"Stuff is eaten by dogs, broken by family and friends, sanded down by the wind, frozen by the mountains, lost by the prairie, burnt off by the sun, washed away by the rain. So you are left with dogs, family, friends, sun, rain, wind, prairie and mountains. What more do you want?"
Federico Calboli
Monday, February 13, 2012
Early Imports & Genetic Diversity
The Bell- Murray foundation "Afghans" (tazis, taigans) in the 20's, c/o Jess:
"All the innumerable 'breeds' of Oriental sighthounds can be found as coat variations in any good litter in northern Afghanistan..."
When I saw that caption, I wondered, "How did Fennec foxes live in the scorching deserts for millions of years without Afghandos?"
And exactly how do those tazi types (like the Mudhol) survive in the heat of India without the shag?
These long coated ones were mostly from the Hindu Kush in Baluchistan in what is now Pakistan. Not many sandstorms.
I particularly enjoy the claim that Afghan hounds hunted snow leopards.
To believe this claim requires a lot of ignorance about snow leopards. They don't just come down out of the mountains where dogs can chase them, and they have never been particularly common.
Agree, with mild reservations re snow leopards. Further north in Asia, where they are a bit more common, they seem to live more like mountain "lions", frequently raiding sheep and goats in high pastures. There they doubtless can be chased with hounds. (I have seen films of Kyrgiz hunting ibex with taigans well over 12,000 feet).
Which is granted a real stretch to "leopard hounds"!
This is a perfect example of how, in SPECULATING why a dog breed MAY have developed/been selected for certain characteristics, it gets repeated, then parroted as FACT, then becomes part of THE STANDARD! So much of breed standard stuff is sheer speculation or merely SOMEBODY ELSE'S ideal, and the hoops that are jumped through to try and make them legitimate would be hilarious; except so many people DO take them serious, actually breed for them(requiring lots of unhealthy inbreeding for useless characteristics), and RUIN breeds in the process!! I guess you guys saw who won at Westminster this year--another wretched little Pekingnese that could barely breathe! His owner said something about him being retired afterward to chase squirrels in their backyard. Well, those squirrels shore don't have nuthin' to worry about!.....L.B.
4 comments:
When I saw that caption, I wondered, "How did Fennec foxes live in the scorching deserts for millions of years without Afghandos?"
And exactly how do those tazi types (like the Mudhol) survive in the heat of India without the shag?
These long coated ones were mostly from the Hindu Kush in Baluchistan in what is now Pakistan. Not many sandstorms.
I particularly enjoy the claim that Afghan hounds hunted snow leopards.
To believe this claim requires a lot of ignorance about snow leopards. They don't just come down out of the mountains where dogs can chase them, and they have never been particularly common.
Agree, with mild reservations re snow leopards. Further north in Asia, where they are a bit more common, they seem to live more like mountain "lions", frequently raiding sheep and goats in high pastures. There they doubtless can be chased with hounds. (I have seen films of Kyrgiz hunting ibex with taigans well over 12,000 feet).
Which is granted a real stretch to "leopard hounds"!
This is a perfect example of how, in SPECULATING why a dog breed MAY have developed/been selected for certain characteristics, it gets repeated, then parroted as FACT, then becomes part of THE STANDARD! So much of breed standard stuff is sheer speculation or merely SOMEBODY ELSE'S ideal, and the hoops that are jumped through to try and make them legitimate would be hilarious; except so many people DO take them serious, actually breed for them(requiring lots of unhealthy inbreeding for useless characteristics), and RUIN breeds in the process!! I guess you guys saw who won at Westminster this year--another wretched little Pekingnese that could barely breathe! His owner said something about him being retired afterward to chase squirrels in their backyard. Well, those squirrels shore don't have nuthin' to worry about!.....L.B.
....and dang, the "please prove you are not a robot" test is getting so vague and difficult to make out, that I must be turning into a robot!....L.B.
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