We have been talking a lot on our private lists lately about another loose group of working dogs now being minutely divided into “breeds”, the great flock- protecting dogs of the middle east and Asia, with some historical extensions into parts of Europe that had the “transhumance” or flock migration. I have seen working examples …
Tag: Dogs
The Dangers of Inbreeding
Patrick and I tend to go on about how the closed- studbook model of breeding and breeds, a relict of the 19th century’s imperfect understanding of genetics, is deleterious and dysfunctional, but I haven’t said much on it here. Reader Mike spies and I recently had an interesting discussion on this matter,and he gave me …
A few photos
Our New Year’s run. Looking for hares: Plummer blurs by (forgive quality of the pic but I had to give credit to a fat 10- year- old lurcher who can still press a hare!) Coming back after a run.Antelope! (luckily I could call off the hounds– good dogs!) Tazis run by. Figures in a big …
Dog Breeding– Again
Patrick once again documents the damage that the AKC, dog shows, and the idea of closed studbooks do to dogs, with many links. He quotes Donald McCaig: “Throughout the fight [with the Kennel Club], I kept stumbling over a simple truth without quite seeing it: dog fanciers and their creature, the AKC, really do believe …
Photoblogging: Winter
It is really winter. COLD,and snow coming every few days, though not much is sticking yet at our “low” 6500 feet. We took the hounds out running west of town where we hadn’t been in a long time. The fields hadn’t gotten much rain and were devoid of hare but we had fun anyway.Ataika is …
Pictureblogging 2: Partnerships
Blog- friend Cat Urbigkit is a rancher, sheepherder, and dog breeder who runs stock in southwestern Wyoming and writes wonderful children’s books. She recently told me a tale of the rivalry between a young stock- protection dog and a burro with the same job over who would control the sheep, especially five sheep the young …
Pictureblogging 1: Dogs
Some tazi shots: Vladimir’s enormous five- month old Urtak in Virginia, closely related to ours: And the very different year- old Russian “Semirichenski” male Timur– a bit like our Lashyn– playing with him. Good new genes. Lash and Kyran’s gorgeous daughter Nemrah at Monica’s in the East mountains. I hear someone offered John Burchard an …
Dog Novels for Kids
A curious phenomenon of the thirties, forties, and fifties was the proliferation of dog novels for kids or rather what would be called “young adults” these days. They may just have been a product of a more “country” time– they were utterly un- pc, generally very good in natural history, and dealt forthrightly with issues …
It begins again
Congressman Lloyd Levine introduces mandatory spay- neuter in California again.
Morning Run– Sunday
When we have been to busy to go out more than a couple of times a week, like now, our hounds get pretty rowdy. Plummer barks and the tazis “sing” all the way to Lee’s. This AM we went to the ranch. It is finally getting cooler. They chased one cottontail which immediately went down …