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Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

nytimes.com

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Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#21

Post by RaceWon »

I'll try not come off as snide but I have to wonder what types of ailments Border Collies are prone to due to the inevitable inbreeding that every AKC dog has--hey they gotta look pretty in the ring.

* Our German Short Hair Pointer had seizures which in time led to him having to be put down; despite having him treated at the Animal Medical Center in NYC amongst other places.

* Our English Cocker Spaniel (a found dog that was living on the street) had terrible dermatitis which caused him to lose much fur and I'm pretty sure was no fun him.

* Our Yorkshire Terrier had kidney disease, also with seizures, though much less common than the Pointer's until later in his life; he too eventually had to be put down due to kidney disease.

That was it for the pure breeds, I told my partner next dog get a mutt. Indeed she did, and he seems like a good dog so far--smart and happy.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#22

Post by clumsysmurf »

pseudolus wrote: post #6

I hope the publicity surrounding Chaser's passing doesn't inspire unprepared individuals to go out and get a border collie. They are arguably the smartest dog breed and that intelligence is accompanied with a continual need for stimulation that being locked up in a house or, worse yet, an apartment can't provide [0]. A toy lap breed they are not. [0] http://www.vetstreet.com/dogs/border-collie#1_izc4ixoo

An interesting book that discusses the ethics of keeping pets in general:

"Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets" by Jessica Pierce

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022620989X

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#23

Post by noir_lord »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #18
noir_lord wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Belgian Malinois as well, similar breed bit lighter but incredbily fast, agile and smart, used by militaries around the world.

Aye, it was more that for a spell their shepherds were first choice for many forces over anyone else's shepherds, anywhere, and they had a permanent waiting list. Can't, for the life of me, remember the name of the kennel though. Malis seem to be becoming more popular as police dogs too, as there's so many hip problems in shepherds.

The hip problems where a result of breeding for showing sadly, older dogs of the breeds had much few fewer problems.

I personally think it’s tragic that we selectively breed breeds into those kinds of problems for aesthetics.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#24

Post by oplav »

the_duke wrote: post #17
robbrown451 wrote: post #2

If you hit the NYT paywall, at the very least watch the YouTube video that is linked on the page: https://youtu.be/J982KYWohT8 (it's from 2013) Yeah, there's some science. But mostly, just an incredibly sweet story. Dr. Pilly, Chaser's owner, died last year at 89. Chaser also lived a long, happy life.

The paywall is easily circumvented by opening a private window.

NYT started blocking incognito windows: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19275283

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#25

Post by seattle_spring »

RaceWon wrote: post #21

I'll try not come off as snide but I have to wonder what types of ailments Border Collies are prone to due to the inevitable inbreeding that every AKC dog has--hey they gotta look pretty in the ring. * Our German Short Hair Pointer had seizures which in time led to him having to be put down; despite having him treated at the Animal Medical Center in NYC amongst other places. * Our English Cocker Spaniel (a found dog…

Your attempt to not come across as snide unfortunately didn't land. What on Earth does your little soapbox rant on purebreds have to do with the article? The dog was smart as fuck and lived a long life to 15.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#26

Post by h2odragon »

WalterBright wrote: post #9

Dogs have been bred for everything else - I wonder how breeding dogs for intelligence would work out.

Others mentioned a couple of breeds that are generally known as smarter than usual; I'd add Catahoula to that list too. They're not as concerned about human's opinions of how they're doing their jobs as some others; they're doing the job, not waiting for the human's approval for having done it.

One of ours can reliably tell time from analog wall clocks. It's her job to put our daughter to bed on time, and she does, understanding school nights, weekends, and summer vacation all make circumstances different. We figure she's reading the clock because she's not confident about the DST change if we miss resetting those.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#27

Post by tjr225 »

pseudolus wrote: post #6

I hope the publicity surrounding Chaser's passing doesn't inspire unprepared individuals to go out and get a border collie. They are arguably the smartest dog breed and that intelligence is accompanied with a continual need for stimulation that being locked up in a house or, worse yet, an apartment can't provide [0]. A toy lap breed they are not. [0] http://www.vetstreet.com/dogs/border-collie#1_izc4ixoo

I have a huge-mixed-80lb-border collie mutt and I'm grateful that I get to work from home. She likes to play hide and seek with toys and go for walks all day.

My point is that working from home rules, I suppose.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#28

Post by NeedMoreTea »

noir_lord wrote: post #23
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aye, it was more that for a spell their shepherds were first choice for many forces over anyone else's shepherds, anywhere, and they had a permanent waiting list. Can't, for the life of me, remember the name of the kennel though. Malis seem to be becoming more popular as police dogs too, as there's so many hip problems in shepherds.

The hip problems where a result of breeding for showing sadly, older dogs of the breeds had much few fewer problems. I personally think it’s tragic that we selectively breed breeds into those kinds of problems for aesthetics.

Couldn't agree more, it's horrible, and borders on abusive given the problems that result in many breeds. Show German Shepherds currently look horribly broken, like someone reassembled a kit wrong. When we got ours we found a kennel that had "English" German Shepherds - flat back like a shepherd would be if you saw photos from the 40s or 60s.

Far too clever for his own good that dog, I miss him.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#29

Post by coder4life »

oplav wrote: post #24
the_duke wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The paywall is easily circumvented by opening a private window.

NYT started blocking incognito windows: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19275283

Is also easily circumvented by deleting all cookies from the site, then reloading, if at end of articles.

Re: Border Collie Trained to Recognize 1,022 Nouns Dies

#30

Post by shultays »

seattle_spring wrote: post #25
RaceWon wrote: post #21

I'll try not come off as snide but I have to wonder what types of ailments Border Collies are prone to due to the inevitable inbreeding that every AKC dog has--hey they gotta look pretty in the ring. * Our German Short Hair Pointer had seizures which in time led to him having to be put down; despite having him treated at the Animal Medical Center in NYC amongst other places. * Our English Cocker Spaniel (a found dog…

Your attempt to not come across as snide unfortunately didn't land. What on Earth does your little soapbox rant on purebreds have to do with the article? The dog was smart as fuck and lived a long life to 15.

Dogs are happy no matter what. Poor things can lose their sight, hearing or/and ability to walk but they would still hapily wiggle their tails when pet

Most "cute" dogs out there are deformities that are breeded into a race

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