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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
I just spent the better part of the last two evenings watching the Westminster Kennel Club dog show (so named because the club used to meet at the Westminster Hotel), a fascinating exhibition of dogs and people. The announcers informed me of many interesting aspects of canine breeds and histories, including:
-> griffons are dogs with lionesque faces
-> terriers are ground dogs (from terra)
-> spaniels originated in Spain; making English Spaniels = English Spanish dogs
-> not surprisingly, the dog known in the US as the cocker spaniel is the American Cocker in England, and the dog known as the cocker spaniel in England is the English Cocker here. The "cocker" name comes from the dog's ability with birds.
-> "corgi" is dog in Welsh; making corgi dogs = dog dogs
-> Australian shepherds originated in the US, not Australia (what do you call them in Australia?)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Sparteye: Where did Border Collies get the first half of the name? They are great if they have animals (sheep) to boss around, but get into mischief if they do not. We let one run free to keep coyotes away, and it chased cats at nursing home up fire-escape onto roof, then could not go back down ladder, howled until night watchman got him down.Watchman was not amused.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Border collies were developed in Britain, and according to American Heritage, were "from the border country of England and Scotland." Hmmm. Unlike as to other categories of words, the derivation of dog names usually seems to be the obvious.
Hyper and intense, they are. They are tremendous workers, and they often win obedience and agility competitions. I believe the remark last night was, terrific for a farm, terrible for an apartment.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It amazes me when people buy or adopt border collies and then wonder why they love to chase cars! It's hard wired into their genes ... they're herding them! To me the most important thing said at the Westminster Show (and they say it over and over) is that before you adopt or buy a dog, RESEARCH THE BREED. It's easy to do. Attend a dog show, in particular a "benched" show which means the people have to stay in the holding area with their dogs throughout the show so you have plenty of opportunity to talk to them. People love to talk about what they know about. (Witness this Board!  ) The other thing that's easy is to visit your local library as any good sized library will have the American Kennel Club (AKC) book of dogs which is huge and has more dogs pictured and described than you can believe exist! Put Westminster Kennel Club in your search engine and up come more links than you can throw a stick at!  or try this : http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/ wow
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Joined: Sep 2000
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
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Sparteye comments: Australian shepherds originated in the US, not Australia (what do you call them in Australia?)
We apparently also call them Australian Shepherds here, although I'd never heard of them before today. The website of my state canine association has the following information: While there are many theories as to the origin of the Australian Shepherd, the breed as we know it today, developed exclusively in the United States. The Australian Shepherd was given its name because of the association with Basque Sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia in the 1800's.For further information: http://www.vca.org.au/breeds/standards/standard.cfm?breed_id=13
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Basque Sheepherders who came to the United States from Australia in the 1800'sI wonder why Basques came to Australia and the US... I was under the impression that the Basque people are intensely loyal to their homeland and language. Was there some sort of persecution going on? Why choose Australia when you're originally from France/Spain? Why am I asking all of these questions?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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We have a Keeshond - the second one we have had - named "Saffie". short for "Saffron". Don't ask. Anyway, the origins of the name are well-known and if you're a teensy-weensy bit interested, you should look at http://www.sirius.com/~hbp/Kees/origin.txtSaffie is a clever dog and is in the process of developing her own website. You can view this, if you wish, at http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/david.kinraid
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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addict
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addict
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There was a lovely story this morning on our ABC when the announcer sent a cheerio to a listener with a dog called Dash. It turns out that when announcers give the CD number of the item played as [xxx dash xxx], the dog assumes he's being addressed.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>It turns out that when announcers give the CD number of the item played as [xxx dash xxx], the dog assumes he's being addressed.
It could be also tricky when they give out the station's web address if you had a dog called .
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member
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member
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what do you call them in Australia? As far as I know we don't call them anything in Australia. They seem to be an American breed which look a bit like our Kelpie. This message from an exceptionally refined Australian Cattle Dog lusy 
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