Family Resemblance

SUMMARY: Some features pass through generations...

So I was sitting in the stands Saturday evening, waiting for the Steeplechase finals to start, and I turned around and about 5 rows above us was Boost. Or, wait--Boost at about 5 or 6 months old. I looked away again; there are so many blue merle border collies around these days and I guess they all look pretty much the same. (Like black & white border collies look pretty much the same. OK OK don't land on me, I know I know.)

But I looked again, and it was SO Boost. I commented to friends how much that puppy looked like Boost. And finally I had to climb up there and ask where the puppy was from. Turns out it's one of the litter from Boost's sister Gina, the littermate who looked the most like Boost and their mom, Tala. He even has heterochromia in the same eye as Boost!

Who'd have ever thought I'd get to know Border Collie faces well enough to be able to pick out a nephew (Shazam) in a crowd? I don't think I could do that with my own real human nieces and nephews!

Which is which?





(First is Shazam; second is Boost. And here's Shazam's whole new family. Dang, I didn't get their email addresses to send the photo. And I had a notepad with me, too!)

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Border Collie to the Rescue

SUMMARY: A video with a surprise ending.

In which a Border Collie saves the day again. (From our trial this last weekend, at the ring where I was working score table.)

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Whine. Pause. Whine. Pause. Whine.

SUMMARY: Boost is bored.

When Boost thinks that I have been sitting at my computer long enough, this is what she does. Stand outside the door to my office and stare at me. For maybe an hour. How can Border Collies do that? I couldn't stand in one place and stare for even 5 minutes without noticing that maybe the glass is dirty and going and cleaning all my windows.

But maybe I would find it easier to do if I had an extra thing to do while staring. Like Boost does. Whine. Pause. Whine. Pause. Whine. Pause. Whine. For an hour. With brief stretches of bemused silence after I scream "cut it out you're driving me nuts" with my fingers tangled in my hair.

Fortunately today I will be going off to an unopened open space preserve to survey wildflowers. No staring dogs.

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Are Border Collies Really All That Smart?

SUMMARY: Funny video (thanks, Cedarfield, for pointing it out.)

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Border Collie Intelligence and Fame

SUMMARY: This dog has some interesting cognitive abilities.

There's a Border Collie on the cover of this month's National Geographic! (And it's not Rico, for those who are tired of the same dog used over and over for animal intelligence articles). This border collie not only recognizes over 300 objects by name, but learns words for new ones "as quickly as a human toddler," and can recognize the items by word or by photograph! So, when shown an object, can pick out the matching photo; when shown a photo, can pick out the matching object.

But they didn't say whether she does agility.

(Read the article here.)

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