Any stockdog remotely deserving of the description should be able to gather stock, drive the stock to specific areas, and help sort and pen the stock. Point Three: there is nothing esoteric about a USBCHA sheepdog trial. And not that racing husky people concern themselves with bloodlines or anything like that. I think the part he missed is that working sheepdogs and racing huskies are bred for different purposes, but who the hell knows. Point Two: if you think the following comment by BC Board moderator Eileen Stein is 'the funniest bullshit ever seen,' you might be as ignorant of working stockdogs as Retriever Man: are like Alaskan Huskies in that they are bred to a working standard rather than an appearance standard, and they are a breed rather than a type in that they have been bred to that working standard long enough that they almost always meet that working standard better than any other kind of dog.Īlaskan Huskies don't have a registry and border collies do - that's the only significant difference. Working border collies are amazing dogs, and it can't be repeated often enough that the border collie's brains and biddability and athleticism are a direct result of rigorous selection for stockwork, as opposed to rigorous selection for a pronounced stop.

First: nice to know that the press coverage of the USBCHA Finals has made an impact. Seriously, I can't wait for his 'Don't know much about geology' post.Ī few points. The one bit of intellectual honesty you'll find in his post is this admission: 'I know next to nothing about actual herding trials.'Īnd I'll be darned if he doesn't proceed to write paragraph after paragraph demonstrating just how little he knows about working stockdogs and actual herding trials. Retrieverman is the latest to troll these waters, with a post entitled, of all things, Intellectual honesty on the effects of trials and shows. jesus horses by wullagaru for threadless.įor decade after weary decade there have been chuckleheads claiming that working border collies aren't all that, and who needs a real stockdog nowadays, anyway, and oh - remember to buy a pup from my non-working kennel! It's such an unoriginal, predictable sort of background noise that by now most people with working stockdogs simply tune it out. Because actual scientists are just big old snobs.

Imbd snow on the bluff