The people who make a study of “dog stuff” (affectionately known in our house as “geeks,” but mo...
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The Missionary and the Ridgeback
The Rhodesian Ridgeback was once known as “Van Rooyen’s Lion Dogs,” after Cornelius van Rooyen, a Dutch big g...
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Those Baby Blues
Our thanks to Shelly Hollen for her terrific chart on eye color in the Australian Shepherd. The Australian She...
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The Wind Drinker
His name appears in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, and words poet and court jester, Abu Nuwas, wrote in the 9t...
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Know Your Dog Inside and Out
“Happy accidents” are what happen to us when in the course of researching one thing, we find something prett...
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The Picture That Caused a Stink (or: Don’t Shave That Dog)
The picture you see here is not the picture that caused a stink. The picture that did cause a stink is “safe”...
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A Fault in One Breed, a Hallmark in Another
A tail that is thick and covered with hair at the “root” (where it sets into the dog) for two or three inche...
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An Impromptu “Not Just a Pretty Face”
As a rule, we don’t mention the show names of dogs whose pictures we share, let alone the high points of their car...
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The Windhund, Bracke and Rüde
With the popularization of genealogy, and DNA kits like, “23 and Me,” the study of heraldry is catching a ...
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Neck Length and Shoulders
If many of us who show our dogs are honest about it, our first (fill in the breed) was also our first exposure to the do...
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Cones of Shame
Four&Sons, a print and online publication out of Portugal, chronicles the work of interesting people and their inter...
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Why We Forgave This Cat Loving Pope
Though he is no longer pope, Pope Emeritus Benedict was always a cat lover, and his kindness toward the strays of Rom...
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The Raven Dog
Romania has four dog breeds*, and three of them are recognized by the FCI. You’re about to “meet” the ...
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Pop Quiz: The Most Important Feature of this Breed
We hazard a guess that the word, “bestial” applies to only one breed as a desired quality, and that’s ...
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A Hallmark Silhouette
A distinctive silhouette is one aspect of breed type, and certainly, one breed in which that silhouette is a hallmark i...
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Dash, the Intrepid Traveling Fox Terriers
Marc Aurel Stein was a remarkable chap. The 19th century Hungarian-born British archaeologist had a passion for explorin...
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The Newfoundland Growlers!
The ECHL (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league that has teams scatt...
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There’s a Name for That!
Black lines running along the top of the toes in some breeds is called “penciling.” As far as we know, some ...
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That Aristocratic Nose
In humans, an aristocratic nose is described as a “schnoz” with a prominent bridge that gives it the appeara...
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Go White, Go Green* – a Unique Recipient of a Michigan State Varsity Letter
The only non-human to receive a varsity letter at Michigan State was a purebred dog. A Labrador Retriever, to be exact. ...
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