Why Are You A Dog?

The Azawakh, or otherwise known as an incredibly long name I didn’t look up, but Caitlyn says it, is a sight hound from Africa. As they are a sight hound from Africa, they are quite similar to the other dogs from the area. Pretty much if you’ve seen a Greyhound or a whippet, you’ve mostly got the idea. The most major difference is these dogs are so thin! Like way more thin than the other two, as those are also really thin.

The dogs played a variety of roles for humans ranging from hunting to guard duty. Although they often had these types of jobs, they are still treated as if part of the family. The dog is probably the newest dog we’ve done so far on this show. Not saying it’s a brand new dog, but it’s a newly recognized dog for the AKC, as of January 2019. Although it is finally recognized, it is still quite rare.

In this episode, we talk about for way too long Elf on a Shelf and Flat Stanley. We also say we’re gonna do another episode next week, but we’ll see about that.

Song is Kel Tamasheck by Etran Finatawa

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The Australian Kelpie, also called “barbs” and “red clouds”, and not to be confused with the Scottish mythological creature, is a dog from. . . Australia. This time, actually from Australia, and not just named after it like that other Aussie dog. In all honesty, I believe it is only referred to as the “Australian” Kelpie just to stop the confusion with the dog and the Scottish Horse Ghost.

The Kelpie (dog) is very well known for it’s ability to manage most livestock. This includes sheep, cows, chickens, and ducks. As a working dog, these dogs don’t seem to be able to stop and enjoy life. They are constantly needing to work, and even have a signature move where they run along the backs of sheep. Although incredibly uncommon in the United States, this dog is quite popular in its country of origin.

In this episode, we discuss the Australian cultural phenomenon of walking into society while barefoot. We also draw up more excuses on why we missed a couple weeks again. This excuse is unique, I swear!

Song this week is Kelpie the Legend by Bill Robertson.

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The Sheltie, short for Shetland Sheep Dog, is a small style herding dog. They are also one of the smartest dog, excelling at just about any task. Well, any task you might give a dog for the most part. According to Stanley Coren, they are able to learn just about any task very quickly with little errors. This however should be taken with a grain of salt, as they are still dogs, and lack thumbs and the ability to speak.

The most unique thing about the Sheltie is that they have several different types of coats. A lot of them are based on the merle style. This can actually even affect their eyes, and I recommend you look up a merle eye. These are also very small dogs, and are obviously used for. . . sheep. I guess it’s not that obvious, because no one really refers to them by the full name.

In this episode, we discuss some interesting etymological phrases that deal with swears and dogs. So if that’s a problem for ya, well I hope you read these deals! It’s not too bad, we put a warning in the audio part, too. We also talk about how anyone using measurement systems aren’t specific enough outside of the U.S.

The song for this week is “Sheltie” by Funky Boo Nutz

The Irish Wolfhound, or wardogs, or just Wolfhound, is a dog that has no wolf in it. Yep, it’s one of those classic “oh it hunts that thing, so let’s just call it that” names. Now that the SEO tracking section is taken care of, Wow. Okay sorry about that little hiatus. We did sort of hint at it, but didn’t intend it to be so long. We’ve just been pretty busy with our day jobs recently, especially Kyle traveling all over the country.

These dogs are pretty ancient as far dogs can go. They’ve been part of Irish history for almost ten thousand years at this point. They fell out of fashion and nearly went extinct mostly because they had one purpose and they achieved that purpose. They removed all the wolves from Ireland. Yeah, I don’t know why we have the story of St. Valentine driving out the snakes. . . Although now that I think about it, does seem like classic UK humor. So let’s just go with that. Also the most notable thing about this dog, they are the biggest one. Like frighteningly large.

In this episode, Caitlyn and Kyle talk a lot about Game of Thrones, and Catholic rank hierarchy. We’ll hopefully get the next episode out much sooner than this one, as Kyle will be home for the next month. Or so we’ll see?

Song is Wolfhound by Hailing Jordan.

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Wow, we’re on a record pace for dropping episodes! Sorry about that folks, but here is the long awaited episode on the Bloodhound! These dogs are THE dog when it comes to dogs and their noses. It can track a human over a long distance, and after a large of amount of time passing. The reasoning for this, when the bloodhound was being created, they put all the stats into smelling.

The bloodhound has a bit of an unknown true origin as they have been mentioned for nearly a thousand years. Those in France suspect they are an offspring of the St. Herbert hound, or the Belgians would tell you it might be another dog. What we do know, is the dog has always had a knack for finding people, either missing or criminals. This was what the dogs were put to use doing, after they were seen to be poor hunting dogs.

Caitlyn in this episode stops the whole show because she tells a joke she thinks is too funny. She also talks about what you might look for in a dog when finding one to sire your pups.

The song for this week is, well you’ll just have to see.

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The Pumi, not to be confused with the Puli, is another dog from Hungary. To take it back to that last sentence there, apparently these dogs used to be nearly synonymous with the Puli. If you’re having trouble remembering which dog that is, it’s the chorded one we did at the beginning of February. Yeah, so much so that they used to be interchangeably referred to with both names. How this could even be possible, I don’t know.

To actually talk about this dog, it’s fairly new to the AKC, only being added in the last decade or so. It is known for it’s ears that stick up, and it’s herding and terrier type instincts. The dog is actually a treasure of Hungary, and one of the eight recognized dogs from there. Which dog are we on so far? We just did number 3, so I guess we have 5 more to go??

In this episode, we talk about Canada a bit. That’s where Kyle was recently. Specifically Vancouver, which was a time oh boy! We also talk about why we had a hiatus sorta.

Song is a song called Bhoomi, which kinda sounds like Pumi (there aren’t songs with that name.)

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The Puli is another chorded sheep dog from Hungary. A question you might ask, “Haven’t we already done this dog?” No. Well, kinda? The Komondor and the Puli are incredibly closely related. So much so, that they are essentially hot swapping with each other when their shifts end. The Puli mostly herds its charge during the day, and the Komondor guards at night. Also the largest difference between the two are the color of the coat and their size.

The Puli has an interesting temperament in that they are severely moody. They can go from lazy and lethargic to spastic and over-reactive. They don’t really like meeting new people, and if pushed to it, feint attacking newcomers. I say feint, as they are not really known to injure people, as they are all bark and no bite. Honk.

In this episode, we talk about Hamilton. There was an original opening that got cut out, because Caitlyn didn’t want to have fun with it, but we reference it later on. It sorta comes out of nowhere without context, but the opening just replaced dog with hamilton and that it was good.

Song for this week is from a movie called “Puli”. I have no idea what the song is called.

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The Italian Greyhound, or the “IG” or Iggy, is basically the greyhound. The largest factor in determining the difference is the Italian model is tiny. They may have been related to another type of similar looking dog, but they were more or less bred down this way. Although it is a “toy” breed, it is also a hound dog. In fact it is the smallest sight hound breed recognized by most organizations.

So you’re probably wondering, “Why ‘Italian’ Greyhound?” Well the Italians were the ones who popularized this dog, as they loved to carry them around. It’s mostly assumed they were used as fashion accessories, sort of how many heiresses attempted in recent history. Because of this, the dog just became synonymous with the culture, and the name stuck.

In this episode we talk about the worst way to try to assassinate someone. Caitlyn has issues with counting, and we also finally learn what Willies dog breed is! Did I say breed? Well it’s not really a breed, because he’s a bit more complicated.

Song is “Stray Italian Greyhound” by Vienna Teng.

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The Border Collie, also known as the “not-Lassie collie”. That’s right, the collie that everyone knows about is not the one that everyone knows about. The Border Collie is however, THE herding dog. These dogs are used to herd just about everything. Including sheep, pigs, chickens, and any other kind of bird you can imagine. Oh were you going to say ostrich? Yeah, they herd those, too. I wish I had video proof, but I can’t find any on such short notice.

The Border Collie is also one of the few dogs that are workers and show dogs. In fact, the working dogs are also allowed to show with their scars and damage from herding work. Interestingly though, as the Working Collie Club doesn’t seem to get along well with the AKC. Because of this, in the past, they have removed registration from dogs that have won in AKC shows. They also dominate in agility trials, and have even forced show runners to created ABC trials (Anything But Collies).

In this episode, we talk about Caitlyn’s resolution to take care of chickens if we ever got them. We finally follow up on the Chihuahua episode where Caitlyn went to the dentist. This time Kyle went. What were the results? Find out in this episode of Why Are You A Dog?!

Song this week is “Border Collie Song” by Rich Hall

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The Samoyed is that fluffy white snow dog that smiles. That’s right, it actually smiles. It’s got full on pareidolia going on. Interestingly the fact that this dog can smile actually does serve somewhat of a purpose. Much like the other dogs that we had covered recently (can it be recent if it’s almost been a month?) it is of spitz breed origin. So it is well at home running and working in the snow.

The dog was named after the people who used them, sharing a very similar name. Until someone stole it from Siberia, most of its history was shared with the Samoyede. It was used for herding, hunting and sledding. Although the dog is decently large, it can actually suffer occasionally from dwarfism. This somehow also affects their vision. Genetics, right?

In this episode, Caitlyn and Kyle are kinda sick. We sound awful. In all honesty, I don’t blame you for skipping this. But you would miss out on the debate on what determines if something is outside or not. We also ponder if there are listeners out there that hate when we have asides like that. Sorry if you exist.

Song is “Samoyed Song” by Russelbuck

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