Outlawing dog breeds

In My Humble Opinion
81

I agree she’s full of it. But her cats are beautiful.

Her bank is full of my money. These cats were not cheap. Pedigrees like you wouldn’t believe.
She nearly had a stroke when I had them neutered.
I didn’t want unaltered cats.

I bought them in a mild rebellion I was going through. When my last human baby left home.

If I had been in my right mind I would have adopted a couple of kittens from the shelter.

I feel I was allowed one weird example of animal decision in my life.
Still, I love them.

82

Nope. They’re the originals.

The narrow-headed ones aren’t mixed breed either – but they’re the result of generations of breeding for that narrow head because some humans think it’s pretty; and don’t care about deformed brain cases, dental problems, and respiratory problems.

That, I get. I’ve had an insane cat. I loved him a great deal.

(His mother was an underage kitten who produced a litter of two. His sister only lived a few hours. I’ve always suspected a bit of brain damage in the womb. But at least nobody did that to them on purpose!)

83

I had an applehead Siamese in the 70s and 80s. Great cat. I never saw one of the elongated ones until after 2000. But IIRC, the mummies of cats in Egypt used to have exaggerated ears and noses-- maybe that’s where the idea that cats used to look that way comes from.

Also, interesting fact: Seeing-Eye Inc., US, used to train mostly German Shepherd Dogs as service dogs for the blind, but stopped, and switched to Labs and Goldens when the inbred GSDs became too problematic. They will train some dogs on request, though. If you want a GSD, you have to get one from Germany, because they have not been ruined by inbreeding as the US ones have.

They will also train Dobermans for people with certain body types (slender and very tall-- I know a Deaf-blind woman, 6’1 and probably a size 6 who has one), but they have to come from Germany too-- not only are US dogs too aggressive to be service dogs, but Seeing-Eye insists on dogs that are undocked and uncropped. Doberman puppies are docked so young, that unless you are in touch with the breeder before the birth-- and pay before the birth, it is hard to get undocked in the US.

84

But that fashion has faded. I dog-sit a poodle, and I see lots of poodles and other breeds because I walk so much. I’ve see n dozens of poodles the last few years, and only one had that topiary haircut. The one I dog-sit is extremely bright and has a wonderful personality.

That’s good to know. apropos of nothing, my son and DIL have a border collie. He’s a rescue dog and is…not bright. I think he’s single-handedly brought down the average breed IQ by 20 points. He also has few teeth. He is, however, a gorgeous dog who’s affectionate and wants to please.

85

The poodles I’ve known are very smart. The funny haircut is one thing. I don’t mind the extreme grooming. It’s just hair(fur) afterall.

I bet the Poodle, a well bred one who’s not come from a puppy mill is most like their ancestors.
I have no knowledge of this scientifically, just think it, from the dogs I’ve known.
Poodles are real dogs and act it.

I knew a lady with a Standard sized white poodle. He was the first to roll in stinky stuff, usually after a bath. The first to chase small animals. Hated cats, the garbage truck and all delivery people. Was very loyal and would fight an alligator to protect his Mom.
Ol’ Frankie, was a cool dog.

86

Are you sure he isn’t deaf? It’s a common mistake because they pick up alternate cues so quickly that people don’t realie and just think they are “slow.”

87

My sister had a cat in the 70’s and 80’s who looked exactly like those Egyptian-style statues, which we had previously assumed to be an exaggeration. Not a Siamese, though; a small short-haired black cat of very determined nature and lots of brains, found under a car in Ann Arbor. (More like the kitten found my sister on a street in Ann Arbor; she was refusing to come out from under until my sister showed up, and then went right to her.)

Her head was normally-shaped, though; she just had huge ears.

88

Dogs, like people, vary in their intelligence between individuals. All our border collies have been ‘smart’ dogs, but there are definite differences in intelligence between them. The current two we have are very different. One is a slug that just wants to sleep all day, and the other is always playing, or watching the street, or watching the cat, or hanging around with the humans.

89

Do yours feel compelled to herd anything they can? My sister had a pet border collie that escaped from her backyard and was recaptured in the neighbor’s field where she’d herded all his sheep into a corner. Never trained in herding, just did it.

90

I found out for sure that the Mixed Unknown Breed I had a few years ago had some herding dog in her when she herded a fawn.

A couple of humans and the dog were out in the field when the fawn appeared. I shouted at the dog to ‘leave it’ as in ‘do not hurt the fawn’ – and she apparently concluded that, if I didn’t want her to hunt it, that I probably wanted to adopt it; and when it tried to run she herded it, quite skillfully, into one spot and held it there for us.

We caught the dog, patted and praised her thoroughly, and removed all of us from the area. Mama presumably came and got the fawn, or the fawn got to her; and both of them stayed out of that field thereafter. (Didn’t work on the next year’s herd, unfortunately.)

91

We have had a border collie that liked to try to herd our cat, to varying degrees of success. It was basically a game for them both. And we always leash our border collies on streets because cars are tempting to chase for many borders, and they try to herd by cutting them off in front, which is contraindicated for lifespan…

But the common characteristics we’ve seen across our borders is that they all love to play fetch, they all love toys to play with, and they are eager to play any game at all. Our ‘playful’ border collie invents new games all the time, and we have to learn them.

Right now, her current fun game is that she hides while we are playing fetch, then I throw the frisbee and say, “here it comes!” then she comes diving out of her hiding place to catch it as it goes by. Another one involves throwing the frisbee so that she can run a circle around the patio and catch it running at full speed as it goes by.

If I don’t figure out the game, she’ll let the (cloth) frisbee hit her right in the face and not react until I do it right. It’s pretty clear who is being trained in these sessions, and it’s not the dog. But we have great fun working together on her games.

Our playful border collie also loves watching the neoghbor kids play soccer in their back yard. If they are out there, she’ll bark at us to go out, then she runs out and plonks herself down by the chainlink fence right between the two kids and ‘referees’. She gets excited when one of them misses the ball or scores a goal, and jumps up and runs in a circle and wags her tail. Then she sits down and watches again like a good spectator. They love her, and she makes them laugh. Those are good days.

The sluggish one loves watching hockey with us. Faceoffs in particular are very interesting to her for some reason, and she gets very attentive until the puck drop. I have no idea what she’s seeing or thinking.

Getting back to the problems of conformance, the active, smarter one is an Alberta bred red border with a short coat from a cattle working mother. The older one is traditionally marked black and white border collie from New Zealand Sheep herding stock, with shorter legs and a thick double coat. They are very different, yet both are quite clearly border collies and no one would think they are anything else.

Here they are:

Imgur

Only one could pass border collie conformance. Both are registered border collies.

92

I’m not sure what Bayliss is. But he herds the Chihuahuas the children and tries to herd the crows that take over the yard every morning. They’ve come to expect him. They fly up a bit and right back down giving him what-for for disturbing their meal.

When he tires of the whole thing they talk.

To me.
Shouting curse words at me to keep my dang dog leashed.

It’s a fun diversion before our morning walk.

93

Nice doggos. Nobody should own a border collie who can’t give it the time, attention, training, and mental stimulation such an active, intelligent dog needs.

94

Well yeah, but what’s really important for BCs is structure and mental stimulation. It’s not so much physical exercise, although they need that, but mental stimulation. A bored border collie is a destructive border collie in some situations.

Exercise is important (we walk ours 2 km per day, plus backyard fun), but it’s almost impossible to tire out and calm down a BC through exercise alone. They have more endurance than you do. Border Collies have been known to die because they won’t stop working. Shepherds often keep large tubs of water on the pasture for the dogs to jump in and cool,down so they don’t stroke out in the heat.

But I have to say, we’ve been BC owners for 35 years, and never had a destructive one, or one that had particularly high energy needs. Mostly, they need defined tasks and lots of mental stimulation. If you buy a border collie and relegate it to the yard like what happens to so many dogs, it will eventually find something fun to do that you don’t like.

I’d say the biggest factor in successful border collie ownership is the willingness to make it part of your family life and have enough structure in your own life that you don’t drive the BC mad with erratic feeding times, not coming home at roughly the same time each day, etc. If they know what to expect they are fine. If they don’t they’ll become anxious and develop their own coping mechanism which you may or may not like.

95

Our younger dog, just turned two, still very much a puppy in his mind, is half Border half Miniature American Shepherd (often better known as Miniature Australian Shepherd, MAS… more on that in a second).

He herds more like an Aussie, nipping from behind. Correct no tiring him out. I am peaking for marathon training and mid winter running through fresh fallen snow 14 miles he ended running for a fetch toy. I’m sure he could handle the longer runs since but my selfish needs are without a dog going farther.

You don’t tire them out with exercise; you just build a stronger athlete.

His mother was a MAS, likely under 30 pounds, oopsie litter, but known dad was about 35 pound Border. He is 58 pounds of pure muscle. The breeder told us 35 ish pounds was likely but that you never knew, could have the height of a Border and the muscle build of an Aussie. Well … longer body and legs than an Aussie but tall and dense.

Older housemate is pure MAS but with a litter mate toy sized he’s 44 pounds, big for MAS. Sweet boy. Just not good with other dogs and bullies the bigger younger Border who had started to push back. Best tail ever! How can anyone dock those?

Not sure what qualifies MAS as a separate breed. They are simply small nonconforming Aussies with genes that can produce a toy sized and a near full sized Aussie in the same litter.

Market demands?

96

A miniature Aussie that weighs 44 lbs? That’s the normal weight of a regular female Aussie, with males coming in 10-15lbs heavier.

Great dogs, though! And I wouldn’t dock the tail either.

97

Yup. He’s our maxi mini.

98

And a lot of the problems come from breeding for a visual standard (brachycephalic breeds, for example) rather than for any useful purpose.

Dachshunds were, I think, developed because that form factor had a useful function (being able to go down holes after vermin). French bulldogs have extreme trouble with reproduction due to their body configuration (at both ends of the pregnancy); I don’t know if there are other breeds that have those same issues, but brachycephalic breeds were developed for appearance and no other reason.

99

Positive. He’s been thoroughly checked out, including his hearing. He has regular vet appointments, and they’re very conscientious owners. (They have two other dogs, both rescues.) It takes him a lot longer to learn than it takes other dogs, but they’re very patient people.
My sister says when she dies, she wants to come back as one of their dogs. :slightly_smiling_face:

100

Today I identify with the slug (I have breakthrough Covid.), but they both sound wonderful!