Good morning from Whiskey Creek, where all seven of us are pretending like nothing is wrong, while proving beyond a doubt that something is…is terribly wrong
…by studiously avoiding all eye contact. You’d think it would be easier for the five dogs to pull this off since any animal behaviorist will tell you that most animals, other than humans, of course, generally do not choose to make eye contact, at least with humans, because doing so has the potential to raise all kinds of unnecessary questions about placement within the pack. But this morning, the 19th of August, is the exception. We’re all looking for a little personal, one-on-one help in dealing with our loss, but we’re all too proud to ask for it, even with an errant gaze. Today, you see, is the day the Silvermans of San Francisco return from their incredible vacation to Europe…London, Paris, Barcelona…and thus the day that we begin waiting for the phone to ring; Ted Silverman’s call telling us when he’ll be making the trek up to the mountains to pick up the family dog, Ruffus.
Let me say before going any further that, from the beginning, there’s been some question about how to spell the name of the Silverman’s family pet. I say it’s “Ruffus”; Lynn says it’s “Roofus”; the dogs mostly go with “ruff-ruff-ruff. At this late date, I guess it doesn’t much matter anymore.
The American Kennel Club provides as a public service a listing of all dog breeds, (at least all that the AKC recognizes) rank order by intelligence. Here is the top ten…
1 Border Collie
2 Poodle
3 German Shepherd
4 Golden Retriever
5 Doberman Pinscher
6 Shetland Sheepdog
7 Labrador Retriever
8 Papillon
9 Rottweiler
10 Australian Cattle Dog
The Cornish Family of Jamestown, CA, also provides as a public service a listing of all dog breeds represented at Whiskey Creek at any given time rank ordered by intelligence. Here is that top ten…
1 Mutt adopted from shelter
2 Mutt adopted from shelter
3 Mutt adopted from shelter
4 Mutt adopted from shelter
5 Mutt adopted from shelter
6 Mutt adopted from shelter
7 Mutt adopted from shelter
8 Mutt adopted from shelter
9 Border Collie
10 Labrador Retriever
As can be seen in the second listing, Mutt adopted from shelter, (MAFS) is so much more intelligent than the other Whiskey Creek breeds that he holds eight of the top ten rankings. I’ve had over a month to mull this around in my brain and here’s what I’ve come up with. First and foremost, Ruffus far out distances Eddy and Rudy and Willie and Sid in smarts because, unlike the others he didn’t suffer from the pitfalls of human intervention in their breeding. (Limiting couples within a very constrained gene pool is how breeds become breeds; rigorous in-breeding is also, unfortunately, the cause of a huge number of very, very screwed-up canines.) Ruffus’ dad, as a matter of fact, and his dad’s lady friend, were sole arbiters of the genes that would be passed along to the pup. Second, as you can plainly see if you click here, enjoys more than a few genetic markers from the noble Rottweiler, which is ranked ninth by the American Kennel Club. So my theory is a simple one…mixed breeds suffer none of the potential in-breeding issues of “papered” dogs, and if they’ve got a little more of one breed going for them, and that breed happens to be high on the brainy list, so much the better.
Whatever the reason, Rufuss proved time and again that he, a mere pup of nine months, could think circles around the other four dogs…and that includes Sidney, the fabled Border Collie. But to his credit, Roofy (Lynn’s nick-name for the Silverman animal,) never once lorded it over the others. Which is not to say, of course, that he didn’t use his smarts to beat them at every turn, which he certainly did.
Anyways, enough about our friend who’ll be headed home sometime this week.
My message this morning is a simple one, and that’s please vote for the Association’s board of directors when you receive your next Bluegrass Breakdown. For those who don’t receive the hard-copy newspaper, we’ll post a ballot here on the web site. You can just print it, fill it out and then send it in. As always, we remind you that we must receive a quorum of our membership in order for the election to be valid.
Have a good week, stay out of trouble and listen to and/or play some bluegrass.