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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
breeding Archive
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The Mara Mystery
Posted on February 23, 2010 | 17 CommentsWhat color is Mara? Having had the pleasure of studding out both Mercury and Dublin to Mara, the 8 resulting puppies have created more questions than have been answered. Mara’s breeder concluded that she was a Cryptic Merle Lilac Tricolor. This is a fair assessment... -
A Family Affair
Posted on December 5, 2009 | 2 CommentsJust over a year ago, I brought you news of Dublin’s love children with that feisty red-head Mara: the “other woman.” In her bid to compete for the affections of the Astraean men, Mara couldn’t let Celeste hog all the lime light of celebrity so she and... -
Breed My Bitch, Please.
Posted on January 13, 2009 | 3 CommentsI just got a comment on a year old post that is a lesson in poor breeding practices in only 17 words: Im looking for a breader for my border collie. she is in heat know can u help? - Jeanie 1/13/2009 I have a... -
In the Womb: Dogs
Posted on January 3, 2009 | 2 CommentsNational Geographic’s In The Womb series has to be some of the most interesting television I’ve seen in a long time. I first watched the program a year ago just before Celeste gave birth to her litter and I was captivated by their use of... -
The Dewclaw Debate
Posted on December 30, 2008 | 1 CommentOf all the procedures that are commonly performed on puppies, the dewclaw removal has to be the least controversial. It’s certainly the most minor procedure with the fewest complications and it offers decent benefits. None of the common amputations (ear cropping, tail docking, dewclaw removal)... -
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]... -
A Pup-e-Mill
Posted on December 15, 2008 | 1 CommentIf you want to see what a “Pup-e-Mill” looks like, here’s a great example of one that has just been exposed in Montana. First, let’s look at the breeder’s website: Well, someone has spent some time with photoshop and made a nice logo. And it... -
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... -
Happy Birthday Puppies
Posted on December 6, 2008 | 4 CommentsA year ago today I was up all night with a very pregnant Celeste, taking her temperature and watching as she continually remade her nest in her kennel, then dug fruitlessly in the extra dog bed, then shredded the paper and the pads I had... -
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...
Queen Victoria's Border Collies