Underfoot. Photo by Denise Wall: used with permission.Rodear means to go around, or circle, or surround something. In Fort Klamath, in August, it means
"a competition of one rider, one horse and one dog, sorting cattle out of a large herd followed by dog work and team work..."
That's what happens at the 2007 Championship Rodear from August 24th through the 28th. It's a good chance to see some of the best cowdogs [and handlers] west of the Mississippi. For an up-to-date list of cowdog trials, check out the USBCHA links in the sidebar and visit the calendar page of the Cow Dog News.
And yes, there are good cowdogs and handlers east of the Mississippi. At the 2007 National Cattledog Finals in Torrington, Wyoming, the top three finishers were all from Virginia. Denise Wall took this photo of Sonny and owner/handler Roy Johnson of Gladys, Virginia, at the Red Top Challenge Cattledog Trial three years ago. This month, 2007 Cattledog Champion Sonny is on the cover of the latest issue of The Working Border Collie Magazine.
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Patrick over at Terrierman's Daily Dose, also in Virginia, has a good post filled with "odds of dying" data, along with a helpful graphic illustrating the comparative odds of hanging up your tennies due to heart disease [1 in 5], bicycle accident [about 1 in 5,000] or bee sting [1 in 56,700], and reminding us that the odds of dying of any cause are holding steady at a thought-provoking 1 in 1.
Patrick has superimposed a red arrow on the graphic indicating that the odds of being killed by a dog are about the same as the likelihood of dying in an earthquake, which must be comforting news to someone who lives in Virginia with spannable Jack Russells. Kind of a major bummer for those of us living next to the San Andreas Fault with packs of pit bulls, though. [Coroner: "Cause of her death is undetermined at this time. Oh, who am I kidding! It was the dogs and the falling chimney."]
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I've added a link in the sidebar to the Kansas City Dog Advocates site, where you'll find information on this year's Canine Legislation Conference. Important issues and interesting speakers.
My hero Wallace the Pit Bull will be there with his human, Andrew "Roo" Yori. Roo and Waz deserve a blog post all to themselves, and one is in the works. Here's a teaser ;~)
3 comments:
Exciting video! Nicely edited, too. I gotta say, though, I winced whenever I saw Wallace take a flying leap. I know 4 dogs that have had to have ACL or TCL surgery, and I wonder how many frisbee dogs end up needing it. But what a breed ambassador! Go, Wallace!
I'm not sure what point you're making with the sarcastic comment on the coroner's statements about the uncertainty of what actually caused the death at the Rhames estate. Of course there's an assumption that "the dogs did it".. they're big and scary looking. But given the coroner's doubt, maybe we could actually wait?
Also don't get the point you're making about the terrierman. Did you see the part where he wants anyone with a pit bull or a Fila.. (whoops! the possibly guilty dogs weren't Fila's after all) to be required to take some kind of canine ownership responsibility test. Because those scary neighbor dogs are just waiting to get him. I suppose.
The one true thing about dog bites is that they make people so crazy they lose all sense of reason and rationality. Not to mention latent breed prejudice. He HAD to bring up pit bulls, even though they are completely uninvolved with the Rhames case. He HAS to conflate dogbite fatalities with nonfatal dog bites. Which is WRONG WRONG WRONG.
We could eliminate 70% of dogbites with classes directed at teaching kids how to behave around dogs (and how to treat their own dogs) since the vast majority of victims are kids bitten by their own dogs. I think it was you who posted that suggestion over at his blog
The notion that the neighbor's large dogs are responsible for the dog bite problem is, well, just barking up the wrong tree.
EmilyS
The "coroner's" imaginary remark was about me, and it was meant in jest. (See what happens when I blog in the middle of the night...?) I added a word to try to clarify the intended irony.
Patrick's post has so many good stats and facts that I think any sensible person reading it [and people should read it] will conclude that creating a new set of laws just to deal with the Fila owner next door isn't necessary or desireable. And I'm not sure a whole new set of laws for Fila or pit bull owners is what Patrick wants. It's just one thing he'd like people to think about.
"Only connect," as I'm sure Forster would have said if he'd had a neighbor with a Fila.
I could be that neighbor. Call me on the phone and I'll invite you [the impersonal you] over for a pot of tea. You can share your concerns, and I'll be glad to show you how the kennnel runs were constructed, tell you where the dogs are kept when I'm not home, let you meet the ancient, toothless 200 pounder, and reassure you that I am more concerned about safety than anyone. Much better than giving me the stink-eye from your front porch every time Grandma Smith from the Volunteer Citizen Patrol does her monthly yard-check.
And if the intent is to put a comprehensive program in place that would tackle the dog bite epidemic at its roots, we don't need to reinvent the wheel: the AVMA task force report provides a great, detailed template for community dog bite prevention.
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