{"id":189,"date":"2015-09-26T17:36:44","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T17:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=189"},"modified":"2015-10-10T20:10:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-10T20:10:35","slug":"game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/","title":{"rendered":"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q.<\/strong> What’s huge and black with eyes like burning coals, its slavering jaws opening wide to engulf its victims? A.<\/strong> I don’t know, but there’s one right behind you\u2026 argghhhh! Creepy autumn is on its way, so it’s time to introduce some of the Other Dogs. These are the ones you’d never let play ‘bitey face’, the spectral hounds of the North.<\/p>\n

Yorkshire has a solid history of terrifying, dog-like creatures roaming its moors and alleys, and not all of them are politicians. The best known of our monstrous brood is perhaps the barghest<\/strong>. If it’s new to you, the barghest is a huge intelligent dog, dark and somewhat wolf-like in appearance, with piercing eyes and a penchant for haunting lonely places. Yes, we were there long before Game of Thrones<\/em> and its dire-wolves (although at least Sean Bean is a child of God’s Own Country). No-one knows exactly where the name comes from, because there are too many possible roots. Bier-geist<\/em>, as in a spirit of the funeral bier, is one; burgh-ghost<\/em> is another, as in a spirit which troubles a town. The name is particularly common in North Yorkshire – haunted Whitby is supposed to have a barghest – but for variants in other parts see later below.<\/p>\n

\"padfoot\"<\/a>The barghest is associated with death in one form or another. It may come when a death is due, or when a death has occurred, its slinking black body a warning to the living. It may be seen only by the doomed or sick person, or it may be spotted lying on the threshold of someone due to expire. Its presence is often heralded by the clanking of unseen chains. Occasionally the barghest makes its own arrangements for death by hunting down appropriate targets and consuming them. Lonely travellers are a popular choice, and to be fair to the barghest, this does avoid hanging around waiting for someone to get the sniffles.<\/p>\n

Some suggest that the dog in folklore is associated with scavenging, and with digging up bones from graveyards, hence the morbid links with the barghest. There is in fact one particularly relevant counterpart to Yorkshire’s barghest in Normandy and the Channel Islands, the rongeur d’os<\/em><\/strong> (gnawer of bones), a large phantom dog of death which again rattles its chain in the night.<\/p>\n

(Our own gaunt black hound, Chilli, appears spookily out of nowhere, but that tends to be when walkies are due, or when we’ve settled down comfortably and really need a terrifying creature shoving her elbows into our faces to round off the evening.)<\/p>\n

One of the most famous barghests is that which haunts Trollers Gill, a moody limestone gorge in the Yorkshire Dales, closely followed by the one which creeps into the snickelways of the city of York and takes down unwary folk. Presumably the latter one lives on a diet of squishy tourists and crunchy cameras. Having tramped Trollers Gill and York many times, I’m afraid (or relieved) to say that I’ve never encountered a barghest in either locale. Trollers Gill early in the morning, or at dusk, is certainly atmospheric enough to host a barghest or two.<\/p>\n

\"trollers-gill7\"<\/a>Trollers Gill, rather wetter than usual<\/em><\/p>\n

The barghest has its literary fans – it crops up in, amongst others, Robin Jarvis (The Whitby Witches<\/em>), Roald Dahl (The Witches<\/em>) and Neil Gaiman’s short story Black Dog<\/em> apparently (but I haven’t read the last one, so I can’t be more precise).<\/p>\n

Legends of black dogs and spectral hounds abound up here. Another name, or variant, is the pad-foot<\/strong>, seen in the West Riding around Leeds, Bradford and other modest settlements. The pad-foot can be heard behind you, pad pad pad, sometimes followed by a clank of chains and then the sight of a large baleful dog. Better not to turn round, they say, but to leg it home. The pad-foot is alternatively known as the gytrash<\/strong> or guytrash (not to be confused with guy-trash, the general rubbish left behind by passing men). The gytrash also crops up in literature – it’s mentioned in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre<\/em>, one of my favourite books from school for some reason. Must have been the gothicky bits, moody Rochester and the mad-woman in the attic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remembered certain of Bessie’s tales, wherein figured a North-of-England spirit called a ‘Gytrash,’ which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon belated travelers, as this horse was now coming upon me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very near, but not yet in sight; when, in addition to the tramp, tramp, I heard a rush under the hedge, and close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog, whose black and white colour made him a distinct object against the trees.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Rather disappointingly, this apparition turned out to be nothing more than Mr. Rochester’s dog.<\/p>\n

I use the word ‘dog’ to describe these creatures, but as in Bronte, many of the stories suggest that the barghest, pad-foot or gytrash can take other shapes at will. It can appear as a dark shaggy bear, or a horse-like thing with the same burning eyes, and even as a headless human in some tales. Where the red eyes go in that case is open to conjecture.<\/p>\n

We also have the legend of the gabble-ratchets<\/strong>, otherwise known as Gabriel Hounds, in Yorkshire. These are usually heard rather than seen, a howling that passes above and around you. Some connect them to the North European Wild Hunt, others to the concept of Gabriel, the angel who acts as the Messenger of God. The message sent by the gabble-ratchets is not usually a positive one, as again it’s a portent of imminent death. The alternative is that the sound of these terrible beasts is actually that of migrating geese, but that sounds much less likely than an archangels’ attendant pack of hounds riding the storm, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

If you like odd connections, as I do, then you might want to know that the 1972 Genesis album Foxtrot<\/em> has a long, bizarre track called Supper’s Ready<\/em>, which includes a section entitled thus: Apocalypse in 9\/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)<\/em>. Peter ‘Non-Archangel’ Gabriel’s work, of course…<\/p>\n

And yes, related legends do exist in other counties of England, but I’m prejudiced and this is my blog, so I don’t want any grumpy Lancastrians writing in and complaining. As a barghest would say, after you’ve eaten a few white roses, you just can’t go back.<\/p>\n

So, we return to semi-reality. There’ll be one more general post here before the October horror-fest, so do call in during the month of mellow fruitfulness, even if it’s only to count how many bizarre punctuation mistakes I make and to complain about the lack of lurcher-related stuff for a while.<\/p>\n

Dear Sir. I must protest in the strongest manner about a so-called ‘blog’ on ‘literature, lurchers and life’ which interrupts my canine fun to publish four weeks of arrant nonsense about horror and life after death.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yrs, Major Cornelius Hetherington Smythe (deceased).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Goodnight, and don’t let the barghest bite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q. What’s huge and black with eyes like burning coals, its slavering jaws opening wide to engulf its victims? A. I don’t know, but there’s one right behind you\u2026 argghhhh! Creepy autumn is on its way, so it’s time to introduce some of the Other Dogs. These are the ones you’d never let play ‘bitey … Continue reading Game of Groans and Clanking Chains<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":12,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mythology"],"yoast_head":"\nGame of Groans and Clanking Chains - greydogtales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains - greydogtales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q. What’s huge and black with eyes like burning coals, its slavering jaws opening wide to engulf its victims? A. I don’t know, but there’s one right behind you\u2026 argghhhh! Creepy autumn is on its way, so it’s time to introduce some of the Other Dogs. These are the ones you’d never let play ‘bitey … Continue reading Game of Groans and Clanking Chains →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"greydogtales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-26T17:36:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-10T20:10:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot-300x131.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"greydogtales\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"greydogtales\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/\",\"name\":\"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains - greydogtales\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot-300x131.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-26T17:36:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-10T20:10:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c2413a29a9d04fbc9280c12fdf7b151\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot.jpg?fit=1940%2C847&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot.jpg?fit=1940%2C847&ssl=1\",\"width\":1940,\"height\":847},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"greydogtales\",\"description\":\"Literature, lurchers and life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c2413a29a9d04fbc9280c12fdf7b151\",\"name\":\"greydogtales\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33b1544bc8676700f4c33c9ed5475632?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33b1544bc8676700f4c33c9ed5475632?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"greydogtales\"},\"description\":\"John Linwood Grant writes occult detective and dark fantasy stories, in between running his beloved lurchers and baking far too many kinds of bread. Apart from that, he enjoys growing unusual fruit and reading rejection slips. He is six foot tall, ageing at an alarming rate, and has his own beard.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/author\/greydogtales\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains - greydogtales","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains - greydogtales","og_description":"Q. What’s huge and black with eyes like burning coals, its slavering jaws opening wide to engulf its victims? A. I don’t know, but there’s one right behind you\u2026 argghhhh! Creepy autumn is on its way, so it’s time to introduce some of the Other Dogs. These are the ones you’d never let play ‘bitey … Continue reading Game of Groans and Clanking Chains →","og_url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/","og_site_name":"greydogtales","article_published_time":"2015-09-26T17:36:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-10T20:10:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot-300x131.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"greydogtales","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"greydogtales","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/","url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/","name":"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains - greydogtales","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot-300x131.jpg","datePublished":"2015-09-26T17:36:44+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-10T20:10:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c2413a29a9d04fbc9280c12fdf7b151"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot.jpg?fit=1940%2C847&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/padfoot.jpg?fit=1940%2C847&ssl=1","width":1940,"height":847},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/game-of-groans-and-clanking-chains\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Game of Groans and Clanking Chains"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/","name":"greydogtales","description":"Literature, lurchers and life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c2413a29a9d04fbc9280c12fdf7b151","name":"greydogtales","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33b1544bc8676700f4c33c9ed5475632?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33b1544bc8676700f4c33c9ed5475632?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"greydogtales"},"description":"John Linwood Grant writes occult detective and dark fantasy stories, in between running his beloved lurchers and baking far too many kinds of bread. Apart from that, he enjoys growing unusual fruit and reading rejection slips. He is six foot tall, ageing at an alarming rate, and has his own beard.","sameAs":["http:\/\/greydogtales.com"],"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/author\/greydogtales\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6sRRV-33","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2312,"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/black-dog-rising\/","url_meta":{"origin":189,"position":0},"title":"Black Dog Rising","author":"greydogtales","date":"June 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know if I write folk-horror. I probably do, but in a way it's more folk-weird, drawing on lore from before the witch panic days and the re-invented druids. Most of my work in this area is set in a Britain where things long forgotten see a chance to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"black dog\"","block_context":{"text":"black dog","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/tag\/black-dog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"the children of angles and corners are watching...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/fog-267987_960_720-300x184.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":634,"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/the-hell-horse-and-the-autumn-boy\/","url_meta":{"origin":189,"position":1},"title":"The Hell Horse and the Autumn Boy","author":"greydogtales","date":"November 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The First Reading His hands are old, his fingers older. They reach into other years, with their walnut joints and yellow nails, and draw out the Deck of Seasons. As steady as they have always been, they remove the deck from its box of polished yew, and cut the cards,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"hell horse\"","block_context":{"text":"hell horse","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/tag\/hell-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"8195e071cc-Bech_Helhesten_troldfolk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/8195e071cc-Bech_Helhesten_troldfolk-279x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/three-wyrd-hounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":189,"position":2},"title":"Three Wyrd Hounds","author":"greydogtales","date":"November 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Still playing around with hounds, horror and art. Further to last week's post, the greatest horror at the moment is looking at the back garden and seeing what a combination of three dogs and four days of rain have produced. A waterlogged medieval cart-track wanders down the centre of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"hounds\"","block_context":{"text":"hounds","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/tag\/hounds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"leagueofgents03","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/leagueofgents03-300x296.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2786,"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/2786\/","url_meta":{"origin":189,"position":3},"title":"Whale-road, Horse-road: The Wolds Again","author":"greydogtales","date":"September 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The sullen, lead-coloured weight of the North Sea and the strangenesses of the Yorkshire Wolds still press on me every so often. And when it comes to writing there are at least three sides to every coin. So I have a number of strands when I write about the land\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"selwick","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/selwick3-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3049,"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/oak-ash-and-thorn\/","url_meta":{"origin":189,"position":4},"title":"Oak, Ash and Thorn","author":"greydogtales","date":"October 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome, dear listener. It is Folklore-ish Thursday. It is also Day Ninety Seven of the October Frights Blog Hop. Or it seems like it. Nearly a week since I took the little donkeys for a proper, all-out run and not a 'Quick, before those three poodles turn up' sort of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"oak ash and thorn\"","block_context":{"text":"oak ash and thorn","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/tag\/oak-ash-and-thorn\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"twocards","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/twocards-300x246.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":145,"url":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/lurchers-for-beginners\/","url_meta":{"origin":189,"position":5},"title":"Lurchers for Beginners","author":"greydogtales","date":"September 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"or Dog Herding the Hard Way We have recently discovered that some people do not know what a lurcher is. Such people are not well, and must be helped. Therefore the entire greydogtales workforce has abandoned its occult writing duties in order to produce a brief introduction to these noble\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"longdogs\"","block_context":{"text":"longdogs","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/tag\/longdogs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"lurchers for beginners","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pupsbums-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192,"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions\/192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}