Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Westminster makes me sad


I try not to talk politics in public since I know it's in bad taste, but last night my people watched the Westminster Dog Show. Even though I know that there is never anything completely black and white in the dog world (except maybe Border Collies), I wanted to offer some thoughts on AKC Border Collies in particular. Before I do, though, everydog should get their people to donate some money to a humane society,rescue group or animal welfare group. The pedigree commercial is right--every dog should have a home.

On to Border Collies. I'll say upfront that not everyone will agree with me on this, but really, it's my blog, so I get to say what I want to about things I think about.

It wasn't so long ago that Border Collies were not recognized by the AKC and we Border Collies mostly thought that was a good thing. See, we're bred to work and really that's the only reason we should be bred. Sure, not all of us can become the top, top working dogs and many of us excel at other kinds of things too. But, one of the reasons we have all the characteristics we do is precisely because we were bred for a particular purpose, herding livestock, and not for a particular look or for some other purpose, like playing agility or being sweet, lovely gentlepups who give the most delicate kisses in the world.

The less we are bred for working stock, the faster we lose many of the traits that make us Border Collies. That means that while people can *do* whatever they want to with the Border Collies once they have them, the only ones who should be *bred* are the ones who have proven they are great at working livestock. Although my packmates and I are wonderful in every possible way, we shouldn't be bred. Which is not to say that we shouldn't have been *born*--just that we haven't proven ourselves on livestock-- and since we haven't, we shouldn't compete in the gene pool.

There was a whole lot of debate, and there still is, about whether Border Collies should be recognized by Kennel Clubs and thus bred for a particular conformation (e.g. a particular look).

So anyway, I just watched the Border Collie judging at Westminster with my person. What you notice immediately is that none of those Border Collies look much like me and my pack. Just to remind you what we look like, here we are (ignore Renzo here):

Here are some comments from the breed standard:

Ears: Ears are of medium size, set well apart, one or both carried erect and/or semi-erect (varying from 1/4 to 3/4 of the ear erect). When semi-erect, the tips may fall forward or outward to the side. Tansy has "semi-erect" ears; I have one ear carried erect; Hamish has both ears carried erect and Rafe has zero ears carried erect. We represent all the ear types found in Border Collies

Coat: Two varieties are permissible, both having close-fitting, dense, weather resistant double coats with the top coat either straight or wavy and coarser in texture than the undercoat which is soft, short and dense. The rough variety is medium in length without being excessive. Forelegs, haunches, chest and underside are feathered and the coat on face, ears, feet, fronts of legs is short and smooth. The smooth variety is short over entire body, is usually coarser in texture than the rough variety and may have slight feathering on forelegs, haunches, chest and ruff. Neither coat type is preferred over the other. Tansy, Hamish and I are "rough" coated; Rafe and Kyzer are "smooth". Tansy and Hamish have a wavy coat; the rest of us have a straight coat. We represent most of the coat types found in Border Collies except for the really curly ones and the really fluffy, long ones.

Color: The Border Collie appears in all colors or combination of colors and/or markings. Solid color, bi-color, tri-color, merle and sable dogs are to be judged equally with no one color or pattern preferred over another. White markings may be clear white or ticked to any degree. Random white patches on the body and head are permissible but should not predominate. Color and markings are always secondary to physical evaluation and gait. Kyzer is almost entirely black; Tansy, Kyzer, Hamish and I have "ticking"; Rafe and Hamish are tri-colors (Hamish is a "red" tri-color and Rafe is a "black" tri-color). I have a "split" face. We represent a very small subset of the possible color types found in Border Collies.

What you notice in the standard is that BCs should have a lot of variety because what matters isn't what we look like, it's how we work. Our working ability is pretty hard to encode in a breed standard, though, so that's not really an important part of the package. And that's sad since it's the work that has defined us for hundreds of years.

When you look at the BCs that go to dog shows, you see little of this variety. Despite the breed standard, show Border Collies, and especially the top ones, are almost all black and white, with no ticking or merle and almost never tri-colored. They are rarely smooth-coats, and their coats are almost always the long, fluffy kind. Their ears are never pricked. The almost never have a split face and rarely have wavy or curly hair.

So, basically, there is lip-service to variety, but they are clearly being bred to look a very certain way since that's what wins at shows. Which means, they are not being bred first and foremost to be workers.

It also means that people almost never know that any of the dogs in my pack are BCs. I come about the closest to be "recognizable" to most people--but my speckles tend to throw folks off. Hamish is often thought to be part Sibe; Rafe is thought to be Rottie or Shepherd--some folks have even said that he doesn't have any border collie in him at all. Tansy has been called a cattle dog cross and we're sure that Kyzer will be seen as many things but probably rarely as a border collie.

We don't care so much about that, but I sure wish people would stop mucking around with our beauty genes and go back to focusing on our working genes.

13 comments:

H.A. Turbofire, Sibertarian said...

Something that annoys my Human is the AKC German Shepherd standard. The show sheps have a weird creeping gate! She had a GSD once that was more a German GSD in it's structure than an American GSD.

AKC protocols are often just more stupid human stuff.

Ivy said...

all i can say to the akc is ha ha ha ha ha ha!! wut a bunch of silliness to say that only two coats are permitted. as if humans can permit dog things! crazy peepol!

i think a working border dog is a beautiful border dog. there is nothing quite so beautiful as a bunch of sheep goin exactly ware you tell them to!

Bogart H. Devil said...

Hey Pippin! Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

And I'm with you on the dog show thing... I far prefer the agility shows and the stuff where dogs get to show what they can do - not just how silly the humans can make them look.

Love,
Bogart

Opy - the Original GruffPuppy said...

Happy Valentines Day, sweet gentle Pippin :-)

Big hugs and kisses,

Opy

Oscar's mummy and daddy said...

We are all beautiful for what we are, not for what people think we should be.

Licks
Oscar x

Tin Tin Blogdog said...

Hey lovely Pippin,

I'm with you, dooog. Utter (border)colliewobble.

So I say, all doooog owners should be kind, gentle, have brown hair, speak with Irish accents, have freckles, be poets and musicians, and love dancing. Oh, and have a ticklish neck.

Ummmm, yeah. Really stupid. Cos not everyone can be my ma.

Chow for now,

Tin Tin xo

The Army of Four said...

Great post, Pippin! You're really very wise.
Tail wags,
Storm
PS: Is that a cat next to Renzo, by the way?

Tansy said...

Good dogness, Pippin! You are ever so wise.

Having read the AKC standard of appearance, I was expecting to see quite the variety of border collies, much like our flock, in the video. I was most surprised to see 12 fluffy black and whites, and 1 fluffy red and white. What does that mean?

I do prefer working sheep to taking baths.

Your flock-sister,
Tansy

Anonymous said...

i agree pippin! i don't like dog shows so much cause its just a beauty contest. just cause i might not fit the "dachshund standard" perfectly doesn't mean i am not a wonderful loving pet. i am supposed to hunt for badgers but i don't see any badgers anywhere. but i do love to dig and burrow under bed covers!!

by the way thanks for the tips on making me feel full while being on a diet. mom was worried about that cause i only get 1/4 cup twice a day! she just thinks thats not enough to feel full! mom says she will try the oatmeal tonight!

Rachael said...

I agree. I hate to see the AKC ruin yet another good working breed. *sighs*

You are GORGEOUS, by the way.

Isabella said...

You have some good points to your argument, but what about us breeds that aren't working dogs- is it okay for us to be sweet and pretty? Sometimes all a girl has going for her is being sweet, smart and purty- hee hee!
Big wags,
Isabella

Maximillian the Valliant said...

Wow Pip on a soapbox!!

Sorry Isabel, poodles are a working breed too...at least they were supposed to be....

I like to see the breeds, but I hardly ever seen BCs in the big dog shows...havent' they started to require BC exhibit herding as part of it in the pretrials? Since that is supposed to be part the stardard, what they were bred for?

Maxey

JustMeCopper said...

Whew ... sorry ... I just got in from going down a hole after a badger and killing him! It was exciting. Those badgers are FIERCE!

No, I am kidding. The most strenuous thing I have done all day is jump on the couch. Pippen, you are the smartest dog I know after reading all of that. All I know is that my Mom says that if herding sheep is anything like herding PRESCHOOLERS, then Border Collies are the smartest and hardest working dogs on earth!!!