Rebecca, Irena Farm

Exp handler in NC looking for help getting back into sheep and stockdogs after long break. Currently in Northwest of state but willing to drive...moving end of year to Charlotte area. My dog is well bred, was well started, but we are both rusty as an old harrow left in the weather. Can and will trade flock grunt work (hooves, shearing help, worming, etc). Contact Becca Shouse: text is best, (276)Four F1ve One-4315

My first responsibility, I feel, if I feel any doubt about the safety about the helpless, is to speak in a friendly manner to the person in question. Wouldn't it be easy? I'm saying this as a severely social phobic person, to the point of agoraphobia. But I've started conversations like this. I wouldn't discuss the situation, but the dogs - "Wow, cool, Border Collies, I'm into Border Collies too! Neat setup, do you do sports or anything with them?" It might turn out that you can help! Maybe she needs a dog walker or sitter! How cool would that be? Good luck!

I use Kenic formulas. I wash Zhi frequently (Chinese crested - unnatural is her middle name) so I too need something mild and not too stinky. They make a fragrance-free shampoo, I think. I am pretty sure Earthbath does if they don't. I've also used Earthbath on myself - both the shampoo and the wipes to clean up my face after coming in from farmy stuff. I have extremely sensitive skin and the Earthbath wipes are better even than my previous gold standard, Huggies natural. I also use the Emu Oil spray from Kenic on my hair (and Zhi every few baths).

I've been on a long, long journey with various dogs. Although I've never been in the AKC camp, I have to say that I didn't entirely buy in to the notion that breeding FOR stockwork is first and foremost if you want to be able to count on that dog. I've tried to train everything from rescues to okay bred dogs, to messed up second hand dogs that started out as nice dogs. I am supremely untalented as a handler - I'm okay as a trainer but not when it comes to stock - I'm still lacking in too many of the tools needed to help my dog. I recently discovered though, that a well bred dog/pup makes all the difference in helping a newbie see the pieces. It's like learning to drive with a brand new Cadillac versus a Pinto with the front end out of alignment and the clutch half burnt out. You don't have to worry about "holding your mouth right" to keep the car on the road and in gear, and can just focus on learning to drive. I learn something every time I take Ted out to do the simplest chores. I've had some good help but I don't take regular lessons, especially lately - and yet I'm still making progress. With other dogs, that weren't quite right, I'd never get anywhere on my own and often I'd mess up any progress we made last time we "Checked in" with a pro. And now I'm starting to work with Sam a bit - he's just a baby at six months old, but the magic is there with him too! Wow! I've finally learned the "dance" in the round pen and Sam's starting trust me to help him there, something I've never been able to do with a little one, without help. And, before we really even started working, Sam already had the "out of the box" ability to hold sheep to me (my entire flock of thirty some), gather them in a 200' by 200' area, push them to a gate, and through a chute. How is this relevant to the AKC question? Just this. Is the point of breeding stockdogs, to make nice dogs? Or is it to produce a helper for the livestock operation? The vast majority of farmers are going to be like me - too busy to make it to week after week of lessons just to get a dog somewhat useful. After working with many, many dogs, the only kind of dog that has what it takes to be a "self starter" is one bred ONLY for livestock work, from parents bred likewise, and so on and so on. Conformation people are fooling themselves when they think they can improve on this model. There's only room for degradation when arbitrary physical factors are added in to the mix of out of the box working characteristics.

Google boxer color genetics. I'm pretty sure that's right.

There are several banded hair types. Brindle is another. Wild grey is still another. The color and order of the bands can help classify what you are looking at, but this isn't infallible since in practice the bands can vary in width or color to the point where it's hard to tell whether you are looking at grey, cream, liver, tri brown, and sometimes black bands will predominate to the extent that the other bands are mere threads of color, or not appearing at all on that particular hair (as can happen with a solid brindle).

Stock should be such that your pup learns good things not bad. The training area can alleviate issues with less than ideal stock though. I'm learning that no matter what the level of dog, the right stock and working area can make all the difference when working on something new. The dogs learn far more from the stock than from me (good thing!). I actually consider it a great advantage that Sam will not have to work daily at a low level of training as Ted did. I am still working out oddball kinks in Ted that resulted from letting him work quick and dirty, from ignorance on my part on how to help him learn the right way to do things. Don't be in too much of a hurry! I know where you are, for sure. It's tempting to fast forward to the time when you will be able to take advantage of Dan's solid genetics and instincts. I see flashes in Sam already that have me jonesing to get him going now, at just six months. But i feel it will be better to go slow and take advantageof the ideal situation and experience with the line, that his breeder offers, even though it's less convenient than just throwing him on sheep in the round pen here.

I forgot to say that reading this book when I was a kid solidified my inent to gave a farm and working dogs some day. Only I thought the dogs in that book were lassie collies until many years later.

I was actually going to say that but as ooky said, that assumes the equivalency of "purebred" and the registry. That is itself a way of thinking which is irrelevant to producing superior stockdogs. It is not the registry which defines the dogs, it is simply a note of parentage, a tool to be used for tracing characteristics. I'm guessing this might be in reference to the exclusionary principle of the ABCA? That's quite a different matter than breeding dogs that don't happen to be Border Collies, and producing pups that work up to Border Collie standards. In one case the work defines the dog. In the other, the owner has deliberately abandoned the defining principle of the breed, work ONLY.

The dialect and much of the culture places the book squarely in the "Border" area of the UK. Since the characters clearly identified themselves as English as opposed to the Scottish antagonist, it's almost certainly located on the English side of the border. Sheepdogs of that area were already becoming internationally known as the gold standard of breeding. It is highly unlikely that the Grey Dogs were Welsh. Instead, like many dilute or Merle lines they were fast dying out due to founder effect. The genetics were still there, but the dogs simply weren't grey anymore. The Tailess Tyke was a cur mastiff type commonly used in droving. There are several more sheepdog style described that are all interesting records of probably the last real appearance of many of these types as distinct lines. One intersting thing to note about the story is the range of characters described as being sheepdog handlers. Not all of them were farmers or shepherds. And they were all described as being working dogs or retired. Upon researching this, it seems that instead of being the tool of the farmer and the shepherd exclusively, the Border Collie was developed by people who considered the sheepdog an inseperable part of keeping sheep. Most people in that area kept sheep no matter what their profession. So most had dogs. It's an interesting line of thought.

If we cannot attend the Finals but have a dog that would help (both noise sensitive and early onset deafness) how can we get involved?

There actually isn't a distinct effort to keep working lines "pure." border Collie lines as recently as the eighties include Beardies and probably some lurchers in the backgrounds of some of our key dogs. I know of at least one cross breed dog that is fully registered and is a well respected worker. With the increase of the Hangin' Tree Cowdogs, and the interest some of them have in really refining the breed, we may see some officially recognized crossing there in the future too. The fact is that the Border Collie has historically been a breed in which practical considerations come first. But very few people with Border Collies feel the need to go outside the breed to get the type of dog they need. You do see that sort of thing in extreme working situations like brush beating, feral stock, a lot of large scale cattle work, and big station work down under. In those cases you don't see people who actually lay eyes on the working conditions disparaging anyone for crossbreeding decisions. What it comes down to is that if the dog gets around a variety of ISDS style courses, it can be a hairless Chinese crested and people won't care. They likely won't rush to breed to it, but they will if that dog starts producing consistently performing pups and grandpups, itself! The proof is in the pudding. It works the other way too. People may rush to breed to a popular sire, but at the first hint of problems or training issues, the enthusiasm will drop away just as quickly.

Things that typically change from ten months are generally for the better, particularly in capable training hands. Prey drive will continue to increase. Very rarely you'll see a dog start to get "notions" at that time - car and people chasing, etc, but in a form easily redirected. Conversely the gear box can also engage so you actually can see an increase in thoughtfulness and impulse control. As to noise phobia, if that is a total deal breaker, I'd advise going for a lab instead. But most Border Collies will work right through their hypersensitivity once they've learned their jobs. I placed a severely thunderphobic bitch as a "goosedog" and to my surprise, she found her niche doing bird strike control at an airforce base in Charleston. Neither normal air traffic noise, nor construction, nor sonic disturbances, nor incoming weather phase her while she's on the job. Off duty she hides under stuff still during storms.

What if you did sample strictly Australian bred dogs who were selected for working ability alone? The reason I directed you to Tony M is that dogs exist in North America that meet that description and he would know where to find a decent sample. He was pretty interested in the project.

Driving always. Imagine lots of small paddocks and multiple gates, buidings and clumps of woods to go around, wooded trails and dams and ridges. Rarely any open fields, long straight paths to drive, and the sheep are savvy old commercial ewes and replacement lambs.