Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men: Searching Through Scotland For A Border Collie
Book Club: Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men by Donald McCaig
Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men: Searching Through Scotland For A Border Collie
Puppy or adult? Mutt or purebred? Which breed? Breeder or rescue?
It’s easy to make an emotional decision about dogs. “Oh look, there’s a dog that has been horribly neglected. Let’s adopt him!” Or “Oh. My. God. Just look at how beautiful that breed is. I must have one.”
Once upon a time, I had the privilege and pleasure of raising a puppy for the Lion’s Foundation Guide Dogs in Oakville Ontario. Shoe was a terrific dog; intelligent, attentive, and willing. Cheerful, playful, but serious when it was time to work; affectionate and loyal.
I’ve told the story elsewhere of how the currents of sheer dumb luck brought me to a fantastic breeder who sold me my beloved Toby, a Belgian Terverun
Unless you simply want to know what collar or harness will do the least damage to your untrained dog as she pulls you down the street, you can’t talk about the ‘best’ dog collars and harnesses without talking about training.
Every summer we read the stories. Dogs suffering heat stroke, or being rescued from cars so they won’t suffer heat stroke. C’mon, this is a total no-brainer right? We know that dogs and cats don’t have a very efficient cooling system because they have no sweat glands except a few in their feet. Mostly they pant. It’s only common sense that big coated animals, old pets, sick or fat dogs and cats and those with pushed in faces are particularly susceptible.
You’ve gotten the scoop on low cost flights through Expedia. You’ve checked out primo restaurants and things to do on Trip Advisor. You’ve booked your hotel through hotels.com or Trivago. Then you look up from the laptop and see the dog looking at you judgementally. She knows you’ve forgotten about her.
“Clothes make the man,” said Mark Twain. He went on to observe that “Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Of course that was before the internet brought sex tapes, nude selfies and Kim Kardashian’s ass to our desktops, but still, we get the idea.
Surely, the opposite is true for dogs. A Bulldog in a tuxedo or a Chihuahua in a tutu may crack us up, but I imagine the only influence they would exert on their doggie peers would be to make them pray fervently that they are never subjected to the same indignity.
I knew absolutely nothing about Belgian Shepherds when I started thinking about getting a dog. I actually wanted a Border Collie. I think at heart, I believed possessing such a dog would somehow magically help me inhabit a fragment of that classic dreamy landscape; the one where the fiercely independent shepherd stands watch, isolated on a windy hill, looking out across a thousand acres of farmland dotted with sheep, attended only by the intelligent, loyal dog responding to the slightest command.