Sorry for rehash - John Katz Wiki entry

[Meg's mum]

I really don't want to stir all this up, but I was hanging out on the Wiki encylopedia and I came across John Katz'entry.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Katz

 

The author points out that his entries on Slash Dot in the tech realm were considered ill informed and ersatz by the readership. But no mention is made of the controversy surrounding is artciles on Slate and his books regarding Border Collies.

 

I have never read anything of his and do not feel qualified to edit this entry. I know that many of you have become well....experts on the issue of Mr Katz and what he doesn't know. Please edit Wiki accordingly. It is rather simple to become and editor.

[J&D]

I haven't read anything by Katz except his "A Dog Year." While there were some interesting bits to it (and some appalling ones), I thought it was very poorly written.

[NorthfieldNick]

Mostly what I remember about the book of his I read (Bedlam Farm something?), was:

 

1) How much he talked about his badly behaved ram. Get rid of the darn thing! I don't tolerate bad rams. Period. It's dangerous.

 

2) How he lost lambs to freezing because his ewes wouldn't go in the barn. HE HAD THREE BC'S!! If they'd been my ewes, they'd be in the barn wether they liked it or not. If I didn't want them to be unhappy in the barn, then they'd be lambing when it was warm out.

 

His total lack of farming skills (which he admitted to) and common sense, combined with his whiney, woe-is-me writing style put me off his work.

[borderlicious]

I've never read anything by him and I don't know what the issue is with him and Border Collies. Any links to fill me in?

[Meg's mum]

"I've never read anything by him and I don't know what the issue is with him and Border Collies. Any links to fill me in?"

 

Grace, there have been so many threads on Katz this year that the easiest way to find them is to put 'Katz' in the search feild. There are numerous Katz haters here.

[Brandon M]

Originally posted by Meg's mum:

"I've never read anything by him and I don't know what the issue is with him and Border Collies. Any links to fill me in?"

 

Grace, there have been so many threads on Katz this year that the easiest way to find them is to put 'Katz' in the search feild. There are numerous Katz haters here.

Or better yet, you could read some or his work.

[Bill Fosher]

I have to say that I don't hate Jon Katz. I don't know him. I just think that his writings, his appearances on radio call-in shows that I have heard, and some e-mails that I exchanged with him a few years ago show him to be an idiot. And a pretty poor writer.

 

If you need to read some of his work, please take the books out of the library.

[Guest pax]

I have read some of his books. I have read some of the threads on this forum that reference him. I am puzzled by the concept that someone reading his books would actually want to get a Border Collie. He constantly references how hard it is to manage them, to work with them, to integrate them into a normal household.

 

The argument has been made that he makes BCs attractive, but I don't see that. If anything, I think it would be a huge turn off.

 

:confused:

[J&D]

I'm surprised people hate him. He doesn't seem interesting enough to hate.

[Lenajo]

He doesn't have 3 BCs

 

He *had* 3...

 

1 he put to sleep because he couldn't manage him

 

1 he gave away because the dog was miserable because he wouldn't stop the other dog from tormenting it.

 

The last 1 he still has, but he states if he sells the sheep he will give her to the people because she is "bonded" to her flock.

[Shetlander]

Originally posted by Lenajo:

The last 1 he still has, but he states if he sells the sheep he will give her to the people because she is "bonded" to her flock.

I hadn't heard that comment. In his interview on NPR he stated he had two other BC's in addition to Rose, one of whom I think was a rescue. I believe he expressed confidence that he was going to do really well by them. Not sure on what in his history with the breed he'd be basing that confidence.

[Lenajo]

It's in the new book about Orson/Devon. It's quoted...

[Meg's mum]

What I was hoping for was that the educated opinions that have been expressed here were put to use in providing a cautionary edit to the public encyclopedia entry. Currently there is no indication that there is any controversy associated with his self promotion as an information resource on the breed.

 

It was ill advised to use the word 'haters'. It has seemd that the general reaction to Katz here has been that of disgust and anger. That's all.

[Rubzoe]

Hi everyone, This is my first post as I just joined the site. If you want to see more about Katz' most recent book - check out the reviews on www.amazon.com. Book title is "A Good Dog"

 

HBO Pictures is making a movie out of the book he wrote before this one. Both books are about his former pet Devon/Orson

[juliepoudrier]

I read the reviews on Amazon--I think that's where I read Katz himself noting he had two more rescues. Poor dogs.

 

J.

[Bill Fosher]

I had to read the responses. It's interesting that on at least two occasions he defends himself by stating that "nowhere in this book do I claim to be a dog trainer." He neglects to mention that he published a book on dog training at about the same time as this latest memoir.

[AK dog doc]

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on how one looks at it) I have only read excerpts of his books (a few fairly extensive, admittedly), so I doubt I'd be a credible Wikipedia editor. Also, IIRC, it appears that Mr. Katz frequently contradicts himself, so that A) I'm not sure that anything I read in an excerpt might not be contradicted later, and Mr. Katz himself can (because of all the contradictions) reply that in another spot he wrote "Thing X" that states just the opposite of what I'm commenting on. I have listened to the NPR fiasco, but don't have a transcript thereof. I doubt I can force myself to read through one of his books; I sometimes wonder, however, if it is not my duty to do so, so that I MIGHT be able to comment credibly on Wiki or elsewhere....

 

I agree with Bill on the trainer/not a trainer thing. It drives me BATS how on the Amazon comments he's fond of saying (I think I read at least 3 such remarks of his) that he's not a trainer and nowhere in that book did he say he WAS - and yet he has written a dog training book. So no matter what he said in previous books, now people think he's a trainer - because he has presented himself as one. Duh. And ARGH. Whatever suits the argument at hand, I guess. :mad:

[kajarrel]

Well Slate says he's an expert and so does MSNBC and what about npr's description of Katz . . . wonder where they got that idea? He doth protest too much, methinks.

 

Kim

[Black Watch Debatable]

Originally posted by kajarrel:

Well Slate says he's an expert and so does MSNBC and what about npr's description of Katz . . . wonder where they got that idea? He doth protest too much, methinks.

 

Kim

Could it be the subtitle? "Katz on Dogs: A Commonsense Guide to Training and Living with Dogs"...?

 

Could it be that on his website he writes that he is "a member of the American Pet Dog Trainers Associaton (APDT)"? You can be a member, too --- all it takes is a check for one hundred bucks.

 

Katz is "one of the country's most respected and quoted writers about dogs and companion animals," by the way. Says it right there on his website.

 

Check out the article and video on this link.

 

Have to add that one of the things that drives me nuts about this guy is his endless spin on the old "people think their dogs are children" clich?.

 

No, Jon, people don't.

 

Loving your dog doesn't mean you think it's a child. Providing it with excellent medical care doesn't mean you think it's a child. Spoiling it to death doesn't mean you think it's a child. Dressing it up and carrying it around doesn't mean you think it's a child. Calling it a "furbaby" and referring to yourself as its "mom" doesn't mean you think it's a child, and none of this means that dogs are literally "child substitutes." (Darn. And here I thought my collies would go to Stanford and support me in my old age )

 

There's a nasty, sexist undercurrent to this bit of pop psychology [frequently called "maternal displacement" by those writers who prefer some pseudoscience with their sexism], and for all-out intellectual laziness it's hard to beat. Dogs are living creatures that share our lives --- they're not little humans, but they aren't refrigerators, either. It's a complex, varied and fascinating relationship, worth studying. But does anyone really think Scout is "a little man in a dog suit"? Please.