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Too Many Working Dogs, Too Little Work
From Donald McCaig’s The Dog Wars, you’d swear that there were too few working dogs and too much work to do, thus the dire need to “save” the entire breed (all 35,000 new puppies per year) to preserve...
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These Dogs Count Sheep!
From Popular Mechanics, September 1947 These Dogs Count Sheep! Dewey Jontz’ piercing whistle drops Tess instantly no matter what she’s doing. He uses spoken commands, too, in ordering his canine “hired...
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The Third Estate of the Border Collie
reprint from 9/16/07 The First Estate of the Border Collie is as a working stock dog. The Second Estate of the Border Collie is as a conformation show dog. The Third Estate of the Border Collie is as a...
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The Narcissism Valley
Wherein we discuss two phenomena: The Uncanny Valley and the Narcissism of Minor Differences. I’ve talked before about NoMD, but the Uncanny Valley is probably new to most dog people who haven’t...
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They Rent Sheep, Don’t They?
Bored collie, rented sheep Further evidence that my common refrain (sheep sport is growing, sheep work is dying) is true, the New York Times reports about “bored collies” getting just what they want...
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2011 National Sheepdog Finals
Patrick Shannahan and Riggs pen wild mountain sheep at the 2011 National Sheepdog Finals in Carbondale, Colorado Today is the last day of the 2011 National Sheepdog Finals at the bucolic Strang Ranch...
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Bunnies Can Herd, Really!
Champis, the Swedish herding rabbit. Move over Barbie Collies, there’s a new herder in town that is adorably small, has perfect ear set and has a decidedly fluffy butt. And he’s not a show Border...
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Round Up Your Mates for a Guinness
You have one week to get a Border Collie and train it to trail specs to ensure that all your friends make it safe and sound to the Pub for a Guinness on St. Paddy’s Day. Get going. “He’s a legend in...
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Hobby, Lifestyle, or Profession?
Don’t tell Dublin he’s not a professional, he takes my hobby very seriously. Western Culture likes labels, boxes, and boundaries that divide and categorize people into conceptual groups. We avoid a...
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Domesday Reloaded Border Collies
The Domesday Book of William the Conqueror In 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a survey of England and Wales to “find out what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it...
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Border Collies Bred Like Alaskan Sled Dogs?
Some Alaskan Huskies are Inbred. Alaskan sled dogs (often called huskies) are unique in that they are an ad hoc breed–some say type–bred to pull sleds over snow, sans registry, that still exist...
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The U.S. Sheep Industry is Belly-Up
The U.S. Sheep industry isn’t so much in decline as it is bottomed out and belly up. There are fewer sheep in America today than there were 200 years ago and one tenth the number of sheep seen at the...
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Luisa, Get Help!
Working Border Collie snobs like to reiterate that sheep work is serious business, but the truth is that the business of sheep is in serious condition with an unfavorable prognosis. A side effect of...
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The Border Collie Bottleneck
Lusia at Lassie Gets Help puts forth Dewi Tweed, the 2010 International Supreme Champion sheep dog as proof that the “genetic bottleneck” in Border Collies is benign or perhaps a myth. Richard...
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Hip Dysplasia an Advantage?
Sheep dog trials probably have no significant selective effect for or against hip dysplasia in Border Collies. Border Collies are the go-to example of a breed that has been honed and improved through a...
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Piled Higher and Deeper
There’s really no excuse for someone who has earned a PhD to be offended at the concept of defending their theses and being held to a standard of evidenced based argumentation and unbiased...
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Sheepdog Trials Began with Beauty Pageants
Contrary to popular myth, early trials were gentry sponsored and therefore heavily freighted with elite values concerning the nature of the shepherds’ craft. Early trials accented speed, agility and...
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Pastoral Big Hats Are Dogmatic Bigots
There’s a lot of symmetry between the Church’s dogmatic and bigoted stand against gay marriage and the sheeple arguments against breeding Border Collies for sport or any other activity save trial...
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Historical Videos of Border Collies and Sheep Trials
Handlers and Dogs from the First International Sheepdog Trial 1931 For a few years now I’ve been collecting links to British Pathé clips of Border Collies and Sheep Trials from their original webpage,...
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Spoils of the Dog War
The small elite group of conformation breeders are Platonists; they believe that the substantive reality of Border Collies is only a reflection of a higher truth, and their activity is the key to...
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