Carding Tibetan Mastiff hair.
Two different dogs, two very different coats.
Left: Blue grey & tan.
Right: Black and Tan (with a bit of white)
Next one in line is a blue (looks black) hair will probably look similar to the left one.
Bad luck Viking we were rooting for you but this wasn’t your year.
Sitting in an unusually quiet Cornish Arms in St Merryn Cornwall and the hair bear is chillin’ under my chair because his public aren’t here to idolise him.
Congratulations to Dzhozias Viking on 1st place in the Working Group at #Crufts. He’s a stunning example of the breed.
All the best to him in the finals. Champion 2026??? 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻photo credit: Crufts.
Putting the ‘Stubborn’ into stubborn Tibetan Mastiff.
“I know you’re only going to the Poo bin so I’ll just wait here till you come back because I know you’re coming back this way to continue our walk.”
Wishing you a lovely Christmas if you celebrate it from Baloo and family. xxx
Baloo knows the smell of one but up until today I don’t think he’s seen one. When he did earlier today, he gave chase. I thought for a second we’d be having venison for Christmas. The animal in question was a muntjac deer. Too quick for Baloo but he knows what they look like now.
Thinking of getting a TM? Bear this in mind.
Two batts of Tibetan Mastiff hair fresh off the carder.
This hair is all off our first TM Bronte. She was a stunning girl and this is how she’ll be with us in our memories. Honestly, the hair in the ‘batts’ on the left are from the dog on the right. The dominant moult is a greyish under coat.
Pretty good for a first attempt don’t you think. The first ‘batt’ of Tibetan Mastiff hair ready for another pass or possibly a spin into yarn.
The wheels of progress.
FYI:
Our carder was hand made by classiccarder.co.uk #UnpaidAd
First practice run…
A little too much hair is sticking to the “licker in” drum but it’s getting better with practice. It’s a first attempt and the hair is very fine.
We have a bag of de-matted (plenty more to do) Tibetan Mastiff hair and enough to practice with the new Drum Carding Machine. Hopefully we’ll have some photographs to show you later today.
Here’s the teezing while watching the TV process of de-matting washed Tibetan Mastiff hair to make it useable for the carding machine. I edited it down quite a lot the prevent you falling asleep.
It’s not a difficult process, just takes a bit of time. We still have a ton more from the one dog!!! 😱
My wife is eager to get cracking on Saturday while I’m watching rugby so she can turn a bag of ‘fluff’ into ‘batts’ ahead of spinning.
Quite remarkable that our dogs will keep her warm in winter even though two of them are no longer with us.
Follow us on our journey.
This first batch is from Bronte our first TM. It’s been washed and dried and become a bit matted but is not putting up too much of a fight in the de-matting process. We’ve almost filled a ‘bag for life’ shopping bag and we’ve barely touched what we have waiting.
Okay folks, after many years of the world being paved with good intentions we’ve finally got around to buying a drum carding machine to sort out the 14 or so kilos of Tibetan Mastiff hair we’ve accumulated from three TM’s since 2003 and since we don’t need it to insulate the loft we’ve made a start.
My boy having a bit of fun in the puddles.
An AI watercolour effect in monochrome of Baloo.
Eight years ago, this beautiful lady was enjoying her first full day in her new home after a horrible start to her life. The Tibetan Mastiff Rescue fixed her up and we had her for three lovely years. Still miss her, she was stunning.
My boy Baloo already is, find him @tibetan-mastiffs.bsky.social #OthersAreWelcome.
Just reposting this.
The sheer joy of our boy playing in all the puddles. He still does it from time to time but fortunately due to a dry summer he’s not had the opportunity until recently.
This is so true.
I don’t mind the warm weather but it does mean I have to get up earlier to walk Baloo while it’s relatively cool.
I’ve been running this account for a few months now and it hadn’t occurred to me that there might be some people following it and other accounts such as @fairfield-b61.bsky.social and my sister site @tibetan-mastiffs.bsky.social who might know where I can get Tibetan Mastiff hair carded and spun.
Doesn’t scan as well as, “…put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him,early in the morning…” though.
Needs work. 😉
Our first ever TM, the only one we had from a puppy. She was the start of our love for the breed.
They can be hard work sometimes but they are also very rewarding too. She was quite young in this picture and our two CollieXSpringers were a bad influence on her.
A very reluctant Tibetan Mastiff having a bath. It was a very hot day and I think he appreciated it afterwards with wonderful cooling effect of evaporation. Just a short version of the over ten minute session.
Tipping point is a UK TV Quiz show and there was a question on it today, “A guard dog, the Tibetan Mastiff is from which continent?” (Paraphrased). Both Baloo and I had an answer, I said Asia, Baloo said he came from Essex, moved to Port Talbot then came to live in Worcestershire with us. 👍🏻
