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 for Christmas: to play with rented sheep.
In a Tale That Wags Dog Owners, They Rent Flocks for Bored ColliesCompulsive Sheep Herders Need a ‘Job’ to Entertain Them; ‘That’ll Do’By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPSBATTLE GROUND, Wash.—Sue Foster knew what she needed to do when her border collie, Taff, was expelled from puppy school for herding the black Labs into a corner.She rented some sheep.Then she bought another border collie and rented some grazing land. Then she bought some sheep of her own. And a third border collie. Now, like the old lady who swallowed the fly, Ms. Foster keeps a llama to chase off the coyotes that threaten the lambs that go to market to finance the sheep that entertain her dogs.Once upon a time, Americans got dogs for their sheep. Now they get sheep for their dogs.“I never dreamed it would go this far,” says Ms. Foster, 56 years old.Border collies, first bred along the frontier between England and Scotland, are compulsive herders, with instincts so intense they sometimes search for livestock behind the television when sheep appear on screen, says Geri Byrne, owner of the Border Collie Training Center, in Tulelake, Calif. Left unoccupied, they’ll dig up the garden, chew up the doggie bed or persecute the cat.Herding experts—yes, there is such a thing—say it’s increasingly common for people who get border collies as pets to wind up renting or buying sheep just to keep their dogs busy. “It’s something that’s snowballing all the time,” says Jack Knox, a Scottish-born shepherd who travels the U.S. giving herding clinics.
Of note: Jack Knox is one of several UK shepherds who, failing to make a good living working sheep in their native land have found a lucrative calling winning US Sheep Trials and teaching the bored collies and the bored people who handle them the basics of “herding.”
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Kathy Bittorf
why do you insist on being an asshole even on an interesting topic? “bored housewives”?
The only time I’ve ever had an agility class with another man was when a young couple both came for the first class. The husband never returned. The entire rest of the people were stay at home moms, work at home moms, retired women, or single unemployed/student ladies.
I don’t recall ever seeing another male handler coming or going from herding lessons either.
In flyball, women outnumber the men. Perhaps it’s only in disc dog where the numbers are more balanced. When long distance throwing is required, the men have more numbers, but I think women have the edge when it comes to teams participating in freestyle.
And, if the gender of dog bloggers is any indication of dog sport culture, I’d say that it’s clearly a woman’s world.
In the agility classes I teach, I have about 25% men, the rest …bloggers
I think this is an issue with the word “house wife” which I don’t in any way consider a pejorative. I don’t think the Feminist movement did any favors to women by demonizing that word/calling. I wouldn’t have traded having my mother at home for what benefits we could have had with a second income over those years and I don’t think she would trade the experience either. I don’t think I would use stay-at-home-mom either if that term is more PC, as I’ve noticed that most people in dog sport who then have children disappear (either for good or until the children are old enough to train/play too).
During one new agility class I was taking [first outdoors class in CO in the spring, so during the day was the best chance of not freezing or getting snowed out] (not working a 9-5 at the time, thus my ability to take this class) we had to introduce ourselves and our dogs. I talked all about my dogs and didn’t say much about myself and one of the women boldly asked “and how can you take off so much time to be here?”
I don’t think it’s a mystery, I think people who participate in dog sport do so because they can. This means they are not burdened with other obligations. They are more likely to have flexible work schedules but still have access to money (these sports aren’t cheap), less likely to have children, and be at a point in life where they can invest so much time and love into an active pet. I had to stop training on sheep for exactly those two reasons, not enough time nor money.
The feminist movement has never demonized the term “house wife”.
The feminist movement criticized the way women were denied opportunities beyond being house wives, and the way in which managing a household and child rearing was (and continues to be) devalued as “not real work”.
The phrase “bored housewives” is almost always used in a pejorative sense. People use it to subtly suggest that the women in question take up a hobby or activity rather flippantly, and for ultimately vapid reasons.
Funny. As a young woman when the feminist movement had strong influence I sure ‘felt’ like they demonized the term ‘housewife’. Many of us that CHOSE to stay home and chose to be housewives and continue using that title were scorned and told directly we were undermining the efforts of those that knew better than we did.
I noticed that too. A lot of dog bloggers tend to be females, retired men, students or people living out on a farm. Problem is I don’t know what are the normal occupations of the bloggers to make a clear statement.
Sort of like how most of the foodies, to keep it distinct from the recipe blogs, are bored white-collared men who are looking for something to write about in their cubicles after their lunch breaks.
Dave recently posted..When Raw Emotions Take Over in Politics
Hahaah, now that you mention it Dave, the people I went to college with who ended up going corporate/wallstreet do tweet/FB/blog about cigars, gourmet food, Scandinavian cars, and Guy Kawasaki.
The wonders of being able to tell how much time people have in their life based on the things they write about.
Honestly, if I didn’t have the flexibility of being a computer programmer, I wouldn’t started a dog blog.
Dave recently posted..When Raw Emotions Take Over in Politics
Every agility class I’ve taken or trial i have seen is virtually all female. Disc seems a 50/50 split. Ring sport and schutzhund, far more male though many women are in there. S&R, tracking, either 50/50 or slightly more male. Flyball, overwhelmingly female. Is it self-depricating to my gender, to feel embarrassed to be in a sport that has all those women? NO one thinks of men in Schutzhund as the “bored husbands” club.
And I get the impression that yard trials on sheep and cattle is more male. However I went to an HGH trial in NJ two years ago and there were several female participants and slightly fewer men. NOt a lot of participantsin total anyway, as this revival movement of the GSD herding style isn’t all tha told yet, or so I was told.
In a group of GSDs, the top contender of 2010, and I think maybe 2011, was a Beauceron with a male handler; the only Beauce entered.
Actually, participants in those sports get the stereotype of being murderous gangsters.
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Where I come from the image of murderous gang-STAHS conjures up a slightly different image than the images collected for Schutzhund. Most of those guys aren’t what you see around East New York or the South Bronx.
Maybe they’re more like the guys who say “We don’tz take KINDLY to you NYers….” and spit tobacco on their lawn-carburetor. Ah, stereotypes.
“Now, like the old lady who swallowed the fly, Ms. Foster keeps a llama to chase off the coyotes that threaten the lambs that go to market to finance the sheep that entertain her dogs.
Once upon a time, Americans got dogs for their sheep. Now they get sheep for their dogs.”
For some reason, this statement greatly amused me.
That’s a great last line. I would even say that I’ve used it before, but I can’t find exactly where at the moment. I wonder if McCaig or someone else has written something very similar before too.
Wasn’t it a Scottish judge in one of McCaig’s articles in a magazine? Think it was the same magazine that went into the history of water spaniels after Obama’s family got a Portugese.
Dave recently posted..When Raw Emotions Take Over in Politics
I read the WSJ article and I’ve love to know where I can rent sheep in the Chicago area.
In regard to why women seem to be some common in dog-type hobbies; it’s because they generally have more time to do so. This has never bothered me since I’m more interested in the dogs (specifically my own) than the women.
Hey! Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for visiting our site during “herding week.” Clearly, you have way better programming than we do.
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Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart recently posted..Lilly’s Herding Instinct Test- Part 3