A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper

A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper
Ever wonder what its like to share your world with a bunch of crazy critters? Tune in to find out!

Monday, April 04, 2011

Who Knew?? - 3rd Edition


The Emma Dog - such a sweet and complicated beast.  We love her so much.  She is incredibly bright, stubborn and she tries so hard to please.  She is a gentle and kind dog who is not at all demanding.  She is a border collie and black lab mix - I think she got more collie traits than lab so I thought I would share some things I found about the breed:

  • The Border Collie gets its names from its early ancestors, dogs developed and bred in the border lands between England and Scotland which were highly prized for their herding abilities
  • They show a large range in size and coloration because historically they were bred as working stock and focus was placed on performance, not looks
  • Border Collies can be almost any color, including red and completely white  
  • Border Collies have been called by other names including 'working collie', 'farm collie', and 'old-fashioned collie' 
  • The Border Collie was not granted full AKC recognition until 1995, but the recognition was strongly opposed by working Border Collie dog supporters 
  • Border Collies are very intelligent; proof of Border Collie intelligence is Rico, a Border Collie study subject who could recognize more than 250 objects by name 
  • The record for the "fastest car window opened by a dog" in the Guinness Book of World Records is held by a Border Collie named Striker; his record time is 11.34 seconds 
  • Border Collies are used for more than just herding; they also make good tracking, search and rescue, and therapy dogs 
  • Border Collies are sometimes used to chase birds and animals from airport runways and golf course greens
Border Collies have long been a favorite in Hollywood and continue to be today. These other Border Collie actors join the well-known Lassie.

  • Fly and Rex starred in the movie Babe about a sheep-herding pig
  • Bingo was a Border Collie mix
  • Mike starred in Down and Out in Beverly Hills
  • The NBC sitcom Mad About You starred Maui, a Border Collie mix who played Murray
Emma has a large vocabulary - some of which we wasted on useless commands like "watch TV".  She is a great girl - wouldn't trade her for anything.....  




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