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Recent Battles
Queen Victoria
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Juicing The Sheep
09 April 2009 11:11 AM | No CommentsThe Journal of Queen Victoria Thursday, October 21, 1868 “Juicing the Sheep“ At a quarter to twelve I drove off with Louise and Leopold in the waggonette up to near the “Bush” (the residence of William Brown, the farmer) to see them “juice the sheep.”...
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Queen Victoria’s Border Collies
26 January 2009 4:40 AM | 18 CommentsFor well over a century the “Collie” name has been co-opted by show breeders who have created a monster whose face looks like a door stop with beady eyes set in triangular slits. These same people have co-opted the notion that Queen Victoria was deeply...
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Show Me the Collie
22 January 2009 3:38 AM | 1 CommentHaving established that Queen Victoria’s direct influence on the proliferation of the show Collie is insubstantial at best, let’s explore what impact the Monarchy may have, in fact, had on the culture of dogs during her reign. Five. If the show Collie owes more to...
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The Queen and the Collie
20 January 2009 2:57 AM | 2 CommentsThe old wisdom on the rise of the show Collie is that Queen Victoria met them on a trip to Scotland in the 1860s, became infatuated, acquired them, sponsored them in shows, bred them, and her abundant trend-setting prowess lead to their bountiful rise to...
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The Victorian Collie Myth
19 January 2009 8:03 PM | 3 CommentsThe prevailing creation myth among show Collie enthusiasts is that Queen Victoria’s infatuation with the breed set the ball in motion, elevating the humble farm dog to aristocratic splendor. Queen Victoria saw her first Collies in the 1860′s, and she enthusiastically began to sponsor them,...
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Juicing The Sheep
Archive for September, 2007
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R U Smarter than an 8th Grader?
Posted on September 18, 2007 | 1 CommentTaking online quizzes is a fun diversion and a way to dust off brain cells that you haven’t used in a few years. My only problem with this one is imprecise language on a couple of questions, especially the one dealing with a falling object.... -
Can Breeders Learn from Breed Rescue?
Posted on September 18, 2007 | 2 CommentsOver on Terrierman’s Daily Dose, Patrick poses a challenge to all breeders: include a prominent link to breed rescue on the websites where breeders sell their puppies. Good idea, but I don’t know if recommending local breed rescues are always an appropriate litmus test of... -
The AKC is Listening
Posted on September 17, 2007 | No CommentsBorder Wars has been graced by a visit from the AKC. And you won’t believe me when I tell you that what brought them here is not my critique on them and the ABCA, not my atheism toward conformation standards, and not even my discussion... -
The Third Estate of the Border Collie
Posted on September 16, 2007 | No CommentsThe 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 dog sport athlete. The Fourth Estate of the Border... -
Barbie Collies Can Herd?
Posted on September 14, 2007 | No Comments** The original post has been re-published slightly anonymized. ** Dear Readers, The heroes of this story have been placed in the Witness Protection Program and wish to remain anonymous until such time as they feel comfortable in testifying about their experience. I feel that... -
Border Collie War: AKC vs. ABCA
Posted on September 10, 2007 | 3 CommentsThe most personal border war for me, and the reason this blog is so cleverly named border wars is the battle over the future of the pure bred Border Collie. Although Border Collies have been in my family for decades and there have been Border... -
Read This Blog: Terrierman
Posted on September 9, 2007 | 4 CommentsThe blogoshpere is filled with self indulgent poor writers who are crying out for attention. I might be one of them, and the only salvo I have against such a claim is that I don’t think I’m a poor writer. But there are writers out... -
Photo of the Day: CHRIS
Posted on September 2, 2007 | No Comments -
In Search of the Great American Hero
Posted on September 2, 2007 | No CommentsAlmost a decade on, I still find this one of my favorite pieces. It was written for my college application essays and worked for Stanford and Yale. Harvard and Princeton didn’t find it nearly as charming and put me on their wait lists. I declined....
Queen Victoria's Border Collies