Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs.

roid · Post by **roid** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 12:02 am

yeah perhaps.

i'm not yet convinced that wouldn't add to the problem.

Sergeant Thorne · Post by **Sergeant Thorne** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 2:52 am

Interesting read, FP.

There are some really valid points in there, IMO. I disagree with his saying that it's OK to be a sheep, though. It's O.K. to live your life in denial? Plenty of people do, and there will always be people that do, but that doesn't mean it's OK. It almost sounds like a superiority complex. Like, it's OK for people not to be as good as them, because that's pretty darn good, and you can't expect that of everyone (if the standard is lower, you can be higher above the standard). As a kid who was exceptional in some ways I had experience with that kind of arrogance, and I eventually decided it was wrong. Don't misunderstand me, I have the utmost respect for officials (police, army, etc), but living in the real world/not in denial doesn't automatically make them right.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 4:47 am

Too many sheep think when a bad situation arises that a policeman will be there to save them. Fantasy land.

sheepdog · Post by **sheepdog** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:19 pm

Just a trivial point: very limited understanding of sheepdogs in the original post.

In the wild territories of the United States, the Baltics, Oz mebbe, livestock guard dogs are used. These dogs often identify with sheep and sheep seem to bond with them. It is not uncommon to see a guard dog lying surrounded, almost camoflauged by a group of lambs. A common misconception about livestock guard dogs is that their chief tactic is to fight wolves, coyotes, dingos etc. Au contraire. They bark and raise a ruckus and they do indeed guard the sheep. They challenge anything that appears to threaten the flock. However, it seems likely that the fighting they do is mostly in response to attacks made on them by groups of predators who decide to attack the guard dog en masse.

However these dogs are not sheepdogs in the common parlance of shepherds. The best sheepdogs are of course (in my opinion) border collies. Border collies do indeed frighten sheep with wolf like behavior. Kinda like cops frighten me with nazi like behavior. Stuck between a wolf and a sheepdog, I think the thinking sheep would do its best to pick neither. Also, just like cops border collies can often by caught in behavior that serves their own interests rather than that of the flock.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:06 am

Margo, just an aside but I always thought the Kuvasz to be a terrific livestock dog. I'm more into Rotties, Akitas or maybe even Malamuts. I was just reading about Kuvasz and I like their characteristics...other than the shedding.

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:40 pm

Border Collies are also very intelligent and make for great pets.

Sorry for off topic, keep talking.

roid · Post by **roid** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:50 am

my neighbours one one side have a pet border collie. it's a very intelligent and kindhearted animal, but it's kept alone in their yard and seems to be going a bit crazy, because it's so bored.

a dog bred for action, trying to live in an actionless world. it's so naturally edgy it's making it's own action up in it's head. (it trys to herd it's toys)

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:49 am

If you want to talk about dog breeds, perhaps you should start a new thread in the Cafe.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 3:24 am

that was also an analogy for what we're talking about here lothar. sheepdogs who make their own trouble.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 6:04 am

roid wrote: a dog bred for action, trying to live in an actionless world. it's so naturally edgy it's making it's own action up in it's head. (it trys to herd it's toys)

Roidy you verged on the profound...if only you used the word "human' in lieu of "dog". Sometimes I wonder if the lack of physical activites does things to the psychi? Perhaps this is why vid games are so popular. Perhaps too the lack of something to do drives some to acts of violence or madness (note...I said some). I'll let you and others expound further.

See Lothar, we really are on topic...in a round about way.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 6:51 am

uh, yes it was a metaphor.

sheepdog · Post by **sheepdog** » Tue May 10, 2005 9:15 am

Hi guys,

Yet another maintenence day for WoW so I'm looking in here.

I think I missed last week because of guild drama. Yes indeed Lothar roid is correct the first post was almost entirely based on a sheepdog metaphor.

My point was that idealizations of any powerful entity (sheepdogs or cops) involves problematic oversimplification.

Sorry to behave like a troll guys but still too busy having fun playing WoW. Chippy send me a PM when you start playin or are willing to admit that you are already playing. We can discuss the merits of Kuvasz while we kill fackin horde shammys.

*

*edit: and dont even think about telling me you have a shammy or ... well.. i could probably forgive you for even that.

El Ka Bong · Post by **El Ka Bong** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:50 am

I have a Border Collie named Nino, who is the son of my other Border Collie that was called Chille ...

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Wed May 18, 2005 1:12 am

er yeah... judging from the lack of new (and relevant) content, I think we can be done with this thread.