THE DOG WARS:
How the Border Collie Battled the American Kennel Club
by Donald McCaig (2007; Outrun Press, Morris Publishing, Kearney NE)

Book Review:  Marcia Barkley

It needs to be said right up front that the author, Donald McCaig, is NOT a fan of the American Kennel Club.  He is first and foremost a lover of dogs – specifically of Border Collies – and for a variety of reasons that you may or may not agree with, he firmly believes that the AKC contributes little of value to the dogs they claim to support.

So if you are a proud member of the AKC … if you enthusiastically support the goals of the AKC, are an AKC breeder, compete avidly for AKC titles and particularly AKC conformation titles … you will not enjoy this book.  It will only make you angry and annoyed.

To tell the truth, it may make you angry any way, but for different reasons.

The story Mr. McCaig tells begins in the early 1990s.  It is the story of an astonishingly determined, downright passionate group of people who will go to any length to keep the American Kennel Club from “taking over” the Border Collie breed in the United States.  They resist this in every way they can, because they are convinced in their hearts and souls, down to the bone, that AKC recognition will lead to the ruin of the breed.

Their fear is based on what they have seen happen to other breeds when conformation, or physical appearance – the height of the dog, its coloring, shape of head, shape of feet, the curl of the tail or lack thereof – becomes the standard of excellence.  Virtually every breed that has been recognized by the AKC, they argue, has developed genetic diseases that now run rampant.  A renowned expert in genetics joined the battle, arguing from the standpoint of indisputable science, that, over time, breeding for appearance has two highly undesirable results: inbreeding creates genetic weaknesses, and other traits – such as intelligence, stamina, overall health, and even the instincts for which the dog was originally bred – will sooner or later diminish or disappear.

The supporters of the Border Collie point to the Pug and the Bulldog, with their notorious respiratory problems; the big dogs that keep getting bigger – the Mastiffs, the Rottweillers, the Great Danes – and living shorter lives, and all too many of them with dysplasia and other structural problems; the herding breeds – German Shepherds and Shetland Sheepdogs, for example – whose herding instincts have, by and large, disappeared.

The supporters of the Border Collie didn’t care whether their dogs had long hair or short, a tail held high or low, pricked ears or drop ears or one of each.  They valued dogs with speed and agility and endurance, and dogs with the courage to stare down a 300-lb ram determined to get to the ewes on the other side of the gate.  Whether the dog was black-and-white, fawn-colored, spotted or solid or striped or brindle … color mattered not in the least.  One suspects that the dogs could be green, for all anyone cared, except that would make them hard to see out in a pasture.  But the fear was that once the AKC started setting conformation standards, the priorities of too many breeders would shift, and a specific notion of “beauty” would begin to shape the dog, at the expense of speed and agility and endurance and courage – and intelligence.  In the United Kingdom (Great Britain), the kennel club had recognized Border Collies some years earlier, with the result that within a few years there were two “strains” of the breed that were about as much as much alike as “chalk and cheese” in the words of one man who opposed the AKC plan.

In the end, the AKC won, in a way.  After years of meetings, and a public relations campaign by various opponents of the move, they officially recognized the Border Collie as a distinct breed in the United States, and made it clear that only Border Collies who were registered with the AKC would be eligible for AKC conformation titles.  Conformation standards were established, and Border Collies now compete in all AKC events.

McCaig and his colleagues have never quite given up.  Given that an AKC-bred Border Collie recently won a National herding title, there are those who would say that their worries were groundless.  Let’s hope so.

[NOTE to the reader: The writer of this review neither supports nor disputes the claims made in this book about the American Kennel Club.  Many instances can be cited where AKC breeders have continued to strive toward maintaining the original instincts and abilities of the breeds they love.]

Top of Page