Color Freaks Galore!

Red & white, blue merle, red merle, blue & white, tri, blue tri, merle tri, blah blah blah...

At one point, I was hellbent on breeding nice working merles, and was going to trial and campaign them, etc. I was going to prove everyone wrong about them. Merles work, by golly. And I'll have a whole kennel full of them and have working merle puppies. And I would be known for breeding nice working merles.

The one aspect I didn't stop to consider: The Color Freaks!

What are "Color Freaks"? They are the people who talk about breeding for all kinds of abilities, but who honestly care about none of that and are only concerned with how many colored puppies come out. And when they have a litter of the little rainbow bunch, they send out cutesy little emails that say, "Wow! Five red puppies! What a surprise!" Yeah, right. Big shock. You bred a red to a red and got red puppies? No way! How did that happen?

If they see you have a "rare" red merle for sale, they want it so they can breed it to their "wonderful" stud dog. If you tell them that you will not sell the dog's uterus to them, they blend back into the woodwork.

What I've noticed also is that there are SO many Color Freaks out there breeding fancy colors and merles that are nothing more than mediocre dogs that I can clearly see why the working folks don't take them seriously. They get popped out as if they are going out of style -- litter after litter -- but if a parent is imported, they must be worth something.

And if you point out to them that all they are doing is breeding for color, or breeding for the wrong reasons, they are the first to point at another kennel and say, "See? They do it, too!" ... like an 8 year-old on a playground who just got caught picking their nose by the lunchlady, and then pointing at a group of kids who happen to have big noses that would be great for picking. When the the lunchlady warns the group of kids that the 8 year-old booger seeker called them nose pickers and confronts him about it, the nose-picker meekly says to the group of large-nosed kids, "Oh no, that's not what I meant. I love your nose! I know you don't pick your noses. I wish I had a nose like you! Good luck with that nose! It's a very well made nose and probably produces great boogers!" And instead of reflecting on his own behavior, the 8 year-old stomps off pissed off at the lunchlady for squealing on him to the Big Nosers.

Oh, and all the phone call you get about colored puppies -- none of them are concerned with how the dog works. All they care about is what color the pup is, and what color its parents are so they know what colors it might throw. So when you're only breeding for color, you're only selling to others who couldn't give a rip about working ability either, so you're just a large part of the problem instead of being a small part of the solution -- no matter what you try to tell yourself. Working folks won't take you seriously unless you've got your colored/merle dog out on the trial field and proving its worth -- consistently and to a very high level -- higher probably than just black and white dog, unfortunately.

So I've given up. Not because I don't think I can do it. I will be there some day -- trialing right next to my trainers. But I do not want to deal with the "Color Freaks." I decided that I just want to blend into the woodwork myself. Work my black dogs without anyone paying any attention to what I'm doing. Let the Color Freaks fight it out. I will be on the trial field learning the finer points of stockdogging from those that couldn't give a shit if their dog was purple. And if I ever end up with a colored or merle dog again, I can assure you, it won't be from a Color Freak.

Happy black tails,
JD