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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
animal shelters Archive
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Kennel, Kibbutz, and Konzentrationslager
Posted on January 7, 2010 | 3 CommentsThe tools of Eugenics are very much alike: be it the dog kennel, the Kibbutz, or Concentration Camp. In philosophy, engineering, and practice the three institutions are highly correlated. While the modern sensibility would likely register disgust with the Concentration Camp and disinterest in the... -
Redemption: Eyes Open and Crying
Posted on December 26, 2008 | 3 Commentsreprint from 12/17/2007 I’m not a bleeding heart type. Most people would consider me an asshole. I speak my mind, call it like I see it with no regard for PC pleasantries, and I make an effort to clean my own house before I bitch... -
Killing for a Myth
Posted on December 25, 2008 | 1 Commentreprint from 2/24/2008 In my recent correspondence with a pet rescuer who has yet to embrace No-Kill, I saw firsthand the phenomenon that Nathan Winograd discusses in Redemption: that we hear so much about pet overpopulation, but has anyone seen it? The e-mailer wrote: [Shelters]... -
Redemption: First Thoughts
Posted on December 19, 2008 | No CommentsReprint from 12/16/2007 Update Today marks the one year anniversary of my enlightenment to the true state of the shelter system in this country, its sordid history, and the hope for a better future. What a profound impact the words and research of Nathan Winograd... -
Only Five Percent
Posted on December 14, 2008 | 5 CommentsHere at the beginning of the twenty-first century, over fifty million household dogs live in the United States. Europe houses an estimated thirty-five million. … If I add Canadian dogs to these populations, I get one hundred million household dogs in the industrial West. In... -
CO Humane Society Fraud
Posted on December 11, 2008 | No CommentsA lawsuit filed by the Colorado Attorney General alleges that the Colorado Humane Society has lied about being a No Kill shelter and misappropriated donations. Pretty much the two most vile things you could do in the name of a humane animal shelter: kill adoptable... -
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Posted on December 2, 2008 | 3 CommentsStella on Snow There’s plenty of elitism in the dog world and where you get your dog is as much of a potential status symbol as the breed you’ve chosen or any titles that might appear on a pedigree. Much of the cachet built in... -
Killing for a Myth
Posted on February 25, 2008 | 9 CommentsIn my recent correspondence with a pet rescuer who has yet to embrace No-Kill, I saw firsthand the phenomenon that Nathan Winograd discusses in Redemption: that we hear so much about pet overpopulation, but has anyone seen it? The e-mailer wrote: [Shelters] only kill the... -
Parroting PeTA
Posted on February 22, 2008 | 13 CommentsHere’s an e-mail I got today from a horse and dog rescuer (Help A Horse Organization) who is rather miffed at my “Buy From a Breeder” rhetoric. I think she missed the point. She also failed to appreciate the elements of my post that were... -
Hatred for Winograd
Posted on February 19, 2008 | 2 CommentsAn unintended occurance of a visual double negative. When paradigms shift and the new guard replaces the old guard there is generally a lot of spitting and cursing and ill will, especially from adherents to the previous school of thought as well as from the...
Queen Victoria's Border Collies