Lewis Moon

Form follows function, I guess...or at least should. If that function is to be pretty and stoopid, then I guess that's what you breed for. I, however, would question your priorities.

Little dog fans please look away: Did you see the abomination that won? I loved what Terrierman said about the winner (Ok, Ok, I'm sure that Terrierman is just incendiary enough to have some detractors here, but so far, I like his stuff)

My 88 year old mother tells stories of the collie she grew up with during the depression on a farm in Ohio. The one that sticks in my mind was when one of their hens laid a clutch of eggs under the hen house. She was so secretive they thought a fox had gotten her and didn't notice anything until they heard the chicks peeping. Mom was tasked with crawling under and rounding up the chicks. When she went in, the collie went in with her and rounded up every chick, individually, and held it between his paws until mom could grab it and put it in a basket. Since yesterday I've been trying to get folks from other websites to notice the BOB collie story and tragedy that the AKC is prepetuating in the name of "pretty". Everyone I've personally talked to has shaken their heads and said "how horrible", but not much more, and I have yet to see this story in any major publication. It's as if they all want to see the Westminster as a fun, quirkey, eccentric, feel good story, rather than dealing with the dark underbelly that is the AKC. "Look! Something shiny!!" The BOB collie story is the type of bombshell that could change things. There is NO up side to passing on a horrible and ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE trait in the name of beauty (and personal agrandizement). We need to really get this out there. The AKC needs to change or go away.

This makes me want to throw up.

Obviously, since you seem to be ascribing some ulterior motive, I surely must have done it just to piss people off. Really, I must have seriously miscalculated the thickness of skin. I'll aggressively self edit to account for everyone's sensabilities in the future.

Don't shoot the messenger. Simply pointing out an article on a very well traveled website.

I saw this article and really wondered where to put it; rescue or politics. Since it's rather pointed I thought I'd put it here with the thick skinned folks.... Slate Article

We've fed Cerb Kirkland for the last 17 months and he's doing very well. Beautiful coat, lots of energy, great weight and firm stool.

Speaking from the other end of the spectrum; Cerb is an incredibly submissive dog and won't even fight back. Last night while walking him to the ball field he got rushed and bowled over by an agressive dog and proceeded to roll over in the puppy "don't kill me" pose. However, the other dog wouldn't quit and started snapping at his neck. (he's OK) It's my job as "alpha" to protect him and I failed. Like some country rube visiting the big city, Cerb believes that EVERY dog wants to play with him, up to the point where he gets rolled. You can almost see the disbelief in his eyes. I always keep the lead handy when I'm walking in "congested" areas. I may not have to be apologize or pay vet bills, but I don't want Cerb to get hurt because of my inattention.

Mr. McCaig is contributing to the delinquency of a minor: I caught my eleven year old daughter up an hour past bedtime last night. She was reading "Nop's Trials" by flashlight.

Ex was a vet. When she worked in the rural part of the state she averaged patching up or putting down about a dog a month from jumping out of the back of a moving pickup. She had one goob admit that it was the third dog he had lost that way. She just about hit him.

I always love the ads where the owner is looking to breed their dog so the kids can have the experience of puppy birth and rearing. I say just haul the curtain climbers down to the maternity room the next time mom mistakes the baby asprin for her BC pills.

Thanks for the work and love you are putting in with Kelso. Karma is a lot like physics; what you put in is what you get back....and that goes for the puppy mill folks too.

Honestly, this is something I have absolutely no experience with. However, please don't make any decisions without careful thought. First fix the kennel and make it tight. Border collies are world champs at getting through closed doors, even at 3 1/2 months. Is there anyone in your area that can take the pup in the short term? It would probably be good to find a place for it to stay while your family deals with the trauma. This is horrible but there are probably solutions. Some will hurt more than others. The pup is being a little predator exploring, he can learn.

After finishing this book last evening, I struggled to write an internet friendly review (dense and short) but I found myself straying into too many mine filled cul-de-sacs. As the author, Donald McCaig, is both revered and present, I run the risk if seeming either obsequious or snotty if I don't walk a very narrow path. So, to skip right to the blowing off of the legs, here goes: I loved this book. It is simultaneously a mash note to the simplicity, beauty and toil of rural farming, and a dog's eye view of work and his often flawed relationship with man. While some might find the stilted, archaic English used by the canine characters to be jarring and phony, I found it to be an excellent device to separate dog language and thought from that of the human characters. It also nicely conveyed the station and relationship of dogs in the human world; that of loyal, essential and symbiotic junior partner. The much used character of the faithful English butler, or Batman’s “Alfred” sprang readily to mind….only with sharp teeth and sheep poop on his fur. The story itself, with the exception of a few broadly painted stereotype characters and situations, was enormously engaging. Be warned, it can sometimes be brutal, as truth can be without the bows and lace some authors use to gussy up the things that hurt deeply, but it rarely strays from a realistic and cracking good narrative. However, as with many books that find their way onto my permanent, never to go to the used bookstore, shelf, it is the small, intense flashes of beauty, as seen by the characters and conveyed by the author, that make this book special. The joy and exhilaration of Nop’s “pear shaped” outrun; heart pounding, tongue hanging out a yard. The intense green of the Kentucky trial grounds. The simple farm house kitchen, Formica table surrounded by work cracked hands holding sturdy cups of instant coffee. The characters of Lewis Burkholder, his wife, daughter and son-in-law afforded a view of the hardships and pleasures of rural life. As a 50 something father, it wasn’t hard to step into Lewis’s skin and observe the beauty of a daughter blossoming into a capable, strong and independent woman. As a 50 something husband, the unintended drift away from his wife caused by press and pull of circumstance, reminds me of some work I dearly need to do. Nop, Stink, Bit and the other canine characters convey essential…well…doggness. Some would pin McCaig with anthropomorphizing. I find his portrayal a subtle (and sometimes not so) and intuitive representation of canine behavior. I now can’t help but look over at Cerb, dozing on the couch with one eye open and observing me type, and wonder “what the heck are you thinking…and why? So, to restate my earlier assessment; I loved this book. Perhaps this is because, as with the character Nop, this history is in my DNA. My granddad’s south eastern Ohio farmhouse is there. The simplicity and frugality of my mom’s depression era childhood is there. Precious things that I am all-to-quickly losing are there. I’ll keep this book to help me remember.

Easy peasy. With a table saw and a cut off sled those will be short work.

Actually, I was looking for a couple sets of the 1" clip on single cups. I'm only going to make a single jump, or at most two. I just want to practice in the back yard. Cheap as in affordable for a state employee who's had his pay cut to where he's making less than he did 15 years ago.

Can anyone give me any tips on a place to buy inexpensive "Jump Cops" for building PVC tube jumps? Cheap sources for the other equipment would be sweet to.

Ann, is this an older/incontinent dog or a puppy? To be honest, we just used the shop vac and really sucked the spot dry. Then we followed up with "Resolve", which is a cheap, grocery store pet stain cleaner. The trick is to get as much out of the carpet as you can with the vac while it's still wet. The more you get out, the less you have to "treat". We have rugs over a bamboo floor and if we caught it ASAP, the stain wouldn't even soak through the backing. I really think the vacuum is key.

A little trick I used while house training cerb: Use a wet/dry shop vacuum rather than blotting. It pulls more urine out of the carpet and doesn't push it down into the deeper layers.

Aquatic ecosystems ecologist/toxicologist...but I ran an analytical wet chem lab at ASU for 3 years. Am I in the club? Do we get jackets?