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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
dogs Archive
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Gone But Still Smiling
Posted on April 16, 2010 | 2 CommentsThe people at The Bark have once again honored us by using one of my photos for their publication. This time it’s Bonnie Belle giving me the raspberries. Even in her old age, she enjoyed taking long walks, and we took this one through the... -
Puppy Stolen for Gas Money
Posted on March 15, 2010 | 5 CommentsMeet Jon “incident” Marcus a.k.a John Herscher. He stole someone’s one-year-old beagle-terrier puppy to sell on Craigslist for $125 in gas money to get out of Nashville. I’d say this was a joke, but further inquiry has led to photos of Jon with the dog... -
And Puppy Dog Tails
Posted on March 14, 2010 | 3 CommentsThe best part about having a dog at stud is ample access to puppies with none of the hard work of being a breeder: no baths, no mopping, no puppy pads, no shots. Weekly visits ensure an ample allotment of puppy breath, paws as big... -
The Heart of Barkness
Posted on March 10, 2010 | 3 CommentsA mere 8 weeks after being forced out of the warm embrace of their mother’s womb, the sons and daughters of the Mighty Mercury and Magnanimous Mara stand but a few days away from the great puppy diaspora whence they shall be tossed to the... -
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... -
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... -
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... -
Melatonin = Stress-Free 4th of July
Posted on July 4, 2009 | 2 CommentsNothing can ruin a 4th of July like a noise-phobic dog. You can’t leave your house to enjoy the fireworks because you’ll likely return to a distraught dog and a destroyed couch, and even if you stay home, there’s not much you can do to... -
If It Weren’t Cute…
Posted on April 15, 2009 | 4 CommentsIf inbred dogs weren’t cute before they were irreversibly destroyed, would traditional well intentioned idiot breeders still inbreed? For that matter, would you feel differently about your cute little pooch if you could actually see all of their inbred deformities, and they weren’t nearly as...
Queen Victoria's Border Collies