From:

(But you mean real Border Collies, right?) *duck*

No need to duck. Yes, actually, I do mean real Border Collies. After
working and trialing Taz, I really wanted one of my own, and was
researching sport breeders. {BREATHE, Melanie! heeheehooo heeheehoooo}
I had pretty much settled on one particular sport breeder not too far
from you now, CP, and was waiting for a certain bitch to be bred before
I sent my deposit. I really like the colored dogs, {heeheehooo} and
she's health testing.

Meanwhile, I'd been watching the OR/WA rescue site for several years,
and Dice showed up. I asked to meet her, and she was in temporary
foster in Klamath Falls, would I be willing to meet the foster 1/2 way,
and deliver her to another foster if I didn't like her? Long story
short, they were short on foster spots, we said we'd foster, and we fell
in love with her {even though she was trying to bite people walking past
us when we met!}. We couldn't imagine why anyone would dump her in a
shelter, where she suffered severe meltdown. She's a fun, funny,
energetic yet easily calmed, delightful little dog. Dice will turn
herself inside out to do what I ask of her, and she finds joy in
_everything. And did I mention that she's brilliant? This dog glows in
the dark.

Don and I had done rescue off and on for a number of years since we'd
been married, first with yorkies, then with pit bulls. Since Dice was
in danger of being put down due to submissively urinating, fear biting,
and refusing to eat in the shelter, she served as a good reminder for us
and we decided to get involved again, on a very limited basis. We just
couldn't look at her running in the yard, learning tricks, and _not
foster one dog at a time. If I've told this story before, I apologize,
but this is why we're fostering now. It's all about Dice-A-Roni, aka
See Spots Run. {There's a rescue GSD named XXX Hangman's Fury, and I
almost wish I'd asked Marisa for permission to 'steal' it for Dice,
though I think it fits a male better than a female.}

Anyway, I'd watched the site, and Jenna {then Marnie} sat, and sat, and
sat, waiting for a home. A darling little split-faced tri, very high
drive rough coat. I'll admit, I like color and flash heeheehoooo,
and I've always wanted a split-faced dog. So we decided to foster her.
After about 5 agility people {claiming to want high drive, but coming
from other breeds, mostly sporting group} backed away from her slowly,
saying "_not _that_ much_drive", Don and a good friend of mine convinced
me I loved her too much to let her go. This is the story of why Debbie
now has three green dogs, and 14 t-shirts with holes in the sleeves.
Beats the clumps of hair she was ripping out of the back of my head at
first, and she hasn't taken out a shirt in a couple of weeks. :-/
It's easy to understand why Jenna ended up in rescue, but I adore her.
Don doesn't quite understand why. Yet. I'll say " I LOVE that dog"
when she does something really quirky, or obnoxious, and he'll say "I
know you do." and shake his head in bewilderment. One day he'll see it,
I have faith in her.

During this time, I was on one of the sport BC lists that I've seen you
post on, and the CP list, and kept reading about puppy after puppy
being pumped out by that breeder, first for $800.00, now they're
$1,000.00. {I'm sorry, I'll certainly pay that for a dog with a
pedigree like Kira's, but a CP dog? $800.00 was a big stretch.} She
sometimes has a bitch bred before another litter goes home. Good Lord,
but that woman is making some serious cash. Meanwhile, we're drowning
in BCs around here, can't find fosters, and nice dogs are being lost to
the needle. I can't imagine that I'd ever purchase a BC pup, not with
the awesome dogs that are coming into rescue. Stafford has a lovely
little rescue girl, Squirtnik, and how could anyone look at these three
dogs and _not consider rescue? {well, maybe Dice and Squirtnik. Jenna
is a work in progress.} Now, if I was to get into serious herding, I
might consider a pup, but that's probably not going to happen. And
there's enough 'flash' heeheehooo coming through, on _nice dogs, that
I'll still be able to get what I want.

she probably bangs her head against walls as often as you feel like
doing.

Well, all that gets ya is a big knot on yer head. I think it's all
snowballed to the point that nothing will stop it, it has to run it's
course, and we'll probably lose the dogs in the end. 10 years ago I
believed it _would run it's course, and then another breed would become
the devil dogs, and we'd go on. I think this situation is much
different that what the Dobes, GSDs, Danes, and St. Bernards {anyone
remember that?} faced.

I guess pit bulls and AmStaffs are the "same" the way most pet people
would consider, say, Border Collies and Aussies to be the "same."

Trust me, there's plenty of people around that'll tell you I'm all wet
in considering them a different breed. Many of them have pit bulls, or
dual-registered ASTs, so I believe they have a vested interest in
declaring them The Same. Many AST people will tell you they're NOT the
same, but most won't do so publicly, due to... I guess I'd call it 'peer
pressure'.

All I know is what _my experience with the dogs tells _me.

Debbie