disaster. In my experience, while Kerry Blues are very sweet loyal and loving …if someone brings a fight a Kerry has every intention to finish it, and they will never ever forget. [Sub-note: In my perfect world experienced dog mentors would spend less time bragging on how their dog’s have sound predisposition and more time on sharing the basic skill sets that our people need to manage a pack. But that would make a good blog for another day.]
Our bottom line was due to poor management Jasper and Stirling could not face one another without it coming to blood. We had that horrible undesirable situation where someone always had to be crated or behind a closed door. Jasper was twice the size of Stirling with a dense gnarly coat, so if a mistake was going to happen Stirling was the one taking the damage. It is no secret how crazy I am about this dog, and no amount of logic would keep me from breaking up a dog fight. Factor in alcohol, and you can understand I was living in a very dangerous environment.
After much long suffering and failed attempts at trying to positively influence the situation at hand, I made a mindful decision to move the Kerry pack. My heart goes out to the pack of -dales. I harbor no ill feelings. I miss the man. I can surely love what is good & pure, and forgive that which is ugly. In our life we have to make tough decisions.
