BCFo Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I recently read "A Dog Year" by Jon Katz. This is the first (and the last) time I have read one of his books, because I thought everything came out so good for him that it is close to utopia when applied to a BC. Now, I've been in and out of the forum and I have read so many negative comments on him and I don't understand why. Can somebody explain the whole situation? Thanks in advance. BTW, Troy just got neutered yesterday. I guess we won't be able toi attend practice this saturday, but I hope this helps with his focus. Pics coming soon. Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Check out this thread Jon Katz . Scroll down a bit and you will see about 5 links Black Watch Debatable posted, read those links, and you'll see where we are coming from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie+Tess&Kipp Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 I have some links here as well: http://weebordercollie.com/katz.html I have not yet added the most recent two: http://www.bordercollie.org/cgi-bin/ultima...ic;f=1;t=012339 http://www.bordercollie.org/cgi-bin/ultima...ic;f=1;t=012372 Allie + Tess & Kipp http://weebordercollie.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFo Posted October 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Thank you. Reading as I post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 The whole Jon Katz thingy? Easy. The man is a self-serving, arrogant nit-wit who knows so little about Border collies that if you shoved it all up a bug's butt it would rattle around like a BB in a boxcar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat's Dogs Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Well said Bill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Bill, I think that is now one of my favorite responses ever... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgt Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Originally posted by 2 Devils:Bill, I think that is now one of my favorite responses ever... The imagery is very disturbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Very good, Bill. In my eyes you found the right words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoku's mum Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 The man is a self-serving, arrogant nit-wit who knows so little about Border collies that if you shoved it all up a bug's butt it would rattle around like a BB in a boxcar.Yep, it's true, but, ya know, I never thought about bugs butts before.... thanks for that image! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 No, but Bill, we want to know what you really think. Don't hold back on us! I really don't think much more couldn't be added to that statement. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stafford Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 I saw the following email on a local agility list. Yuck. I'm refraining from replying... To: AgileCAT@Yahoogroups.com X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5060 From: [deleted] Sender: AgileCAT@yahoogroups.com Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 11:40:54 EDT Subject: [AgileCAT] A Good Dog Hello Cat's, My friend, Jon Katz, author of The New Work of Dogs, Katz on Dogs and The Dogs of Bedlam Farms will be reading from his new book, A Good Dog, at Annie Bloom's Books in Portland on Thursday Oct. 19th. I am certain most have read at least one of Jon's books, if you are living with a border collie you will want to read, A Good Dog. For more information go to: www.anniebloomsbooks.com [name withheld] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra s. Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 I think I'd get the point anyway , but to make the image perfect: what is a BB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy V Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Small round pellet shot out of an air gun. Smaller than a pea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Lady Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 BCFo- Don't start everyone off, please!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra s. Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 Originally posted by Wendy V:Small round pellet shot out of an air gun. Smaller than a pea. Ok, thanks! That is just evil...but not necessarily wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borderbob Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 i think bill adequatly hit the nail on the head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Becca, That _is_ the concise, sugar-coated version of what I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayor_McCheese Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 A lot of people of this board say that he claims to be an expert.. He has never claimed to be an expert on dogs. As a matter of fact he says over and over that he doesn't know that much about dogs and training dogs. If your stupid enough to take his books as a training guide the you have other problems my friend. I don't agree with everything that Katz has done or what he believes in but I've somewhat enjoyed his books. Are you going to blame the creater of the show Heros when some doofus runs to the top of a building and tries to fly?.. People are just idiots, it doesn't take some guy writing a book to bring them to the surface Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie+Tess&Kipp Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 The man has written a training book. So he is in fact giving out training advice. "Katz on Dogs: A Commonsense Guide to Training and Living with Dogs" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 He does call in advice on radio interviews, too. Really awful advice, by the way, mostly consisting of well, you got your dog from a shelter and the dog is too old to train now anyway, so what do you expect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stafford Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 My disdain for John Katz started well before his dog related writings. From his Wikipedia entry: Slashdot.org In 1999, Katz left HotWired to join Slashdot.org. Many of his contributions to Slashdot were focused on the youth subculture of geeks and social misfits. In the article Voices from the Hellmouth, written shortly after the Columbine school shootings in Littleton, Colorado (near Denver), he commented on the relationship of the shootings with the angst and social isolation of teenage geeks within high school subcultures.[1][edit] Controversy His writing was frequently not well-received by Slashdot readers.[2] Among the charges often levelled at him were that he was not an authentic geek and was seeking to co-opt and sensationalize geek subculture, that his writings (especially those on technical topics) were uninformed gibberish, and that he had an unhealthy fixation on the Columbine shootings. In the Slashdot subculture, variants on the phrase "in this post-Columbine world" are occasionally used with satirical intent, and are regarded as typical of Katz. There was a large controversy when Katz posted an article about an e-mail he believed to be from an Afghani teenager named "Junis", writing to him via the newly-restored Internet. Katz never disclosed the original e-mail, but it was an evident hoax and probably a parody designed to fool him. According to Katz, Junis wrote his e-mail from "his ancient Commodore computer", which he had 'dug up' and was now using to download movies, pornography, and MP3s thanks to the recent liberation of Afghanistan.[3] Bleah. Personally capitalizing on public tragedy, writing as an authority on subjects about which he has no real knowledge... Bleah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Watch Debatable Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Originally posted by Mayor_McCheese:A lot of people of this board say that he claims to be an expert.. He has never claimed to be an expert on dogs. As a matter of fact he says over and over that he doesn't know that much about dogs and training dogs. When someone describes himself as one of the country's most respected and quoted writers about dogs and companion animalsit isn't much of a leap to assume he knows what he's talking about. He also mentions that he's a member of the American Pet Dog Trainers Associaton (APDT)--- a distinction that anyone can buy for $100 bucks. I'm so with Bill on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandra s. Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 In the end, this wonderful dog confronted me with some monumental decisions and moral challenges. These are, I believe, familiar to almost anyone who has ever truly loved a dog. How much should we love these creatures? How important are they in relationship to humans and their welfare? How do you keep grounded and maintain perspective when you are managing the kind of intense feeling a dog can sometimes generate? How much do you owe them, and when have you reached the boundaries of what is appropriate? (interview) This is the essence of why I personally hate this man with a passion. Someone rescued me from a very sad place and showed me how to laugh again. Now I'm supposed to count how many feet she walks on and judge her by her DNA? Guess I'm not "managing my intense feelings" for my dog enough tonight to be able to tolerate this :mad: . EDIT: this needs at leats two more. :mad: :mad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowwown Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 Hi, I am in the middle of reading "A Good Dog" and have not read anything by this author prior to this book. I am a new BC owner (four months now) so am a total non-expert with BCs and just learning as I go. I also work in Marketing for the world's largest book, DVD and music distributor so was able to get this book very quickly, the day it came out. Often I am able to get advance copies of books but not this one for some reason. This book has been an "easy, light" read and I have really enjoyed it. While I don't think Katz is an exceptional writer (his grammar is not that great!), I also didn't see this book as a "training" book or "educational" book; it is more of an "entertainment" book. By the way, we all have choices about what we do with our spare time; what we read, what we watch on TV and in the movies, etc. If you don't like this author, don't read his books! In The Good Dog, I definitely don't think the author encourages anyone to just run out and get a BC rescue or puppy. In fact, I think the book certainly does some good in that it elevates the awareness of this breed as wonderful yet difficult, amazing yet challenging. And we all have different approaches to how we raise, treat, and love our BCs. Mr. Katz has one way of doing things, I have a different way and you have yet another way. We can take what we want from each other and pass on the rest. Thanks for letting me share! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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