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"Working Lines"


Donald McCaig

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"So here’s the story I’ve been telling people when they ask what kind of dog Sugarfoot is…"

 

Do they fall asleep then turn into skeletons before you're finished? I think the movie was "Airplane".

 

Donald, I suppose "Bred for Perfection" and "Animal Estate" are political in the sense they reevaluate historical events previously considered to be culturally neutral or beneficial or worthy of no more than a contemptuous sentence or two from someone like Veblen. What I'm curious about, as I suppose Mike is as well, is whether or how your post on working lines fits into your new book.

 

Oh, come on. Just a teaser. If you're writing about what pet dog and other trainers across the globe can do for the reading pleasure of everyone who buys books, then the subject of breed nicknames as misrepresentation in certain circumstances might be worth some pages.

 

Penny

 

"Go 'long," [the future Sir Boss] said; "you ain't more than a paragraph."

 

Edit: Never mind. Given that "Jacob's Ladder" is considered "the best Civil War novel ever written" and that the reticent author visited some 19th century battlefields in the west rather recently, I think we're out of luck on dog related essays or a novel and the subject may be genocide.

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Dear Penny,

You asked:

"What I'm curious about, as I suppose Mike is as well, is whether or how your post on working lines fits into your new book.'

 

Been a while since I read the new dog book AKA "Mr & Mrs. Dog: Our trials, travels, adventures and epiphanies". I think I wrote about about the underpinnings of dog training but don't think I said anything about lines. On the rare occasions I have an IDEA I try to get at least two books out of it. My post on working lines wasn't even an IDEA - just stating the obvious.

 

 

Donald

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"So here’s the story I’ve been telling people when they ask what kind of dog Sugarfoot is…"

 

Do they fall asleep then turn into skeletons before you're finished? I think the movie was "Airplane".

 

Well, I haven't had that happen yet, but it does either cause them to suddenly remember something very important they had to do. And sometimes they actually listen to the whole rigamarole and then want to know more. Either way I avoid the stupid argument about, "Oh, that can't be a Border Collie - it must be a mix." And anyway, it's fun. Some people actually get that it's supposed to be funny... ;)

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I always say mine are working lines or working bred if their parents are working dogs (yes, I have had one backyard/competition bred and one shelter border collie). I have seen people refer to their dogs as working lines although they don't do any training, trialing, or work but typically working lines/bred means to me that the parents work stock.

I am always amazed by AKC and their adherance to a made-up standard. Ran into a lady who was furious with her 10 month old show border collie for being 1" too short and 2 lbs too light. When I said, well it really doesn't matter there's lots you can do together she said, "it matters to me." Wow, lets all be angry at our dogs for something beyond their control! Funnily enough, my 10 mo. puppy (both parents work & he is training on stock also) meets the AKC standards and several people have asked me when I plan to show him. So hard not to lose my temper or laugh at them.

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Personally, as somebody who has heard all sorts of guesstimates from strangers on Mick's breed, I'll say he's a Border Collie. Which will invariably, lead to "Is he a mix?" or "But he doesn't look like one." Then, I'll tell them he's a working bred Border Collie, and that he was bred to work, not to look big and fluffy like a show-bred one.

 

What a familiar speech I go through , you get the show ring die hards know it alls where I just have to smile and walk away, and then you get the great people whom i love interacting with who appreciate the new knowledge of why so many border collies don't look like border *cough, barbie* collies. Nice conversation starter anyway for the latter ;)

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We passed someone on a walking trail one day many years ago and they asked us about our dog (smooth tri with "airplane ears"). When asked I told them she was a Border Collie. They asked Border Collie and what? I responded, Border Collie and Border Collie. :)

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