Border Wars: A Border Collie Blog

Posted by Animals at 6:08 AM Thursday, September 24, 2009

Border Wars: A Border Collie Blog

Endings and Beginnings

Posted: 24 Sep 2009 01:41 AM PDT

IMG_2250

Not my dad's brain, but you get the idea.

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, but the reality hasn’t been sunshine and roses.

My father nearly died in March after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. If it wasn’t for my mother’s sharp eye and the world class stroke center 3 miles away, he wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to make the miraculous recovery he has slowly made. But the morning of his stroke marked a clear ending and new beginning in the life of my entire family.

This blog has always been a space for me to vent, to work though ideas and encourage debate. And despite a desire to continue frequent updates, this is entertainment, not a job.  And really, getting cranky about dog politics is a luxury for times when everything else in life is going A-O-K.  My dogs have been such a wonderful diversion lately, and an integral part in my father’s recovery, so I just haven’t had the motivation to tackle the dog-world darkness out there when there’s been so much dog-light right here, and more pressing problems to address off-blog.

After finally re-establishing some sense of routine in my new life, I returned to the blog only to find that it had been deleted by Blogger and marked as a spam site by Google!

My father, a.k.a "Guano the Lawnboy," in better times.

My father, a.k.a "Guano the Lawnboy," in better times.

Oh joy, when it rains, it pours. I’ve had to pull in favors with old college friends who now work at Google, sift through Google’s horrible help forum, cyber-stalk the one person who could turn my blog back on, and tell off some other Google employee who wanted me to “make concessions” to him to get my blog back.

Needless to say that I can’t trust my content in the hands of a company who would delete it WITHOUT notice of any kind before or after, not respond to their help forum for over 6 weeks, not publish a name, phone number, or e-mail of anyone who can actually help, and then want to chastise me for wanting my content back.

So I’ve made the jump to WordPress (rather quick and painless) and now have my content under my own control. I highly recommend it to anyone still over at Blogger.  Getting a domain name and hosting is an afternoon project, and moving the blog is actually very simple as WordPress does all the work for you. Took 10 minutes.

The new blog address is: http://borderwars.astraean.com/

And my feed is STILL http://feeds.feedburner.com/BorderWars … hopefully this is seamless for almost all of you.

So goodbye Blogger, Hello WordPress, and thank you all for sticking around.  Drop a comment or two now and then to let me know you’re out there.

Melatonin = Stress-Free 4th of July

Posted: 04 Jul 2009 02:24 PM PDT



Nothing can ruin a 4th of July like a noise-phobic dog. You can’t leave your house to enjoy the fireworks because you’ll likely return to a distraught dog and a destroyed couch, and even if you stay home, there’s not much you can do to comfort your pooch from the barrage of bottle rocket shooting neighbors and the window shaking blasts of a big display nearby.

Before you attempt the arduous task of “behavior modification” or desensitization, which basically require you to attempt to divert or suppress your dog’s fear by enticing it with something more pleasant and more evocative, whilst bombarding them with a fireworks/thunder substitute, try Melatonin first.
Melatonin is a natural hormone found in all living things and an antioxidant with little chance of overdose. Unlike the other supplements/drugs which treat mood disorders and noise phobia, Melatonin does not require weeks of daily dosing to reach effective levels in the blood stream. It can be given minutes to hours before a storm/fireworks show and you don’t have to give it again for another year, and for the fastest results it comes in a liquid form which can be dispensed under the tongue. It’s also not a sedative, you won’t have a woozy or knocked out dog as a result.
Studies show that Melatonin is rapidly absorbed and reaches its maximum concentration in the blood between 20 and 30 minutes after dosing and has an elimination half life of 5 hours.
Most every grocery or vitamin store carries it for cheap, so pick up some when you run out for last minute barbecue items for your 4th of July celebration.
And no, I don’t own stock in a Melatonin company, and I’m hardly a pill pusher. I’ve just seen Melatonin work a miracle first hand.
Growing up, I lived less than a mile from a country club that hosted a fireworks display every year that is known for low-shot mortars that burst right overhead, and knock the wind out of you with every burst. The rich know how to party.
The best viewing for this yearly show for those of us who mow our own lawns is the elementary school parking lot half-way between home and the club. If the wind is right, the spent shells of the mortars will actually land in the lot, bringing a cloud of sulfur with them.
The tangible proximity and explosive percussion make for great entertainment, but whether we went to the show or not, the dogs never enjoyed the evening. What started as mild discomfort and hiding–that was easy to overlook or consider problematic–grew each year reaching full blown paranoia and panic.

We didn’t appreciate it how bad the situation had gotten until we returned home to find that Black Jack, whom we had locked safely in the downstairs laundry room, had become so distraught at the noise that he chewed halfway through the hollow core door trying to escape.
Black Jack’s noise phobia was contagious and Bonnie Belle soon began leaving the room when people sneezed or hiding under the table when someone banged the pots pulling them out to cook dinner. These were adult dogs who hadn’t displayed the level of fear they had grown into during their early years.
We found Melatonin and never had an incident again. The first summer both dogs were aware of storms and fireworks, but quickly dropped their fear response, and during the next 4th of July we all watched the fireworks from our back yard without so much as a wimper.
With the current pack of dogs, I’ve used it selectively and prophylactically to cut possible noise phobia before it started, and it even helped me desensitize them to the new doorbell sound.
I reccomend it highly, so ask your veterinarian about it. The all mighty google suggests that an appropriate dose for a small dog is 1/2 to 1 mg and 3 to 9 mg for larger dogs (25lbs+). Published studies showed no ill effects with amounds between 10-80 mg per kg of dog weight, MANY times the levels that appear effective for easing phobias.
Fast, effective, and safe. Do your dog a favor and give it a try. Save your laundry room doors from wanton predation!

Question & Answer Time

Posted: 08 May 2009 11:49 PM PDT

More fun than keeping track of visitor traffic and subscribers (almost 90 readers and 20 followers now) is looking to see what search terms bring people here. 

The preponderance of image searches for dog !@#%ing makes me wonder about the state of humanity and my own judgment to use this rather humorous image to headline my post about breeding ethics, considering the image name (just as I found it) is “old-bitch-hates-dog-f*%#ing.jpg.” It’s number 2 on google image search:
I should have known better, but I rather enjoyed the select use of profanity to stress the point of whoever named the photo.  And really, why take it down now? If I should ever monetize the blog, tricking some furry pervs into giving me traffic just might pay off.
But most of the rest of the traffic is relevant and deserved and the content here answers the search query.  Sometimes the query is relevant but asks a question I just haven’t answered yet, but have gotten close.  So every once and a while your wish shall be my command and I’ll answer the wayward search terms that brought you here.
borderwars dog asshole blogger
Yes, that’s me visitor from Broomfield, Colorado.  Next time include your name with your snide comment and I’ll publish it.  I don’t mind criticism or even dip shit losers with a bone to pick, but you should really have the balls to put your name on your comments.  It helps me recognize you when my dogs kick your dogs ass out on the field.
why can’t I have a border collie
The Internet is all knowing and now that google tracks your search terms, your browsing history, and your complete medical file, it will soon be able to answer that very question! You can also try “Why do my parents hate me?,”  ”Is Suzy the one?,” and “Does this dress make me look fat?”  All appropriate questions for a search engine.
Until the day google knows more about you than you, why the hell do you think that someone out there would have answered that question for you and posted a web page about it?  Not only that, but you need to realize that Google is NOT a natural speech search engine. You don’t ask it questions, you look for terms that are likely to appear in the content of the page you are looking for.
For instance, you are likely to get better results searching for “the smartest dog breed is” than for “What is the smartest dog breed?” because many more sites will have text that says “the smartest breed is the border collie” or “the border collie is the smartest breed” than “What is the smartest breed?”
Now, all is not lost for you and your interrogative searches. Google can give you the answer to: “2+2=” or even “1 in = ? cm” so you can see precisely how your measure up to your European mates. 
The top reasons not to get a border collie? (1) No time (2) No space (3) No sense of humor. If you have the time, space, and a sense of humor; you’ll do just fine.
hot black jesus
I believe this is what you’re looking for, at least according to the media:
how come collies never win dog shows
The dogs in the Pastoral group, despite being several decades and many generations from tending to hoofed animals still reeks of the peasant class.  They enjoyed a brief whitewash of gentry when the Queen of England endorsed them, but that didn’t last long.  Dog shows are about extravagance, class, and fashion… things that don’t mesh well with herding dogs.  
Beauty is about frivolity and excess and the appearance of qualities that aren’t necessarily present in the actual specimen.  Dog breeds that have an existential standard (they are what they do) versus a platonic standard (they are what we think they should be) will never be popular participants in contests of subjective opinion because objective contests exist which can more accurately and fairly measure the specimens against each other. 
American dog show culture affects British sensibilities for the same reason advertisers use people with British accents to sell you products on late night TV. It lends an air of class and sophistication. Despite wearing tuxedos, Border Collies aren’t by their nature symbols of frivolity or abundant wealth or fashion.  Especially in Britain where they come from, where class distinctions are more stratified, and they still entertain the notion of Royalty. 
By having a purpose, you can’t claim frivolity like a fashion accessory toy breed can.  By being a necessity, you can’t claim luxury status like a sporting dog can.  Border Collies represent the laboring class, whereas winning dogs most often represent the leisure class.
reasons to hate ellen degeneres
Besides the fact that she’s not funny, how about the fact that she’s a complete idiot when it comes to dog ownership and being a responsible owner and adopter.  She’s a repeat offender in the impulse buy and then dump the dog when it’s not cute category, and this makes her a bad person.
12 year old border collie fertility
I should hope not. Please, save the old dear the fuss and keep any horny young studs away from her.  She’s earned her retirement, no?
no one clapped for me at graduation
I’m sorry to hear that.  Despite all you read about high school and college being the best years of your life, don’t worry, it gets so much better when you can freely associate with whomever you want and you find like minded folks who don’t need to pigeonhole you into a category they heard about from MTV and belittle you to make themselves feel better.  Those people are still out there, but most of them peaked in 12th grade and even those who didn’t seem stuck in a world defined by high school cliques. 
For them, Graduation is a time to celebrate attendance. Yay, they showed up enough to get a diploma.  Perhaps you should consider it the last day you had to give a crap what other people think about you and realize that even the diploma is someone else’s evaluation of who you are… but it doesn’t matter nearly as much as you finding your own benchmarks, your own goals, and your own measuring stick for how you want to live your life and evaluate your successes and failures.
first it was the border collies winning everything, and now they want the

Ok employee of Pfizer in New York, now the Border Collies want WHAT? I am dying to know.  
Like your search-term-challenged friends above, your choice in query leaves me baffled, but given the implied frustration and the word limit, and a little re-googling I can only imagine that you’ve found your way here from the Border Collie Boards (they LOVE me there, I’m like a god to those people) trying to find out which toy breeder protested the AKC’s decision to allow mutts to compete in performance events.
It’s true that the Border Collies win everything. They are the superior dog breed in almost every sense. I think it’s entirely possible that the only reason Hitler bombed Brittan as fiercely and as thoroughly as he did is because he knew that the Border Collie was the master dog race and he had no choice but to vie for their extinction as to not show up his inferior German Shepherds-in-name-only.  Unable to establish any historical link between German dogs and Border Collies — like he did with the whole Aryan thing — and threatened by Border Collie superiority sans the militant ferocity present in his Alsatians,  the superior and peaceful Border Collie had to be destroyed.
How fitting that they socialist legs Hitler’s party stood on were about as stable as the GSDs hind quarters are now and that the Allies did well to put both out of their misery. 
winograd asshole spadafori
Is there something in the water out there in Kansas or are you playing a game of “one of these things is not like the others?”
13 original collies
Ok, Texas, I know that you’re convinced that the world didn’t exist before your state, and you just might be the nation’s last best bastion of federalism and state’s rights, but come on now, it’s spelled c-o-l-o-n-i-e-s.
The original collie is a creature long since gone from this earth, but given the will and time, you just might be able to reconstitute a replacement out of the Border Collie, the English Shepherd, the Australian Shepherd, and a smattering of other dogs which have come down from the collie land race.  The old farm dog was a fine breed and it’s sad that the collie land race has been so heavily subdivided.  May it rise again.
border collie dying young
Now that’s a mood killer if there ever was one.  While any number of common dog ailments can lead to dead puppies; birth defects, dehydration brought on by diarrhea, and Parvo come to mind.  But if your puppy had a general “failure to thrive” perhaps you ought to investigate TNS, or Trapped Neutrophil Syndrome.  The Border Collie community is just starting to get a grasp on how widespread this hereditary disease is within the breed.
debunk nathan winograd, from NY
Good luck, PeTA.  You’ve been fighting against the truth for too long and it’s all catching up to you sick bastards now.
graduation project on solutions to pet overpopulation, NC
I wish you much success in your project and thank you for embarking on research as important as that.  My advice is to read Nathan Winograd’s Redemption and then compare what you learn there with the material published by every competing organization that deals with sheltering or pet “overpopulation.”
border collies herding deaths cruel
You must be one of the Progressive liberal twats who have taken your animal liberation agenda to the extreme, forcing New Zealand farmers to use farmhands with paddles to herd sheep instead of highly trained Border Collies.  You obviously don’t have any evidence to support your crackpot theory and you won’t find any either.  Human herders are not only inefficient, they’re expensive and look like fools. And they are certainly no less stressful to the animals.  Nor does being herded by a dog make the meat taste worse, as if any of you even remember what meat tastes like.
how to kill a border collie, from O’Fallon, MO
216.84.27.134 – May 7th, 2009 – 17:56:40 - Xspedius Communications Co

You are a sick fuck and I hope that you go blind drinking your bathtub gin, requiring the use of a service dog for the rest of your miserable days, only to be turned down because you decided it was better to kill your neighbor’s barking dog than to pick up the phone and ask them nicely.
How about you spend the money you were going to buy arsenic with on a bark collar instead and give it to your neighbor as a nice present to the both of you.  You’ll feel better about yourself.
I’m not hopeful though, for anyone so incredibly stupid as to require the use of a search engine to devise a means of killing a dog, let alone choosing to specify a border collie as if breed were somehow important in this decision.  The answer to your question, however, is: purchase a revolver with armor piercing rounds, place the muzzle of the gun up to your genitals, and pull the trigger as many times as you can until you loose consciousness and your ability to procreate.
Hopefully anyone who has had their dog poisoned near St. Louis will find this post and your search query will be enough evidence of premeditation to lock your subhuman ass in jail. 

Pacifist Hypocrite Shopping List

Posted: 05 May 2009 09:06 AM PDT


I was out running some errands today and there were a handful of protesters at a busy intersection waving home-made signs like “honk for peace” and “no war for oil.” I laugh at the naieve banality of such idealists. First, that waving signs makes any difference, and second the sheer amount of hypocrisy it takes to bring about such a half-assed roadside protest.

Every component of that sign is made from oil. The foam core, the plastic handle, the paints, the glues: all petroleum based products. The price of any one of those doubles and you won’t see too many out of work “students” waving those signs.

The fact that the protesters’ umbrella awning was made from oil, their ice chest was made from oil, the ice in the ice chest was created using refrigerants made from oil, the plastic bottles holding the water in the ice chest were made from oil, and all the filters, hoses, gaskets, and pumps required to get the water into the bottles are made from oil.

But the hypocrisy doesn’t end there. Some of the protesters decided to have their quarterly bath on the day of the protest so their fellow wack-jobs wouldn’t gag from rancid body oil and human stink. So throw in these necessary oil derived products: shampoo, glycerin soap, hair comb, hair curlers, hair dryer, hair dye, cosmetics and lip stick, deodorant, garden hose with plastic faucet washer, hand lotion, shaving cream, toothpaste and tooth brush.

A fresh change of clothes would require the following oil derived products: man-made fibers in the cloth, dye, detergents, acid wash, politically charged silk screening, and oil saturated Birkenstock shoes with oil tanned leather glued to oil derived rubber soles. The artistically knotted ankle bracelet is also made from oil derived yarns.

Accessorize with posh mylar layered plastic housed sunglasses, plastic cell phone, plastic tongue stud, elastic wrist band and a nature tattoo, all derived from oil.

Most protesters actually choose to wear clothing during their demonstrations of stupidity, but for those who don’t, you’ll also need: sunscreen, cortisone cream for that nasty rash, four colors of body paint, solvent to wash the paint off, insect repellent, and a petroleum encapsulated Extenz dietary supplement so you don’t embarrass yourself any more than you have to.

Your retard friend will need an oil derived bicycle (the rubber tube, the rubber tire, the plastic encased wires, the greased up chain, and the entirely oil made grad student helmet) and an oil derived camera to capture the moment forever.

Oh, and don’t forget the antihistamines for your patchouli allergy, and a molded plastic first aid kit with antiseptic, aspirin, anesthetic, and rubbing alcohol for when the police rough you up…. all made from oil.

And for the socialist love-fest after-party, be sure to bring some condoms, dental dams, and personal lubricant, all brought to you through the magic of oil. After all, protest chicks put out.

If It Weren’t Cute…

Posted: 15 Apr 2009 09:00 PM PDT

If inbred dogs weren’t cute before they were irreversibly destroyed, would traditional well intentioned idiot breeders still inbreed? For that matter, would you feel differently about your cute little pooch if you could actually see all of their inbred deformities, and they weren’t nearly as cute?

Would you adopt this cute Doberman puppy…
…if you knew that his heart looked like this:

Would you buy this adorable German Shepherd puppy…
…if you could see that his spine was as deformed as this:
And would you welcome the following Portugese Water Dog into your home…

… if you knew his glands were as malformed as this:

Inbreeding is like a cancer deep in the body. It goes un-noticed until it’s too late. It’s not obvious until it’s pervasive. And by the time you figure out that you probably have a problem, the ability to fix it is long gone. You only have so much time to live, but it’s just going to get worse and worse every day.
We feel disgusted by birth defects not only because they are aesthetically hideous, but because we are the ones who cause them while our innocent youth are the ones who must pay the price. No one wants to pass along defects, but the belief that they are rare and that our breeding choices aren’t risky allow them to persist.
In the cult of dog breeding, we have internalized the concept of Original Sin: that imperfection is inherent and inherited from our ancestors, that the sex act itself is suspect and shameful, and that the only way to reach salvation is to have faith in the teachings and adhere to the doctrine in every other aspect. Despute all the faults that we just can’t get rid of, the goal is still perfection and we should feel ashamed every second we don’t achieve it.
We have also internalized the creation myth that men matter much more than women, such that we allow the inbreeding of a very select few founding members and we conveniently forget about where most of the women came from. This intentional memory loss gets interpreted as “no new blood” by later generations, and we march down the road to crippling disease and mediocrity. But gosh isn’t it cute?

The Easter EGGEs

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 05:26 PM PDT

The Easter EGGEs, originally uploaded by AstraeanBorderCollies.

In these tough times, it’s hard to keep up with the supposedly recession proof (read: you’re still going to spend a fortune, broke or not) pet toy industry. But I have a great tip for the best 5 cents you’ll ever spend on a dog toy.

A few years ago I picked up an EGGE at a local dog show for $30, and it’s proven to be a great investment. It’s lasted longer than almost all the dogs’ other toys and they are so obsessed with it, I have to put it away when they’re done playing.

..

You can find the EGGE online selling for $20 now (plus shipping) and if your dogs like it as much as mine, that’s probably worth it. But why spend $30 if it turns out your dog couldn’t care less?

Solution: Visit Hobby Lobby right after Easter. They sell a plastic lawn ornament that is a near-perfect substitute for the real EGGE. They sell for a couple bucks before Easter, but the price quickly drops to nothing after the holiday is over.

Last year, my Mom bought an entire Jeep full of the things for $2 and we gave them out to all our Border Collie friends. Last year’s model had an embossed Bunny on it that is actually the perfect place for the dogs to dig their teeth into the toy, which makes them rather worthless since the dogs can pick it up instead of herding it around the yard, but this year the hobby eggs have no embossed figures.

The thinner plastic of the cheapo eggs means that they aren’t going to last as long as the $20+ model, but at a fraction of the price, they are well worth picking up to share the Easter spirit with your dogs.

Killing for a Myth

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 03:02 PM PDT


In my recent correspondence with a pet rescuer who has yet to embrace No-Kill, I saw firsthand the phenomenon that Nathan Winograd discusses in Redemption: that we hear so much about pet overpopulation, but has anyone seen it?

The e-mailer wrote:

[Shelters] only kill the animals because THERE ARE TOO MANY! Hello? Have you heard of the overpopulation problem?

Why yes, I’ve heard of it quite a lot. I’ve also heard extensively about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. If the modus operandi of the shelters in this country were to throw dogs off cliffs because the Easter Bunny commanded it, there’d be an uproar. If you had to trade Santa Claus a euthanized shelter dog for each present, the tragedy of “Christmas Puppies” would have a much darker and more sinister outcome.

I’ve heard a lot about “pet overpopulation,” but I’ve never seen a feral dog colony or a single dog starving in the street. I’ve never seen a dog abandoned at the dog park. Every loose and stray dog that I’ve picked up has always had a tag and an owner. I’ve never seen a pet store going out of business. The breeders I got my dogs from two decades ago are both still in the breed with occasional litters. Every breeder I met in the last few years who are active in some aspect of the dog world are actually “growing” their business. They are all expanding their activities and having more frequent litters. The only breeder I know who is “getting out of the business” was paralyzed in an accident.

Last October I became a dog breeder and just a few weeks ago I became a dog seller. I certainly didn’t get any hint that there was a Border Collie overpopulation problem. I had to go out of state for both of my last two dogs, and I sold two of the four puppies out of state. If I were just out for money I could have sold my litter five times over in one week. That’s all it took to find really good homes. One week. And I’m only catering to a very small fraction of the dog owning and buying world. People who are interested in purebred Border Collies who have had the breed before, who have a good sized yard, who won’t have to leave the animal at home for long periods of time, who are active and healthy themselves, who are willing and able to offer vet care to a high standard to the pup, who are willing to sign a contract, who agree to spay and neuter their pets or who pay a premium to keep them intact, who are willing to pay a premium for pedigreed dogs, who are willing to pay a premium for extensively health tested dogs, who are willing to put up with my interviewing them, who are interested in dog sport, etc.

I found four really excellent homes for four really excellent puppies and a handful of other A+ to A- homes that I’d gladly sell a dog to, and by that I mean make a contractual and emotional commitment to for the lifetime of that dog. Around 10 homes that would probably make excellent homes for a Border Collie but who just didn’t outshine the best homes, or excellent homes who just weren’t ready for a Border Collie now (new baby or too many very young children which would mean little time to train the dog during the crucial early months, their current dog is old and infirm and probably wouldn’t appreciate a new puppy, excellent experience with other breeds but brand new to Border Collies, too many Border Collies already, etc.). And then a slew of people who may or may not be great homes but who were either too far away, too inexperienced with dogs or Border Collies, or who were uninterested in training for dog sports for me to take a chance and who would be better served by a breeder in their area or a different breed of dog. And that doesn’t count the legions of callers who just wanted a price quote on a puppy.

In other words, if an aspiring Breeder like myself, first time breeding, who is an elitist, ultra picky about where my puppies go, selling puppies in the $450-600 price range (unregistered BCs go for $100, average price for a papered dog off of a Ranch is probably $250-300, show quality pups being sold to show homes sell for $600 and up, and rare colors like Merles go for about twice the market price for each of those classes), selling dogs in a relatively unpopulated area of the country, can find homes and put people on a waiting list in only a week, I have no evidence of a pet overpopulation problem.

The very existence of all these new designer dogs speaks volumes against a pet overpopulation problem. If there are mutts overflowing our shelters, filling the streets, and bringing about their own destruction, why are people paying $1200 for “designer” mutts? Perhaps it’s a shelter advertising problem, not a pet overpopulation problem. If shelters have too many dogs coming in, why are they importing them from overseas, and across our borders?

If I had to go out of state for my last two dogs, and so did two of my puppy buyers and many of the potentials, that speaks to a greater demand than supply, not an overpopulation problem.

I’ve licked my finger and placed it in the wind, and every indicator tells me that dogs are getting more popular, more homes are opening up their doors to them every day, and as we grow as a society our animals are becoming even more significant and being given higher status at every turn.

If we wouldn’t throw dogs off cliffs for the Easter Bunny or sacrifice puppies for Santa Claus, why are we so accepting of killing dogs for another myth that there is little evidence for: the “pet overpopulation” problem?

The Myth of Pet Overpopulation

“Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity.”

— William Shakespeare (circa 1600)

Sometimes the obvious eludes us. We are told something so often that we accept it a priori. We ignore evidence to the contrary, even overwhelming evidence. It is so because we believe it is so. And we believe it is so because we have been told it is so for as long as we can remember. Each time we say, read, or write it, we reconfirm it. It is so. It is so. It is so. But pet overpopulation is not so.

There is little reason why most people, your average animal lovers in the United States, would know pet overpopulation is a myth. The one fact that would dispel the myth is something they almost never see consistently because they do not go to shelters everyday. But animal rescuers see it. Animal activists see it. And others in sheltering do also. They see it daily, but still believe in pet overpopulation. What do they see every time they go into animal shelters? They see empty cages. Shelters kill dogs and cats every single day, despite empty cages.

The City of Los Angeles Animal Services Department kills every day despite empty cages. A veterinarian who tried to keep more animals alive by keeping the cages full was fired in 2005, in part, due to staff complaints of “too much work.” In September 2006, the Department killed twenty-five kittens because they had a cold, despite empty cages. In Eugene, Oregon, activists noted a high percentage of empty cages at their local shelter in the summer of 2006 due to killing that shelter management blamed on pet overpopulation and lack of a cat licensing law. The Lane County Animal Regulation Authority kept all but a half dozen cat cages empty at the height of the busy season, even though it killed approximately 70 percent of cats during the last year, many of them ostensibly for “lack of space.” According to local activists, doing so makes it easier for staff to clean. In Philadelphia before a new leadership team took over later that year, I counted over seventy empty cat cages in February of 2005 on a day they were killing “for space.” These are not isolated examples. They are epidemic–and endemic–to animal control.

Empty cages mean less cleaning, less feeding, less work. Some shelter directors simply don’t care and do it for that reason. Others do it because they falsely believe that no one will adopt the animals anyway. Still others kill because they believe the cages will get full. And others–such as Tompkins County before my arrival–require a certain number of animals to be killed in the morning to make room for the new animals they expect that day–animals who might or might not come, animals who might come after those animals killed could have been adopted, lost animals who might be reclaimed, thereby opening up space without the need to kill, animals who instead could have been transferred to rescue groups or placed into foster care.

There are many reasons why shelters kill animals at this point in time, but pet overpopulation is not one of them. In the case of a small percentage of animals, the animals may be hopelessly sick or injured, or the dogs are so vicious that placing them would put adoptive families at risk. (This killing is also being challenged by sanctuaries and hospice care groups, a movement that is also growing in scale and scope and which all compassionate people must embrace). Aside from this relatively small number of cases (only seven percent of the animals in Tompkins County), shelters also kill for less merciful reasons.

They kill because they make the animals sick through sloppy cleaning and poor handling. They kill because they do not want to care for sick animals. They kill because they do not effectively use the Internet and the media to promote their pets. They kill because they think volunteers are more trouble than they are worth, even though those volunteers would help eliminate the “need” for killing. They kill because they don’t want a foster care program. They kill because they are only open for adoption when people are at work and families have their children in school. They kill because they discourage visitors with their poor customer service. They kill because they do not help people overcome problems that can reduce impounds. They kill because they refuse to work with rescue groups. They kill because they haven’t embraced TNR [Trap, Neuter, Release] for feral cats. They kill because they won’t socialize feral kittens. They kill because they don’t walk the dogs which makes the dogs so highly stressed that they become “cage crazy.” They kill them for being “cage crazy.” They kill because their shoddy tests allow them to claim that animals are “unadoptable.” They kill because their draconian laws empower them to kill.

Some kill because they are steeped in a culture of defeatism, or because they are under the thumb of regressive health or police department oversight. But they still kill. They never say, “we kill because we have accepted killing in lieu of having to put in place foster care, pet retention, volunteer TNR, public relations, and other programs.” In short, they kill because they have failed to do what is necessary to stop killing.

What allows them to continue killing without total condemnation for doing so is the religion of pet overpopulation. It is the political cover that prevents even the animal rescuers and advocates from demanding an immediate end to the whole bloody mess. And, at its core, it is an unsupportable myth. The syllogism goes as follows: shelters kill a lot of animals; shelters adopt out few of them; therefore, there are more animals than homes. Hence, there is pet overpopulation. It is as faulty a syllogism and as untrue a proposition as exists in sheltering today. But people believe it, and because they do, local governments under-fund their shelters, appoint and retain incompetent employees in animal control, and give shelter directors the carte blanche they need to kill because the problem is portrayed as insurmountable.

This also begs the question of why pet stores and commercial breeding operations (sometimes referred to as “puppy mills” or “kitten mills”) are still in business. Hobby breed enthusiasts notwithstanding (since these groups often support No Kill and assist in animal rescue), pet stores and puppy/kitten mills are motivated by profit, and they would not go into the business if homes weren’t available. In addition, the more animals dying in a given community) which traditionalists claim means lack of homes), the greater number of pet stores that sell dogs and cats (which show homes readily available). Generally, pet stores succeed when a shelter is not meeting market demand or competing effectively, and because animal lovers do not want to go into a shelter that kills the vast majority of the animals as this is usually accompanied with under-performing staff, poor customer servie, and dirty and unwelcoming facilities.

- Excerpt from Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America by Nathan J. Winograd

Juicing The Sheep

Posted: 09 Apr 2009 11:11 AM PDT

The Journal of Queen Victoria

Thursday, October 21, 1868

At a quarter to twelve I drove off with Louise and Leopold in the waggonette up to near the “Bush” (the residence of William Brown, the farmer) to see them “juice the sheep.” This is a practice pursued all over the Highlands before the sheep are sent down to the low country for the winter. It is done to preserve the wool. 
Not far from the burnside, where there are a few hillocks, was a pen in which the sheep were placed, and then, just outside it, a large sort of trough filled with liquid tobacco and soap, and into this the sheep were dipped one after the other; one man (James Brown, my shepherd, the elder brother, who came up on purpose to help) took the sheep one by one out of the pen and turned them on their backs; and then William and he, holding them by their legs, dipped them well in, after which they were let into another pen into which this trough opened, and here they had to remain to dry. 
To the left, a little lower down, was a cauldron boiling over  a fire containing the tobacco with water and soap; this was then emptied into a tub, from which it was transferred into the trough. Avery rosy-feced lassie, with a plaid over her head, was superintending this part of the work, and helped to fetch the water from the burn, while children and many collie dogs were grouped about, and several men and shepherds were helping. It was a very curious and picturesque sight.

The Dog Illuminati

Posted: 02 Apr 2009 10:13 AM PDT


Who are the 9 people behind “PDEconfidential,” a google group which describes itself as:

9 members, members can post, people can request an invitation to join, only members can read

Description: The fallout from the Pedigree Dogs Exposed has been unprecedented. This private group, open to only a select few who are in a position to effect real change in the dog world, is designed as a forum where information can be exchanged in complete confidence.

Group email: PDEconfidential@googlegroups.com

I found this group back in January when I noticed some traffic from a google alert for “Pedigree Dogs Exposed” coming from a message posted to the googlegroup. The first two visitors were from Arlington, Virgina and Bournemouth, England.

Who are the 9 people who are “in a position to effect real change in the dog world” and why do they want to be anonymous?
I applied to the group and my application has been pending ever since. I sent them an e-mail asking if they were the Dog Illuminati, no response.  I even e-mailed Gina over at PetConnection and IM’d that crumudeon Patrick at Terrierman to see if they had any ideas. Nope.
So, three months later and there are still 9 members, and they still aren’t talking. In the mean time, the blogosphere has gotten all over Pedigree Dogs Exposed and now the American media is also running stories about the exact same issues in our country.
I wonder who has been more successful in effecting real change, the cloisterd and confidential dog illuminati or us humble bloggers? Hide your identities and motives, they call it a conspiracy. Shout your names and your goals to the world, they call it a movement. 
We’ve allowed the big decisions about the welfare of purebred dogs to happen behind closed doors for too long, and the outing of the diseased and crippled product of that neglect by Pedigree Dogs Exposed and hopefully many exposés to come, will be our best bet to save our breeds. Not confidential, self involved wannabe powerbrokers.

Dog World Feature

Posted: 27 Mar 2009 06:42 PM PDT


The May 2009 issue of Dog World, available now, features the Border Collie in their “Meet the Breed” section.  Along with several big wigs in the Border Collie world, I was asked to fill out a survey about the breed. The article is actually pretty good and they did quote me in the article (the former having nothing to do with the later).

Here’re my answers  to the questionaire. The first paragraph of question 2 was included in the article.
DOG WORLD Border Collie Questionaire
1. What is the temperament of the breed?
Driven, intuitive, highly intelligent, and eager to please. 
2. What do you love about this breed?  And hate?
The Border Collie is so aware, it’s not like living with a pet, it’s like living with a precocious teenager. They are adept at reading your emotions, anticipating what you want from them, and carrying through until they get it right.
Newcomers to the breed are often overcome by the obligation to keep their minds active. It’s not just that they need daily exercise, it’s that they need mental stimulation. If that means eating your leather couch or raiding your refrigerator (and closing the door after) instead of playing with a ball or chasing some sheep around, they’ll find a way to entertain themselves.
A Border Collie can finish a 4 mile walk and still want more, but a 15 minute training session on sheep is enough to knock them out for hours. It’s really about keeping their brains active.
3. What is your experience on the interaction of the Border Collie with other pets in the home – dogs, cats, small pets, etc?
At the dog park, most other breeds don’t understand the Border Collies. They look at them running around intently “working” to bring back the ball and wonder what the big deal is. In the same light, the Border Collies often look at the lower energy dogs meandering around as wayward sheep that need to be told what to do.
 4. What is your experience on the interaction of the Border Collie with children?
They make great companion animals for children, several of the top Disc Dog teams in the country are Border Collie x Preteen kids. 
I don’t have experience with the breed and toddlers.
5. What do you see as the main problems with or threats to the breed today?
The greatest threat to the breed today is the declining diversity in the gene pool as the most active breeders in the trialing world and show world select only a few male dogs each generation to sire the majority of new puppies. The next big champion is almost guaranteed to be related to the current champions as the top breeders/competitors typically select only the progeny of the last champion to compete at the top levels. 
Cutting off the working gene pool from the show gene pool is a moot point if the majority of genetic influence in each pool comes from only a handful of dogs each generation anyway.
6.  What is the usual lifespan of the breed?
~14 years 
7. Where do you think the breed currently excels, and where is improvement needed?
 
It’s no secret that Border Collies are widely considered the smartest breed, and second place isn’t close. They learn faster, retain more, and apply logical reasoning better than any other breed. Studies involving Border Collies are rewriting the book on what scientists think dogs as a whole are capable of. 
The amazing thing is that they are also the most athletic breed. They consistently top the winner’s podium in Agility, Flyball, and Frisbee competitions. 
Like many purebred dogs, the breed is susceptible to shrinking genetic diversity due to the popular sire effect. Because sheep dog trials in the UK and America have been the predominant proving ground for this breed for over 135 years, a handful top trialing dogs have had a major influence on the gene pool.  This has created the preeminent herding dog, but it has also resulted in a gene pool that is “effectively the genomes of 8 dogs.”
The most significant diseases are hip dysplasia, epilepsy, and eye conditions common the the collie breeds.
8.  I understand from my preliminary research that there is some controversy regarding the show-bred Border Collie and the working Border Collie, and that there are several BC registries, some of which do not permit dogs to be shown in conformation.  I would be grateful if you could give me a short overview of this situation, and your opinion regarding this apparent split in the breed.
Of the articles I’ve written, this one is the best place to start:
It explains the registry situation and goes on to show what problems the entire debate is missing. Here are the bullet points:
Concerning the ABCA vs. AKC:
* Neither registry requires any sort of health testing to register dogs from current stock.
* Neither registry requires reporting or publication of any health test results.
* Neither registry prevents in-breeding or line breeding to any degree.
* Neither registry keeps any sort of health information database.
* Neither registry has any criteria for membership other than payment.
* Neither registry requires registered dogs to meet any performance standard or physical standard or any standard at all, written or implied.
* Neither registry offers much protection against puppy millers.
Finding information on history, grooming, etc, is not difficult, but I particularly need some personal anecdotes, stories, and observations that illustrate unique points of the breed’s character, particularly those naming specific dogs.  I would be most grateful if you could supply any.  Dog World loves these in their Meet The Breed features!
Interesting History:
Queen Victoria’s Border Collies (then called “Collies of the Cheviot Breed”
1872 – “Noble” – http://tinyurl.com/7vxgj7
1866 – “Sharp” - memorial to “Sharp, the favorite and faithful Collie of Queen Victoria from 1866 to 1879. died now 1879 aged 15 years” at Windsor. 
Aficionados of the “Lassie” collie often trace their dogs back to Queen Victoria, but as you can see from the pictures on the websites above, Queen Victoria’s favorite dog was a Border Collie, not a Lassie Collie. It’s true that in her old age her young cousin the Czar of Russia sent her some Borzois and the Royal Kennels eventually bred these dogs with the sable colored progenitors to the Lassie collie, but we have very little evidence of the Queens involvement in that branch of the collie family. 
From her writings, pictures, and the memorial to Sharp, we can see that the “Cheviot breed” of collie, later to be called the Border Collie, was the dog closest to the Queen’s heart. The Cheviot Hills are the pasture land between England and Scotland, specifically the border region from which the dogs would take their name.
 
Personal annecdote:
My father’s border collie Bongo was an amazing specimen who knew over 70 commands and was quite the showman. He also had a sweet-tooth. On weekends, my father would take him down to the corner ice cream store where Bongo would entertain the kids by dancing, doing back flips, walking on his front legs, and singing. The children would “pay” Bongo with a share of their ice cream cones: sometimes intentionally but mostly because they were so enthralled with the show they’d accidentally drop their cones on the ground. His favorite flavor was pistachio.

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