Christopher holding Zeke, Bella, Max, and Gemma.
“I have achieved an inner freedom. There is nothing in this world that I fear to say. No one nor anything can silence me. This is a good feeling. This is the feeling of a man. I want you to have this feeling too – it is my moral responsibility to help you achieve this inner freedom. I am an evolutionist of a peaceable type. Proceed in a logical and systematic manner.”
– Dmitri Mendeleev
Christopher and Sassy, March 1986
Christopher Landauer is a fifth generation Colorado native and second generation Border Collie enthusiast. Border Collies have been the Landauer family dogs since the 1960s and Christopher got his first one as a toddler. He began his own modest breeding program with the purchase of Dublin and Celeste in 2006 and currently shares his home with their children Mercury and Gemma as well. His interest in genetics began in AP Chemistry and AP Biology and was honed at Stanford University.
Unimpressed with the totalitarianism and group-think of the show ring and questioning of the intransigence of the trial community, this manifesto is a series of arguments and analysis of the Border Collie culture, breeding ethics and strategy, and current events in the dog world.
Christopher Landauer is a fifth generation Colorado native and second generation Border Collie enthusiast. Border Collies have been the Landauer family dogs since the 1960s and Christopher got his first one as a toddler. He began his own modest breeding program with the purchase of Dublin and Celeste in 2006 and currently shares his home with their children Mercury and Gemma as well. His interest in genetics began in AP Chemistry and AP Biology and was honed at Stanford University. 
I think that you might mean that you were “questioning of the intransigence of the TRIAL community” unless you have something against trails.
Trails are so intransigent. Some of them are in the same exact place they were eight hundred years ago. No innovation what-so-ever. Trailists are only about moving sheep and cattle from one place to another in highly antiquated means, they fail to appreciate that some people live in a world of paved roads and super highways and want a dog that can accommodate more diverse infrastructure.
I must admit that I have died way too many times of dysentery on a certain trail that I no longer can remain objective as to their merits.
I just kept reading and reading and reading. Great blog: astute analysis, good citing, thought provoking… Glad to find you. Power on.
Best wishes,
Kayce Cover
Kayce Cover recently posted..Wow! Professionally produced video of Kayce Cover at the PennVet Working Dog Conference!
Hi Christopher,
Your site is very intriguing & thought provoking. Thank you for porividing insight to the situation.
Do you have any suggestions for someone who is interested in wanting a couple of working farm dogs? My family has roughly 100 acres in Massachusetts. We currently grow high bush blueberries. I would like to raise 10-12 finnsheep and some pygora goats. I’d like the dogs to help with the sheep and goats. I grew up with farm dogs that were used mostly to keep the predatory wildlife away when my grandparents had a few head of cattle and a couple of horses. No herding capabilities.
I like your thought process, so any suggestions you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Websites or books?
Thank you for your time.
Liz Toth