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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 | 5 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 November, 2007
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Waterboarding Our Border Collies
Posted on November 30, 2007 | No CommentsExtended metaphor is a difficult device to execute well. Very few things are so like another as to speak to each other’s situation, while at the same time one of the two is simple to understand and the other so complex that metaphor is required... -
Breeding Ethics 2
Posted on November 30, 2007 | No CommentsIn my last post, I started to analyze the common breeder commandments that are so popular in the show community and in the nannying matron dog world in general. I pick up here where I left off: Taking back their pups for re-homing if the... -
Breeding Ethics 1
Posted on November 30, 2007 | 4 CommentsFor some in the dog world, “breeding ethics” is an oxymoron. Such people are consumed by the myth of overpopulation, or enamored with the reality. It’s a cause they can champion and use it as grounds to wag their finger at other people in the... -
Progressive Now Covers Pets Too
Posted on November 29, 2007 | No CommentsProgressive Auto Insurance has added an incentive perk to all of their car coverage policies: Pet Injury Coverage. They pay up to $500 in vet bills if your dog or cat is injured in an auto accident while in your car. It’s not an opt... -
Bring Military Mascots Home
Posted on November 28, 2007 | No CommentsOne of the laws of nature is that big things generally move slower than small things. So, you know that by the time a big group like SPCA International gets involved with a “bring the dogs home from Iraq” campaign, it’s likely that a smaller... -
No Border Collie Left Behind
Posted on November 25, 2007 | 3 CommentsYou know I jest with my “Border Wars” rhetoric, but there is a real war going on with real guns and grenades and casualties, and apparently there are real Border Collies in the middle of that war. Border Collies in Baghdad of all places; who... -
Sheeple Admit They’re Hobbyists
Posted on November 23, 2007 | 1 CommentWed Aug 22, 2007 12:15 am But on the serious side of all af this, if mr kensmuir will allow, my take on all of this point earning, title seeking, usbcha presidential wantings,akc titles, best cowdog, greatest stockman, novice ribbons earning, sheepdogs are the best,... -
Too many working dogs, too little work
Posted on November 23, 2007 | No CommentsFrom 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 the working ability only. But it’s not... -
McCaig Visits Border Wars
Posted on November 23, 2007 | No CommentsDonald McCaig paid Border Wars a visit recently, but he left his comment on my very first post where no one is likely to read it. So here it is: donald mccaig said… Dear Readers,While I am disinclined to respond to adverse reviews (I had... -
Mike Rowe Sells KatKrap
Posted on November 23, 2007 | No CommentsI hate cats. I hate QVC. I quite enjoy Mike Rowe. Here he is in his first really dirty job: trying to sell a plastic crinkle bag with a cat on it for $24.95 on QVC. Most entrepreneurs, inventors, designers, and marketers would KILL for...
Queen Victoria's Border Collies