But on the serious side of all af this, if mr kensmuir will allow, my take on all of this point earning, title seeking, usbcha presidential wantings,akc titles, best cowdog, greatest stockman, novice ribbons earning, sheepdogs are the best, usbcha finals are the ultimate thing, is,,,,,, goddamn everyone it all if it is not all about a border collie dog that can do an honest days work. And that my fine friends is an official position,
– Herbert M. Holmes
“…goddamn everyone it all if it is not all about a border collie dog that can do an honest days work…“
I don’t think, Hub, that you’ll find anyone on this forum disagreeing with that at all.
What matters to many of us is how we define an “honest days work”.
Whether we like the responsibility or not – whether we can make money with them or not – whether we want to isolate certain populations or not – the definition of what our dogs are is currently in our hands. The future of the dogs, and what they become – is being defined (or REdefined) right now.And many of us think that is a more critical issue than making money or increasing membership.
And I think that’s what these discussions are about.
– Bill Gary, Kensmuir Working Stockdog Center
I would have to say that a definition of a days work is just that, a dog that can work all day, and I dont mean riding around in the pick up with me either, but actually doing a continous days activity on a livestock operation,dayin and day out, at avery high level of competency.
However, there is very little of that left in the country. The face of the border collie owner has changed. I did not enter into this conversation early, but would have said that I don’t particulary like the position the border collie is in vis-a-vis the vast majority of all of us writing here. Not a single one of us has the work available for a dog to make it a GOOD one.
So before we get on our high horse, lets examine our own personal activities with the dogs. I think we will find that we are all “hobbiest”, no matter what level of trialing we do. That is lowering the standards of our dogs.We all talk the talk, but I do know of anyone that really walks the walk.
I do not support the AKC at all. I do not like their activities period. I did not know last years cattle judge, and the one from two years ago were so deeply involved in akc activites. I will ask next years candidates about their akc incolvment.
– Herbert M. Holmes
These dogs have been evolving since the first trial a hundred years ago. And 99% of that evolution came about because someone wanted to win more trials. We do not have to like that but it is a fact.
– Herbert M. Holmes
I don’t think anyone here would disagree with you on this, Herbert, but I consider “walking the walk” to be also being committed to not allowing things to further deteriorate. It is impossible to stuff the water back into the hose once it’s on, but at least we can turn off the spigot.
-grscott Leander, Texas
So there you have it. Sheeple admit on their own private boards that they are dog sport hobbyists who just care about one sport: sheep trials.
They acknowledge that the obsession with sheep trials is what drove 99% of the breeding decisions of this little group, not WORKING factors, TRIALING factors.
They admit that they don’t really work their dogs, they train their dogs for trials.
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Anton
Christopher
Lawrence Dillard
Lech
Stephanie
Essere
Greetings Chris! I hope you don’t mind me calling you Chris. I saw that you came by my blog so I thought I check you out. When I saw your handle and that you were from Colorado I thought maybe you had an issue with water rights. ; ) But then I saw you were all about Border Collies and decided to drop you a note. My dad was born and raised in the flatlands of Colorado, Kirk/Joes area. Then after his stint in WWII he worked on a sheep ranch in the mountains. I’ve got a couple of wonderful pics of him on horseback at the the ranch. I guess my grandpapa gave a try at raising sheep a couple years, too. Dad isn’t to fond of lamb chops or mutton. But I learned something interesting about them taking sheep to auction in those days. The sheep that were smokey grey in color sold better. The reason being that they came off the grassy slops via the train and when they’d go through the tunnels the smoke would stain them. These sheep were better quality meat. Dad also talks about a big old ewe that they couldn’t keep in the their pasture, she’d jump the fence. So they tied a rope with a rock around her neck for her to drag. She STILL got to the other side of the fence! One day dad caught her on the the side of an incline running toward the fence. Right at the last minute she stopped and shifted her body in a fashion that flung the rock over the fence, then she followed. : )
Oh, I LOVE watching dogs work, whether they be Border Collies with the sheep or Australian Sheepdog (this is what we have a lot of around here) with the cattle. Or my pets that thought they were little people.