Well at least I hope they won't be edited out! The Cusidhs should be appearing in Programme 4 of the History of Scotland with Neil Oliver out this autumn. I've now recovered sufficiently to put this post out - but this has taken about a month! There's also more info on the Cusidh web site www.cusidh.co.uk

Everything started off quite calmly Hallaig (Cusidh Collie Hallaig) and Creubhag (Riding the Wind with Cusidh) were at Eaglesham, near East Kilbride, to film some hunting scenes with the Picts. This was fine dogs pottering about with the various kings handing them cheese and tripe sticks and some short runs by the river bank.

Here are some pictures of the Picts and Hallaig and Creubhag

and another picture with the Pict Kings

In the afternoon it was off to Pollok park to shoot further hunting scenes. Now the plan was for the camera to be in a van driving parallel to the dogs running in the woods with follow on static camera shots again of the dogs running through the woods. Simple and straightforward my Mum assured me! It was however far from it. I was, together with my Aunt, slipping four dogs. I was also holding the walkie-talkie. Holding two dogs whilst they were desperate to be let off to run and to respond to my Mum and Gilliam Shackleton call's until the camera was ready was hilarious. Dogs on occasions went too early with their leads on, dogs chased the camera van, dogs nearly pulled us over. However, overall they were absolutely brilliant. Especially Cluaidh’s Boon to Cusidh who is also known as ‘Slim’, ‘Dishcloth’ and ‘Bag of Bones’ due to her total lack of any body fat. She is though incredibly fast and also because she's quite brindle stands out quite well. Without her running enthusiasm I don't think the shoot would have worked out so well. Also Rossyln Neil who was exceptionally reliable re running in a direct line back to Gillian helped to get Slim away from chasing the van! Anyway, hours later we were heading home and I'm looking forward to seeing the programme. Look out for it and hopefully they'll be more than a couple of seconds of action.
Here's another picture of Mum (Claire Cartmell) and all the starring Cusidhs on set at Eaglesham.

Fame at last! Great photo's Elise and the hounds don't look too worried about them men in strange costumes. It sounds like they had a great time and the tripe sticks were a bonus.

Yes, the dogs really did enjoy it, attention, food and lots of running. I didn't meet Neil Oliver but hey you can't have everything!

Wow Elise, that sounds fun! I like the bit about the hound chasing the van, mine would do that too!!
I will certainly look out for it, if you know when it is going to be can you remind us on the forum, I'll record it.

Yes, chasing the van was quite an attraction but 'Slim' can reach some speed and was overtaking the van! So the shots were then of her sisters and Rossyln Neil. Slim is really a Greyhound type throw back I think. Here's a picture of her. Also how fast would she be running do you think Lurch? How quick do the Greyhounds actually go? I don't know if she'd be as quick but I don't think she'd be far behind.

Possibly about 30 mph, maybe slightly more, not alot, it seems faster though, especially when they are whizzing round that track! The Deerhounds aren't anywhere near as fast, mine coursed with a greyhound at Newbury and was quite far behind, saying that, the Deerhounds can't get up to that speed because they are so big, may Slim isn't far off if he hasn't got much weight to carry! Bless! Mine chased a horse once, luckily it was a dog friendly horse, he also chases people in golf buggies! What are they like!!!

How exciting. I hope they get some good "air time"

That's great and does sound like a lot of fun, Elise, but also a lot of work, I'll bet.

Talking of speed, Once at a lure coursing event, I was trying to get Tess to follow the lure not the other dog, so I ran her with my lurcher and a chap had a radar gun with which he clocked the lurcher at 36 mph. Tess was right behind and keeping the distance between even. Even allowing for some error, that was pretty fast I think. Of course Tess is only around 73 lbs. or so, but a go getter.

Hope they don't edited out, it'll be interessting to see it.

Yes, that's certainly pretty quick. Look out Usain Bolt if we get Slim in training for the 100m!

The series starts on the 9th of November 2008. I think though it's only shown on BBC Scotland for now. I think everyone should be able to watch it via the BBC iPlayer service though

The Cusidhs will appear mostly in episode 4, but there might be a few climpses of them in episodes 1 and 2 also. So if you get to episode 4 you might be more be more clued up re Scottish history than you originally bargained for!

I am interested in the assessment of deerhound speeds. My bitch was bred to hunt and is 29.5 inches at the shoulder. She is incredible thin by most standards, as she is a very fussy eater. A local vet, who worked with New Zealand boar hunting dogs, described her as a good example of a working dog on the thin side of average. I also have an ex racing. male, greyhound, who is about 28 inches at the shoulder and weighs in at over a stone more. In initial acceleration and in sustained running there is no significant difference in speed. What the greyhound has is an ability to put on a short burst of speed in the middle part of a run and out run the deerhound. Given that greyhounds are reckoned to run at around 45 mph, I reckon Isla [ the deer hound ] is running in excess of 40 mph, which is the sort of speed needed to tackle the prey they were bred to hunt. Her mother is a coyote hunter and any lesser speed would be of no use for that quarry. A speed of 30mph suggests a wolf hound type dog, more at home in the show ring than hunting.
Interestingly, the biggest difference between the two breeds is in the sheer athletic agility of the deerhound; she will taunt the greyhound by displays of agility he can only dream of.The other is that the greyhound has no instinct to head for water to cool off, which gives him far less stamina over a sustained period.
All this leads me to a request; I am looking for a stud dog; a compact athletic deerhound, with no significant inbreeding. Please remember Isla was bred by a very conscientious breeder but is not KC registered

I wonder if Isla has greyhound in there somewhere, she sounds fast for a Deerhound, and the Greyhound sounds slow for a greyhound!!! Have they swapped coats!
The greyhound is also a big boy by the sounds of it, do you have any photo's of them together we could see?

I know someone who kept Irish wolfhounds and he reckoned their top speed to be 30mph, which was why I was surprised at the low speeds being mentioned. To me that speed is proof that the Irish Wolfhound is not the old Irish Wolf Dog. Much more likely is that the Deerhound is the direct descendant of the Irish Gryehound or Wolf Dog.
In the USA deerhounds are still used one on one on coyote, which are the fastest of all the wild dogs. Certainly, in the past, they were used on wolves, who are generally credited with a top speed of 35 mph and have even been recorded covering 7 miles at an average of 42 mph. This suggest to me that the show dogs have lost speed, in favour of size, unless American breeders, of working dogs, have bred for speed.
When Isla was about 6 months old I timed her over 70 yards, from start to coming to a complete stop and the average speed for the whole was 30mph, meaning that at that age she had a top speed well in excess of that figure.
While I cannot be sure her line has not, at some time, been out crossed to greyhounds, there is nothing of the greyhound about her. She is less heavily muscled, particularly in the hind quarters and does not have the hip formation of a greyhound, which is for traversing the flat with maximum power. When running she takes the huge strides of a deerhound, with substantial crossing of the front and back legs and arching of the back, in contrast to the shorter strides of the greyhound, where the bulk of the power is in the back legs. Her agility at speed, as well as at any other time, is also in a different league to a grey hound. I say all this because, even if she has greyhound in her, ih can have little if any effect on her speed.

I had trouble getting images through in the right format. I hope I works this time. I'm afraid they are the best I now have and as Ricky has a broken leg, there wont be any more for a while.

one more

Poor Ricky, hope he mends well, he isn't the size I thought he would be. Some of the show
greyhounds and the coursing greyhounds can be quite big, compared to the racing type,
which are smaller. Smaller is more desirable for obvious reasons.
Your Deerhound is obviously a very fit girl.
They both look lovely. The greyhound reminds me of one of ours "Who's the champ"
kennel name Jet, was a lovely boy, and won many a race.

and another

sorry I sent the wrong one