Working Border Collie snobs like to reiterate that sheep work is serious business, but the truth is that the business of sheep is in serious condition with an unfavorable prognosis. A side effect of being overly melodramatic about the threat posed by “sporter collies” and “barbie collies” is being entirely humorless about what is a devilishly fun, charismatic, and exuberant breed. Apparently we’re not supposed to have any fun with Border Collies because that’s an insult to their long heritage as a very serious working breed.
Luisa at the Lassie, Get Help! blog has some seriously bipolar attitudes when it comes to dogs which serve as a case-in-point of the priggish attitude. The self-styled “Border Collie Expert and Pit Bull Apologist” treats the two breeds with irreconcilable double standards.
To her, Border Collies should be preserved solely for their historical purpose with no adaptations to modern life but Pitbulls should be recast as living dress-up dolls for dog mommies with no retention of their legacy as baiting and blood sport dogs. Border Collies are forbidden to evolve and yet Pitbulls are wonderful because they have supposedly evolved so much.
A dog for no one save the indoctrinated whose good reputation is a liability vs. a dog for everyone if they’d only get over that whole bad rap thing whose reputation needs to be rehabilitated.
Her hatred for evolved Border Collies and love for Barbie-Pitties is on full display in her attack on “Bandana” collies:
I hate dogs in clothes. No, I love dogs in clothes!
I hate dogs in clothes. Working border collies look best naked. [A plain collar is OK.] It’s safer, for one thing. A real stockdog in a bandana? Totally cringe-worthy. It isn’t just incompatible, it’s inappropriate — as awful as Roseanne singing the national anthem. It makes you want to switch the channel as fast as you can. Yeesh.The “bandana collie” is actually a much-disparaged cultural marker in the world of working stockdogs. The bandana collie should not be mistaken for the Barbie collie, though the two categories frequently overlap. Barbie collies are fluffy, conformation-bred, AKC-registered “border collies” that don’t work stock because they can’t. Bandana collies, on the other hand, are a subset of pet. They often have clever names like Prufrock or Bernoulli and they live in Santa Monica with their clever owners and never see sheep and always wear that damn bandana.Or Scout. Very popular name for border collies west of the 405.Bandana collies go to dog parks.I hate dog parks, and I hate dogs in clothes.
A full blooded stockdog wearing a bandana, fresh from the pool at a Frisbee tournament. Oh the horror!
Well, dog forbid if someone lives in a city and wants to exercise their dog off-leash; not everyone owns ample acreage in the country for a hobby farm with some plaything sheep for decoration and amusement.
And dog forbid someone is not so enamored with historical re-enactment and Victorian romance that they don’t brand their Border Collie with one of the “approved names from 1890 Scotland:” Meg, Nell, Ben, Fly, Glen, Moss, Roy, Jess, Spot, Cap, or–you know–Lassie!
And gosh, you’re an asshole if you want to cool off your hot Border Collie with a wet bandana because dog parks, sporting fields, and nature trails don’t come with filled stock tanks for heat stroke relief.
Still, she goes on to tell us how wonderful playing Barbie with a pibble is though:
No, I love dogs in clothes! The wonderful American Pit Bull Terrier was born to rock bandanas, Doggles, leatha, reindeer antlers, Mardi Gras beads and tea-party bonnets. Pride Parade? Pit bulls are so there. Nothing, but nothing looks as cool as a pit bull in a bandana.
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Pit bulls seem to like playing dress-up, and they are also the rare breed that seems to enjoy being hugged. I suspect those two characteristics are related.
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So take your pup to lots of dress-up parties [don’t forget the delicious treats] and buy your pit bull a personalized football jersey or his very own little sweatsuit, but don’t come near my border collies with that bandana. Don’t even think of it. Some things are just wrong.
Third generation Astraean offspring (son of Bella who was out of Dublin x Celeste), working a several hundred head of cattle ranch, rocking a bandana.
Where’s the unblinkered fetish for the Pitbulls of yore? Why is it a virtue to take the Pitbull out of the fighting ring, but a crime to take a Border Collie off of a pasture? Should even one person use a Pitbull for what they were really bred for, they are a monster. But if anyone should breed a Border Collie like it’s 2013 and not 1320, they too are a monster? Why is the only needed validation for the modern pibble being “a subset of pet” but any Border Collie bred to that standard a travesty?
It doesn’t help her case that she’s a complete hypocrite on the issue of dolled up stockdogs either. Here’s an image of her ultra serious working stockdog wearing frufru barrettes fresh from the professional groomer and a terrier-mix sporting the exclusive “you only get to wear one if your breed has no raison d’être and you’ve rejected every historical purpose and that’s a good thing” bandana.
Luisa, get help.
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I prefer Pit Bulls wearing leather harnesses or heavy duty collars; I think it makes them look fierce and dignified. I like that look for all the bully (and mastiff) breeds. But I don’t judge people who go out of their way to make others less scared of their dogs, either (which is one of the main purposes of making a Pit look cute with silly clothes).
But then my own dogs wear sweaters, so… I guess I’m not qualified to judge how egregious it is to make your stockdog wear accessories.
I love leather harnesses for bullies and mastiffs – many of them were cart-pullers and such historically.
Some of the bigger pit bull/mastiff types look good with those wide leather collars, but “dignified” doesn’t really fit a lot of the pits I’ve met, hah. Plus, quite a number of the pits where I live (and they are a very popular type around here) are the more lanky/svelt kind where a giant collar looks dumb.
I don’t much care for the heavy duty harness, but I like a good 1.5-2 inch wide collar on a pit, based on size.
Some of the larger pits, you need those wide collars, especially if the dog is poorly trained and pulls like the dickens. The only other type of dog I hear coughing with possible trachea collapse aside from toy breeds is the pit type dog.
Having said that, I am girly enough to lament the fact that I can’t find blingy shiny, bejeweled collars in pit type size… This is even accounting for the fact that I prefer the smaller pit in the 30 lb and under range, lol.
They just don’t come 1.5-2inches wide.
As an aside, I prefer nylon collars, just because leather collars have a tendency to wear and stretch. Most people don’t take care of leather collars the way leather should be taken care of and I admit I am one of them. Which is why I have had leather collars wear and stretch, lolol
Border collie names suck. I mean they really do.
Yours have by far the best names: Dublin, Celeste, Mercury, etc.
Names that involve a bit of thought.
retrieverman recently posted..Golden retrievers are not ovtcharka/bloodhound crosses
I personally think bandanas look good on any dog.
And Luisa’s little snobby attitude about collies wearing them makes me want to break out Zelda and Sammie’s hankies.
Also of note: I’ve met a significant number of working cow dogs through work. You know, from actual ranches, not just hobby farms. A certain percentage of them wear a bandana while working. Just sayin’.
That reminds me, I have a photo of a third generation Astraean dog (son of Bella who was out of Dublin x Celeste) working on a several hundred head cattle ranch rocking a bandana.
And I’ll note that the cattle industry isn’t a joke in this country.
my GOD Chris that is a handsome working dog. You produce another one like that in 10 years and I’ll snatch that kiddo up. I’m not kidding.
Is he purebred BC or is he a heeler mix?
His mother is full bred BC, of course, but the father is unregistered ranch stock and I haven’t yet gotten a response on his recipe. I’ve asked because I’m fond of putting dogs in my pedigree software and calculating COIs but no response.
I’d guess his father’s probably some amalgam of aussie and heeler, probably. He looks a lot like my girl – and I bet he’s a spectacular dog.
Here are some pix of Pete. I don’t think he has recent heeler or Aussie, I just don’t see it in his structure. The ironic thing is he has more coat than most fluffy show BCs and his face and structure are very BC.
I’d hazard looking at him in those that he does have SOME aussie (you’re right, probably no heeler and it might not be recent), but that’s likely to just make him an even better dog.
One of my dream projects while I still live in Eastern Oregon is to do a photo essay of the working cow dogs of the region. There is such diversity of form/color in the “border collies” around here that you just don’t see anywhere else that showcases the “breed”, including Google images. Many could probably be called old time farm collies. I’d love to document the variety.
I’ve noticed that bandannas are good for covering up the shock collar on the trick-trained pit bulls at “Pet Expo” type things.
A tea bonnet on a Pit bull is not demeaning but a Bandana on a Border collie is?
It doesn’t matter what the dog is,looks like or wears but what it can do.
I tend to also like more functional things on dogs like collars and harnesses,a wet bandana does have some function in hot weather but all the crap that can go on her Pibbles do not.
You can have a rustic working or sporting PIt bull or other controversial breed without being a dog fighter or the such. I don’t think these people care about the drive or athleticism in these dogs but just get them because they’re cute and feel sorry for them.
They don’t want a Rin Tin Tin they just want a sheep in pit bull’s clothing. Frankly it comes off as disrespectful for these breeds and all they have done, and they don’t all turn out like the cute little lamb they wanted as well.
Also, you have full permission to juxtapose the pictures of Mika working goats and Mika in her scubadog costume. Just because I put a full scuba costume on my dog for Halloween therapy night at the local little kid’s psych ward doesn’t mean my dog can’t kick a cow’s ass into a trailer the next day. Which she has done.
VERSATILE DOGS.
And what’s all this talk about preserving the “dignity” of dogs anyway? They roll in poop and hump shamelessly and debase themselves for food. I have no problem dressing up my dogs for my own amusement, to hell with their “dignity”. It’s how they pay me rent.
Perhaps your dogs do that,I just like to see dogs more then just being cute or silly.
In-fact I think their cuter without a bunch of crap on them.
You can treat your dogs the way you want,just don’t act like one working dog should be treated dignified and another shouldn’t be.
Tea bonnets and sweatsuits? No thanks, I’d rather have my APBT go outside looking like its owner isn’t insane. 2 inch collar, please