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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
border war Archive
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Capturing the Spoils
Posted on October 7, 2007 | No CommentsAlthough the Border Wars are appropriately framed as a fight between the ABCA and the AKC, the Wars are wrongly categorized as a fight over Border Collies or “the future of the breed.” The true spoils of war aren’t dogs, but people. The numerous people... -
The Spoils of the Dog War
Posted on October 7, 2007 | No CommentsThe 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 divining that perfect essence. The small elite group of trial breeders also... -
McCaig’s Dog Wars: The Bad
Posted on October 5, 2007 | 7 CommentsDonald McCaig’s The Dog Wars is an important book to me, and it should be to anyone who reads this blog as well. I mean, come on, the Dog Wars and the Border Wars…. both about Border Collies… McCaig and I are soooo clever. The... -
McCaig’s Dog Wars: The Good
Posted on October 2, 2007 | No CommentsWith a name like “The Dog Wars” and content that documents the battle between the First Estate and the AKC, how could I not immediately order, devour, excrete and then roll in it over and over and over again like my Border Collies do with... -
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... -
Techies vs. Fuzzies
Posted on August 29, 2007 | No CommentsThe techie vs. fuzzy border war is one that I learned quite a lot about in college. As far as I can tell, the terms techie and fuzzy were coined or popularized at Stanford, where a “techie” is an engineering or natural (hard) sciences major... -
The Future Language of Dog
Posted on August 24, 2007 | 2 CommentsThe Ancient, Modern, and Future Language of “Dog.” Part 1. The Ancient. Wherein the Author describes the Border War between Linguists on the history of the proto-word for “Dog.” Part 2. The Modern. Wherein the Author describes Dog’s omnipresence in modern language.Part 3. The Future.... -
The Ancient Language of Dog
Posted on August 23, 2007 | 1 CommentThe Ancient, Modern, and Future Language of “Dog.” Part 1. The Ancient. Wherein the Author describes the Border War between Linguists on the history of the proto-word for “Dog.”Part 2. The Modern. Wherein the Author describes Dog’s omnipresence in modern language. Part 3. The Future.... -
Border Wars.
Posted on August 22, 2007 | 1 CommentBorders are vital and ubiquitous. Because of their importance, they are often the focus of the most spirited, bitter, and ceaseless conflict. But it is an essential conflict because without boundaries there is no me, no you, no us, and no them. Microscopically, life itself...
Queen Victoria's Border Collies