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Compare the photos of my female, Rocket, to the "english" lab. Rocket has a pedigree full of field trial champions. Her grandmother was a dual American and Canadian field trial champion. Her grandfather was a nationals finalist. And yet my girl is confused for a mutt. Does it look like that dog could half of what she can do? Laughable!

 

Rocket is stunning!

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A lot of folks ask me about the different "types" of labradors. When we say American, British, or Irish, it's in reference to their bloodlines. English just describes the look that we describe as big boned and block headed. Where your British labs can look like Americans and vice versa, it really is just a reference to their bloodlines. Most of your "English type" labs are indeed Americans.

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A conversation I had with some sheep breeders--very nice people, wonderful sheep--who had a seriously overweight lab.

 

Me: "Wow, he's a big boy." (Couldn't feel his ribs of you tried)

Them: "Oh, he's not fat, he's an English type. They're supposed to be big and blocky,"

 

I just changed the subject.

 

On the subject of border collies, I was at a Tommy Wilson clinic once and someone was there with a border collie that was a good 10-15 pounds overweight. I made a polite comment about the dog being big and the owner responded with the "fact" that the dog was all muscle. Um, yeah. I could claim the same thing about my overweight self, but no one would believe me, lol!

 

Calling the lab a British breed would be like us calling the border collie and American or Australian breed, wouldn't it? As far as I'm concerned the lab is a Canadian breed. Other countries may have developed their own "lines" but that doesn't change the fact that the breed originated in Canada.

 

J.

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i would just tell my stepdad, talk is cheap, let's find us some livestock, and see...

 

I just wanted to say seeing all of these weird dogs makes me so greatful that I live in and area that offers me the working versions of Labs and BCs.

However my stepdad continues to argue with me that my working bred cow dog border collie Lily will not be able to herd better on instinct and catch on faster than his overweight ACK GSDs. His reasoning is that I've trained her for agility so she lost all instincts to herd when I chose to do a sport over herding, which just watching her is obviously not true... The GSDs couldn't herd anything if their life depended on it. >.<

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How 'blocky' does a dog have to be that you can't feel their ribs? And since when does any normal dog or human put on a layer of solid muscle OVER their ribs, such that you can't feel them? People who say things like that just irritate me.

 

"Your smooth-coated terrier is so underweight! Look, she's panting after a hard run and I can see her last few ribs!"

 

Cass C- ask your stepdad how many GSDs are winning in the big sheepdog trials these days...

 

Donald McCaig- tell me more? All I've heard about as a traditional collie breed in Ireland is the Wicklow collie.

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Old Pop hunted with black dogs that I presumed were Labs. They were pretty tough old dogs.

They had interesting fur, almost like an otters. They were unreg.

 

Where I live there are unreg working cow dogs, look like big border collies and work like them. I wonder where and when they came here?

 

I have seen malamutes that folks were breeding for fun, but they had really weird fluffy fur.

Kinda flyaway and long. Having had village dogs and other assorted sled dogs when we ran our

team, I know that fur would collect snow. Not a good thing.

 

To me, I would love any sound, sane dog that can do my work. And work all day in all weather.

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hum, ok...I'm in WA But I bet the dogs I saw working cattle in the mountains of Calif when I was a child were McNabs. Did the McNabs make it up here ?

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Sheepdogging Geezer, these folks haven't been hardly to Spokane. These are old families been here a while and don't really move around alot

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Dear Thea,

 

Never been to Spokane myself. Always did want to see the Big City. I think the McNabs were wide spread up and down the left coast in the late 19th, early 20th century. I've seen 19th century pictures of collie dogs on Montana sheep ranches in the 1890's. There were probably as many 19th century collie varieties as British shires and I expect many imported shepherds to the Intermountain west imported their collies with them. A Montanan bragged about one local breed, "the little blue dog"

 

Donald

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There are a lot of dogs here sold as cow dogs that are a combination of border collie/kelpie/heeler/mcnab and/or hangin tree.

 

Disclaimer I know nothing about them or how good they are. I just seem them advertised quite a bit.

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