Fine boned, small BCs vs. the "typical"

[concrete]

I went to Ms Crawford's website and looked at her dog's pedigree and there is no line breeding in the first 4 generations. The sire is one of John Holman's dogs who is from good working lines. The Dam's sire is a Kensmuir dog,also from good working lines. The Dam's Dam I am not familiar with the breeding.

Ms Crawford, your dog must be cross registered though since it has AKC titles. I know John Holman registers his dogs with the AKC. So you seem to be supporting the AKC and also supporting breeding for working ability only at the same time. I don't believe you can support both sides of this issue. I hope that as you continue to learn about working Border Collies you will realize what an amazing animal the working Border Collie is and how important it is that we breed only good working dogs to good working dogs without trying to match an arbitrary physical standard.

[Gloria Atwater]

I don't see any sign of sheepdogging or trialing outside AKC on her site, but perhaps she is looking to expand beyond those limits with Loki, now. I am always pleased to encourage people who come to realize there is a bigger and better world for working border collies outside the AKC.

 

At any rate, I imagine her interest in inbreeding and bone structure is academic curiosity, rather than any reference to her own dogs' lineage.

 

~ Gloria

[havenjm]

Interestingly enough, Loki's dam and littermates were bred to be flyball dogs, not working dogs. The flyball passion of the girls diminished and the dogs were left with their mother to get back into herding with. But the fact remains that they were not bred for working ability at all.

Given ms. crawford's association with the AKC and the use of terms like the "typical" physical characteristics of BCs I would guess that she's referring to the AKCs definition of a "working dog" which most informed people are aware is a hollow title. Even though the dogs were, perhaps, bred for flyball, the chances are pretty good that they looked at a sheep at some point and therefore achieved a working title of some sort from the AKC. Perhaps in Ms Crawford's eyes that constitutes a "working line".