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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
sheep trials Archive
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McCaig Visits Border Wars
Posted on November 23, 2007 | No CommentsDonald McCaig paid Border Wars a visit recently, but he left his comment on my very first post where no one is likely to read it. So here it is: donald mccaig said… Dear Readers,While I am disinclined to respond to adverse reviews (I had... -
Third Estate of the Border Collie
Posted on November 20, 2007 | 2 Commentsreprint from 9/16/07 The First Estate of the Border Collie is as a working stock dog. The Second Estate of the Border Collie is as a conformation show dog. The Third Estate of the Border Collie is as a dog sport athlete. The Fourth Estate... -
Dilution and Reproduction
Posted on November 10, 2007 | No Comments“Dilution drives culture.” by Ted Byrne The semantic implication of breeding being a “dilution” of some sort is not limited to the Russian language. “Reproduction” in English is also carries some of the same connotations. Of course it means the sexual act of conceiving and... -
Vodka and Dogs
Posted on November 10, 2007 | No CommentsSo why all the talk about Vodka if Patrick is really looking for a discussion of dogs? Neither he nor I drink (ok, every now and then…but I was voted “most likely to be sober” by my freshman dorm). Well, I think the discussion about... -
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... -
A Dying Breed
Posted on September 30, 2007 | No CommentsIt’s easy for a young man like myself to surmise that sheep trialers are on whole an aged, if not aging breed. Their ranks are filled with people my parent’s age and older, the best of the best collect more Social Security checks than they...
Queen Victoria's Border Collies