Friday, April 28, 2017

Mistaken Identity

While reading through posts on a Facebook group for Smooth collies, one in particular caught my eye.  Reading the post and the comments, I found myself both laughing and shaking my head.  The author of the post was recounting a recent experience from a shopping trip with her collie.  They had stopped at one of those large pet supply stores, a well known chain store that allows you to shop for pet food, toys and treats with your best friend.  While standing at the counter, waiting to pay for her purchases, the cashier kept staring at her collie.  Finally, the cashier asked, "What kind of mixture is he?"  She explained that her "girl" was a pure bred smooth collie and a champion.  And even after explaining this to the cashier, he looked at her doubtfully and asked her if she was sure, as her dog "really looked like a mix."  

I'm a smooth collie!

The other members of the group responded in the comments by sharing their experiences, and most had similar conversations when approached by strangers.  While I understand that not everyone is going to recognize all dog breeds, I find it funny that these random strangers will argue and try to convince us we were duped!  One collie owner even commented that a worker at a local humane society told her there was no such breed as a smooth collie!

We have had our own experiences, and the most common question we are asked is "why did you shave your collie?"  We also get asked if our collies are shepherd mixes or collie/greyhound mixes?  When we explain that they are smooth collies, all the same great qualities of the rough collie but with less hair, people are amazed that they "never heard of them and how beautiful."  This is one of the reasons we attend so many AKC Meet the Breeds events, it gives us a chance to educate the public on what great dogs the collies are and how they come in two varieties and four colors.  You can learn more about collie coats by reading our previous post, just click here.

I'm a rough collie!

So we were curious, how many of our readers have had their dogs mislabeled?  Did the other person argue with you or insist you were wrong when you told them the correct name of your breed?      

7 comments:

  1. Either way, you guys are gorgeous and adorable! 💕

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  2. Like you we try to take the attitude when possible that education is important. When not possible, we walk away from people and leave them to their contemplation.

    Bailey loved to be in public so we took him with us as much as possible. Since he was a large Sheltie we constantly had people telling us he couldn't be a Sheltie, even though ironically of all the 2 rescues he was the only one with papers.

    It got even more interesting when we had a Sable and a Tri Color Sheltie because people couldn't understand that the dogs could be the same breed and have such different colors. Some day I'd like to have a Merle and have an even broader example of the Sheltie color spectrum.

    Honestly, I love people who share information about their dog breeds. We attend a couple of rescue events a year and there are breed specific rescues that attend, too. I am always learning something I didn't know about one of the breeds from people who are there working or supporting the cause by bringing their own pets. I think they do a great service by helping others understand the breeds and decide if the breeds are a good match.

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  3. We think you are gorgeous too. We just don't want to be called cats.

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  4. I do have to wonder about people sometime... I think your Collies are so beautiful, and will admit that I may have had that same reaction many years ago when I saw my first Smooth Collie, but since then of course they are totally unmistakable. I have the same kind of thing happen with Todd. Many people have never seen a wheaten scottie, and I've been asked if he's a mix, a Westie, and my favorite was when I was asked if he was going to turn black!!

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  5. you are beautiful and everybuddy can see that... we had a dispute with a man once who said that stafforshire terriers have to wear muzzlers by law when in public...the mama flipped him the bird... useless to waste only one second with such a peep...

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  6. LOL. People are so funny when it comes to trying to convince others what they think.

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  7. Sadly the American physic was conditioned with Lassie. When I came across a smooth coated collie in my local neighborhood, I squealed with delight. The owner thought I was some kind of nutball I'm sure. Since then he always waves or stops and chats with us. "Bugs" is his girl and she's a real sweetie and Sam just adores her.

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