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Gary M

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About Gary M

  • Birthday 08/01/1956

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    http://webpages.charter.net/loryder
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    Michighanistanovia

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  1. But as people decide not to have kids but to have dogs, breeds actually get altered. If we alter a breed too much, it can’t do what it was bred to do,” Delsman said. (emphasis added) Yeah, that's why... (where is the puke emoticon)
  2. As Mr. McCaig quoted in a different thread, "A Man cannot serve two Masters". The masters here being the working bred Border Collie or the AKC. It has always been my opinion and position that the AKC has proven itself to serve more to the detriment of all breeds it has touched than it has ever served to their betterment and because of that and in that regard I personally consider them evil. And I do not support or compromise with evil. One can make excuses that it is the only game in town for some activities, or that because you have border collies you don't care how they have ruined every other sporting or working breed they have come into contact with (because you don't own those), but truly if you are in for a penny you are in for a pound. To claim otherwise, again in my opinion, is rank hypocrisy. There is leeway that can be granted to the "great unwashed", but that is when it becomes imperative to educate those people on the harm the AKC has caused the breeds it claims to champion. Among those are the fact that the AKC, its quest for revenue and its de facto support of puppy mills and back yard breeders to fill its coffers promotes a never ending supply of euthanasia fodder, as well as the genetic corruption and destruction of once useful and noble breeds with the working Border Collie being one of its more recent victims. AKC, Another Killed Canine
  3. DW recently took in a foster JRT. Some I have not cared for too much and some have been so-so. Of all the dogs we have and have had, I have never actually hated a dog. Until Jack, the JRT! I hate that dog with a passion. It barks over everything, attacks Bernie, Nisa and Tasha for no particular reason and is the biggest pain in the ass of a dog we have ever had. It gets along great with the other ankle biters (2 chihuahuas and a toy poodle) but does not like the larger ones and lets its feelings be well known. I know not all JRTs are this way, but then again just from what has been said here and I have heard from others, I would take a dozen spastic over the top no off switch border collies before I will ever let another JRT set its paw in this house again. YMMV
  4. Julie, All the trials I have attended have been USBCHA sponsored, or to say that all I have attended I was aware of from the trials section of the USBCHA website and I believe those are USBCHA sponsored. I have been going to trials in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana for 5 years. I am not saying that qualifies me for anything, but I am not completely ignorant about it either. And obviously no, I do not have actual on field trial experience and am not attempting to judge the judge. But I also know something about human nature, prejudices and preferences and it is simply not possible IMO for those not to play some part in the results. Not that there is anything wrong with that either. I know it is not an exact parallel, but I have a car I show concourse. Same car every time, different judges, different scores. Sometimes same judges, different events, different score. Sometimes win, most times don't. Que sera, sera. And while I have not talked to a specific judge about a specific run and how they scored it, I have talked to people that are participants that are judges at other trials on how they would score it and I hear "the dog should have this" and "the handler should have that" as well as where points would have been knocked off.
  5. Julie, All the trials I have attended have been USBCHA sponsored, or to say that all I have attended I was aware of from the trials section of the USBCHA website I have been going to trials in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana for 5 years. I am not saying that qualifies me for anything, but I am not completely ignorant about it either. And obviously no, I do not have actual on field trial experience and am not attempting to judge the judge.
  6. I live in Michigan, grew up in Detroit as a minority as far as the population makeup of the city was at the time and still is and work in a similar populous. Believe what you choose. And it is because you name the the product, not the practice in demeaning terms that I take offense. It is not the dog's fault with regard to the circumstances of its being, its FREAKING PEOPLE, ignorant, moronic butthole people. So demean the practice, not the result. Your dog doesn't care whether you call him a Border Collie or an Oil Spill. It doesn't know the difference anyway. So AKC calls them Border Collies. So what, get over it already, its just words, right? You are not going to buy a dog from them so what difference does it make? From what I have seen in rescues, shelters, Petfinder and on the streets, ACK cannot claim exclusive rights to piss poor breeders. What is the cutesy demeaning term for ABCA dogs that are badly bred, including by so-called big hats, that don't work or tell the difference between a sheep (or cow) and a 55 Buick? Funny I haven't seen one for that.
  7. Pearse, I will freely admit that my use of the term conformation was a bit of trolling. Sometimes I get a little frustrated in these types of threads and sometimes feel that turnabout is fair play. I will disagree somewhat about what you said regarding how trials are judged for I have been at quite a few trials and have seen where judges have placed more emphasis on the dogs methods than the results. A case in point was a trial I attended a few years ago where I watched a larger than usual Border Collie move the sheep effortlessly through the course. From beginning to end this dog had total control of the sheep to the point the sheep never paced above a trot and with the shed and pen finished the course with more than time to spare. The dog did not make the top 10 of a 20 - 25 dog field. The comments I heard from other trialers while the dog was running were not encouraging. Stands up to straight, too loose eyed, wears too much, yada, yada, yada. It was apparent the judge felt the same way based on its score, so the dog was not meeting the expectations of how it was thought the dog should have performed. All the while the dog was running, I thought "What a great dog. Confident, capable, sheep not panicked, got to be in the top 3." So it was not what the dog did, but how they did it. Now really, I understand this to a degree. In any event where the results are judged, the judge(s) will have their preferences and biases in working style and it will affect their scores. I also don't think it can honestly be said that there is not some amount of "good ole boys (or girls)" networking in the scoring. After all, the judges are human and those they score this week may be scoring them the next. I have also talked to ranch owners that use dogs for stock work (one in particular from out west that used to post semi-regularly on this board) that think in larger part that trials were "hobby herder fluff". "Just because a dog can move 3 dog broke sheep on a weekend" he told me "doesn't mean they can move a thousand head of range sheep over miles of open ground every day". You tell me, true statement or not?
  8. No actually it really, really, really isn't. The offensiveness of a statement is typically judged in the mind of the person that hears it, not those that state it and I, along with others on this thread have stated what we consider to be legitimate reasons we find "Barbie" Collie offensive. Primarily it aims at the product, not the producer. There are a variety of legitimate reasons that one might own a dog that was ACK bred and yet despise as much or more so than you those that were responsible for its breeding. And I will bet dollars to doughnuts that if you saw me walking a fluff butt border collie down the street, "Barbie" would be the first thought in your mind and I would take that as demeaning to me as well as my dog. And I would personally take as much offense as if you had insulted my heritage. My lack of a PhD aside, I know dogs are not people and people are not dogs and I have always been aware of that despite your credentialed condescension that I did not. Furthermore, your PhD does not define what I or others may find offensive in terminology. There is a specific reason that Barbie Collie is used over Show Collie or show bred collie and that is to ridicule and demean those with whom you disagree. Now I will grant you that have as much right to be offended as you stated, as do I by what you state. In the words of us less educated on the board it may be restated as "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" or sometimes simply put as "the pot calling the kettle black".
  9. Since much of this debate always seems to come down to a parsing of words and terms, it can also rightly be said that any breeder that produces litters for a distinct purpose is a conformation breeder in that it is breeding for the purpose of conforming to a set of standards. The split comes in what those standards are and how they are judged or assessed as they apply to the result of that breeding. Westminster and the USBCHA finals are both conformation events. One is called a "show" and the other a "trail" but the purpose of each is fundamentally the same. Each is designed to decide on the basis of a judged event how individual dogs conform to their respective adopted standards. I think one could safely say that those who breed for the best examples of conformance to the standard they choose to breed for are in the minority and the rest, or the majority of breeders, have other reasons (obviously) that each internally justifies however noble or evil (or in between) they may be. Even the term "Border Collie" could be considered a misnomer depending on how you define it. It seems to me at least, Border Collie is a term that is (or should be) used to define functionality in that in its correct application is a distinct methodology by which the dog works stock. If my Aussie Tasha worked stock in the same manner (eye, gait, headset, etc.) and as efficiently as a top 10 National Finals dog (admittedly highly unlikely) I believe that she could be ROM'd as a Border Collie. Would this make her an Australian Shepherd breed with Border Collie functionality or does she magically change from one breed to another based on abilities? I believe that regardless of protestations to the contrary, the term "Barbie" collie was not coined or is used as a term of endearment, but instead as an elitist pejorative to be used to disparage those who breed for appearance, with which they disagree. That is why I also believe many on this board, myself included, that do not own working or working bred Border Collies take offense at its use. I have repeatedly heard that we "pet owners" are not second class citizens, yet when the annual "Look at the Cruft's (or Westminster) blockheaded Barbie Winners" thread comes out and my dog, through no fault of its own, looks like "their" dogs, I should not take offense. It is no different than someone using a degrading term to describe my ethnicity, but at the same time saying "but don't take it personally, I don't mean you, of course, I mean "them"".
  10. My dogs can be demanding in that way as well. Sometimes it works for them, other times I tell them to go away and they usually do. I guess I am of the type that would rather put up with a bit of their pestering now cause I will sure as hell miss it when they are gone.
  11. Linda, Our thoughts and prayers are with you in this, the most difficult time in a pet owner's life. These are the loves of our lives, our friends, companions, confidants and family. The decision to help them on the next step in their journey, without us, is the one only we can make. When you look into their eyes, and into your heart, you will be guided in your decision. The question of too soon or too late is always our greatest struggle. That it is a struggle is a testament to our love.
  12. You forgot "I'm sorry, you were right, I was wrong and its all my fault"
  13. It seems odd that back in 2005 when Vick the %ick was running around using the Ron Mexico alias while getting treated (and also apparently spreading) herpes, the National Felons League banned customers from ordering his Falcons jersey with the name "Mexico" on it. I guess the NFL did not want to tarnish its image. (Laughing hysterically at more than 1 irony here.) Try this link fore more information. Let's also not forget that the herpes infected quarterback also failed a drug test for pot while awaiting trial in 2007 and was the registered owner of a truck in which 2 men were arrested for distributing marijuana in 2005. (Obviously these 2 incidents were merely a coincidence.) A pillar of society, a paragon of virtue....
  14. If you really loved Annie, then you and DW would have seperate rooms. After all, why should Annie have to leave HER bed so that the OTHER WOMAN can take her place! Of all the nerve!!!
  15. Fortunately the plague can be cured... Puppy millers and back yard breeders, unfortunately, not so much.
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