Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
Interesting how much more vertical the 'stop' is on the show collie head. Similar to golden retriever etc. Has this been achieved purely by selection within the breed or did they add something else secretly?
Thanks! I just came back from fetching a sheep with three lambs ( apparently she adopted one over the summer). We drove them on a trailer after I found them in the highlands; they graze free range over the summer here in Iceland. Had to drive them a couple of kilometers to the road over the height (hilly landscape with moors, valleys, rocky slopes, little lakes and brooks). Couldn't have been possible without Gláma, my seven year old bordercollie. I would like to see them try that with that wig on your first picture... By the way, my compliments to your blog. Interesting reading.
The kennel clubs select for genes that produce a phenotype and call that a breed where a different phenotype (produced by another selected set of genes) is a different breed. In both breeds there are genes and phenotypes the kennel clubs do not select/specify (health, personality, working instincts, etc).
By this logic we can easily say the selecting for appearance while ignoring instincts produces one breed; and ignoring appearance aand selecting for instincts produces a different breed. However, most people only "judge a book by its cover".
7 comments:
Interesting how much more vertical the 'stop' is on the show collie head. Similar to golden retriever etc. Has this been achieved purely by selection within the breed or did they add something else secretly?
The "show line" Border Collie's correct name is "Barbie Collie"
Donald
Thanks!
I just came back from fetching a sheep with three lambs ( apparently she adopted one over the summer). We drove them on a trailer after I found them in the highlands; they graze free range over the summer here in Iceland. Had to drive them a couple of kilometers to the road over the height (hilly landscape with moors, valleys, rocky slopes, little lakes and brooks). Couldn't have been possible without Gláma, my seven year old bordercollie.
I would like to see them try that with that wig on your first picture...
By the way, my compliments to your blog. Interesting reading.
It's hard to believe that chunky dog on top is a border collie!!
Well Kim, I would argue it isn't.
The kennel clubs select for genes that produce a phenotype and call that a breed where a different phenotype (produced by another selected set of genes) is a different breed. In both breeds there are genes and phenotypes the kennel clubs do not select/specify (health, personality, working instincts, etc).
By this logic we can easily say the selecting for appearance while ignoring instincts produces one breed; and ignoring appearance aand selecting for instincts produces a different breed. However, most people only "judge a book by its cover".
The show line border collie looks like a black and white Australian Shepherd.
Post a Comment