This entry was posted on Monday, September 19th, 2005 at 3:25 am and is filed under Dogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Sheep Dogs
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Well all that is for ‘show’ so the dog looks good, not for practical purposes. Its stupid
There are gaps between the hair
Hair does not cause an opaque curtain.
If you put some of your hair of your eyes you can still see through it
Dogs are far-sighted. And they can see through the coat. The person who thinks the coat is “just for show’ has clearly never seen an OES, Bearded Collie, PON, or Kommondor working in the field — farmers don’t trim their dogs’ bangs.
Show dogs that are allowed to grow hair over the eyes, usually have the hair tied back when they are not in a show ring.
The hair is not a solid sheet, the dogs can see through it.
its only for show dogs so that they will meet the breed standard
and itsn ot only old english sheepdogs and komodors there are also pulis, skye terriers,lhasa apsos i think that its ridiculous but there are small gaps in the coat so that the dog will be able to see
They can see through the hair and it acts like sunglasses for people as it shields the sun from their eyes.
The answer is that they don’t see very well. Growing hair over the eyes is an example of a mutation perpetuated by breeding in a domestic situation. It is not functional nor an advantage in terms of survival. You’ll sometimes hear the myth that it’s an adaptation to protect their light sensitive eyes, but their eyes are no more sensitive to light than those of other breeds. It’s like seeing through a lattice fence as the hair moves around. Some dogs with hair over their eyes get snappy since they often don’t see someone approaching them until they’re startled by the movement up close. They lose the snappiness when the their obstructed vision is cleared by cutting the hair or tying it up into a topknot so they can see properly. Our neighbor has an OESD that wears a topknot except in the show ring so he can see normally at other times.
You don’t see any wild canids such as wolves, coyotes, or foxes with hair over their eyes, even though they grow spectacular winter coats. Why? It would impede their ability to hunt prey and avoid bigger predators. It would not be an advantage and would be selected against. Look at the feral dogs you see worldwide. They don’t have hair growing in their faces, and for the same reasons. It would put them at a disadvantage in terms of survival and reproduction.
This analysis doesn’t mean I dislike OESDs, etc. I adore Bouvs in particular. But I keep the hair cut short so Roux can see properly; if he were a show dog I’d put it in a topknot except while showing. You don’t see many frisbee dogs or lure coursers or agility dogs with hair in their eyes.
Using 2 examples here.
A) If you have long hair, flick some over your eyes. You can still see, right? It’s like that for all those dogs.
B) You know those buses that seem to have opaque pictures on the outside but from the inside can be seen through? It’s also like that.
Hope you liked my answer, I’m a newb!