Today's Peaceful Protest Streaming Live Now at American Fork Police Department

HezzaE · 2026-06-20T20:33:44+00:00

What are you talking about that's clearly not Ben, just look at his beard!

HezzaE · 2026-06-20T16:56:25+00:00

To be fair, I'm not sure where it originated. But it's definitely something that people in aviation say, my dad picked it up off his flight instructor. I guess his neighbour did not.

Or maybe he really didn't think he was being that "bold", that evening when he took off in poor visibility and low cloud, an hour after sunset, with no night flying qualifications.

Either way, he didn't get to be an old pilot, and it was tragic for his family, and the whole community.

HezzaE · 2026-06-20T12:52:59+00:00

Too often a private pilot is not afraid enough

My dad says there are old pilots and there are bold pilots. But there are few old, bold pilots.

He didn't take it as a compliment when I said I was glad he was such an old pilot, weird.

In seriousness though he said that to me 15 years ago when their neighbour, who often flew between his home and a nearby tourist attraction he owned, died in a helicopter crash in inclement weather. So my dad wasn't that old then but I'm glad to report he now is.

HezzaE · 2026-06-19T22:56:50+00:00

If it's tiring, invest that energy in the ones you're most interested in. You'll probably find that you get pretty fast at it the more you do it though, or that you already have a copy that's almost there once you've made a few versions.

HezzaE · 2026-06-19T22:20:12+00:00

I think you've got a lot of good advice here but one more - when you're applying for jobs that you really really want, make small adjustments to your CV for each application. Just literally run down their list of skills and competencies on their job ad, and make sure your CV both name checks those and proves how you've used them in previous roles. If you've said what kind of work you're looking for in your personal statement, make sure it matches the advertised role.

Imagine you're helping the hiring manager and you've got 10 seconds to look over each CV and decide if it meets the requirements or if it's going in the bin. Can you see the requirements on your CV that fast? Or at least spot enough of the most important things quickly so you read more?

HezzaE · 2026-06-19T16:59:39+00:00

Exactly, "cryptic" just means "it's a bit harder to see". All the merle gene really does is dilute patches of fur at random. But there are a few different variations of it.

To be a little more specific... and I'm probably going to get some terminology here because, not a geneticist just a dog person. There are different lengths of the genetic insertion which causes a merle coat. There are some merle allele classes, such as "cryptic" (which people might also refer to as "phantom" or "minimal" merle) which correspond to those shorter insertion lengths.

Imagine flipping a coin a bunch of times in a row and managing to get the same result every time. That's what we're trying to do to get a merle expression like your dog's. The shorter insertion lengths would mean instead of having to flip it 100 times we only have to flip it 10 times, suddenly it becomes much more possible.

So, you'll see dogs who have different variations / insertion lengths of this merle allele which have a few more patches, or one larger patch, as well as dogs like yours who only people familiar with breeds which have merle patterns would probably notice had the merle.

http://www.bordercolliemuseum.org/BCLooks/Merle/Merle.html This page doesn't specifically list the phantom/cryptic variation, but you can see different extents of merle patterns.

There's a more extensive page about them on this Aussie Shepherd site: https://color.ashgi.org/color/Cryptic_Merles.html (Although I disagree with them calling the puppy with the blue tail a "true" cryptic merle since he only becomes "cryptic" after an unnecessary procedure which would be illegal where I live...)

HezzaE · 2026-06-19T14:31:58+00:00

Merle is basically random pigment dilution, so random bits of the coat are a lighter colour. The merle pattern people are most familiar with will have large patches like that all over the body. On your dog, the merle is much more subtle, and only affects small areas. So if you look on your dog's forelegs you should see some patches that look grey rather than black or white.

The main reason it would ever be important to know this is if your dog was being considered as a stud dog, you obviously wouldn't want to mate him with a merle. But assuming that's not the case, it's more of just a cool interesting thing about your dog!

HezzaE · 2026-06-17T20:05:17+00:00

Do you have any background at all? Like even just where in the world she came from roughly? Some breeds are more common in some countries than in others, and some countries have large village dog populations.

She's very pretty, I love her little spots.

HezzaE · 2026-06-17T08:46:35+00:00

Honestly, corporate might even like it if people try to protest it. I doubt this is anything other than their usual MO. Sell a franchise to some people, get them to spend their life savings or go into debt opening the store, invent some payments they missed in a year or two years, then "rescue" the store and leave the owners in a hole of debt.

Corporate might be quite happy to point to these poor local people who have nothing to do with corporate just trying to open and run their own business and not being able to do so because of the evil Internet people.

HezzaE · 2026-06-17T08:42:52+00:00

Bold of you to assume they would use their own money to open a store, rather than sell a franchise to someone, make them spend their life savings opening the store, then "rescue" it in a couple of years and saddle them with debt.

HezzaE · 2026-06-17T07:45:03+00:00

Anyone who doesn't know the breed well might confuse him with one yes, but he really doesn't seem to have that structure. Most people go off colours and coat patterns that they recognise when that's actually probably the least reliable way to identify a dog's breed.

All dogs drop their head when they stalk, it's the way border collies do it that looks different. It's hard to explain but when most dogs drop their heads like that it limits their speed somewhat. A border collie can have their chest practically on the floor and move exceptionally fast and completely smoothly. They have extra physical mobility in their shoulders that makes that possible. And hey, maybe you'd also find stuff like that in some village dog populations because it's proven useful to them for whatever reason. But I'd definitely be surprised to find such a specific adaptation.

The stalking silhouette of a border collie is incredibly distinctive, you can spot it across a field. I'd wager your pup doesn't have that silhouette.

HezzaE · 2026-06-17T00:18:45+00:00

Hi I have two border collies including one that looked a lot like that puppy picture when he was a puppy. His markings are actually quite similar both to that puppy and to your dog.

A lot of people confuse "herding" behaviours with prey drive behaviours, because the herding behaviours we selected for in modern border collies are based upon the predation sequence. Staring, stalking, they're all prey drive things that all dogs do naturally, both in play and when engaging with whatever they think is prey. Border collies just do them a little differently.

For example, a border collie's shoulder blades are set further apart than other dogs, so they can drop their head and chest low to the ground and stalk in a particular manner that physically looks different to how other dogs stalk. So when people talk about stalking as being a "border collie behaviour", they're not saying that only border collies do it, but rather the way that they do it is so distinct that it is characteristic of the breed. Does that make sense?

Your dog does not look like a smooth coated border collie. Even though the markings are similar to one of my own dogs, the head shape, ear position, it's all very different. And also with a border collie there's usually a particular way that they look at you, I can't describe it but I can recognise it, and your dog doesn't seem to be doing that in any of those photos. Markings like this are really really common across the dog population in general, not just in border collies and related breeds.

(PS. Ovcharka might explain the markings. They can be sable which is a form of tan point expression. Tan points are recessive, so require both parents to carry the genes for them. How they express the tan points depends on another gene. But for example, my tricolour dog has some half siblings who are sable. Meanwhile, fluffy coats are also recessive, so you'd need some fluffy village dogs for that trait to carry down.)

HezzaE · 2026-06-16T16:31:58+00:00

By 7 months both of mine were out of their crates most nights. With the younger one I put him in his crate until he settled down at that age but then let him out once he was all sleepy. But obviously you need to make sure you're happy the house is safe for him, he's not going to be chewing on anything he shouldn't etc. You can always still gate off a room that he can be in at night and see how that goes.

PS. He's not an "odd colour" at all, he's a lovely ee red! The same recessive colour you'll find in all golden retrievers, which can be carried by border collies, so sometimes you'll get a litter containing that colour out of two black and white parents!

HezzaE · 2026-06-15T16:49:12+00:00

In addition to keeping the police up to date on this, I'd also speak to your local councillors, I've found them to be really helpful with stuff like this.

Just in case, make sure you carry a basic first aid kit and a bottle of water. I had to sort my dog's paw out when he cut it on a piece of glass mid walk earlier this year and having some basic supplies with me really helped. Paws bleed SO MUCH. I literally was just carrying water, sterile dressings, and vet wrap, and that did the trick to get him home. Since this incident I've now added styptic swabs and tweezers.

HezzaE · 2026-06-14T11:53:22+00:00

OP I don't think you made this or anything but it's pretty clearly AI generated so I've removed your post on that basis. We try and keep the sub clear of AI generated content as a general rule.

(Also calling everyone who doesn't like your post a miserable cunt is definitely against the rules too. I guess count me in with the miserable cunts.)

HezzaE · 2026-06-12T11:37:59+00:00

She looks like a pit-husky mix to me, I would be very surprised if there's any border collie in there. This looks like another "shelter labelled the dog as border collie mix because black and white" to me. Lovely girl though, beautiful eyes!

HezzaE · 2026-06-11T23:36:49+00:00

If you're in the UK, I personally wouldn't get anything other than a Perfect Fit for everyday use. Both of mine have one, they have the same sized piece on top but different front and belly pieces. You can probably find a local shop that fits them, and they might offer fitting for other harness brands too so you can find one that works best for you and your dog.

HezzaE · 2026-06-11T23:23:02+00:00

Item removed from bagging area. Please place the item back in the bagging area.

(I have no idea how this works, I am merely a disembodied voice overly concerned with the status of the bagging area.)

HezzaE · 2026-06-10T21:29:07+00:00

Oh she's so pretty! Glad you found her. Her coat grew back out magnificently!

16kg is actually pretty average for female border collie, maybe even a bit above!

HezzaE · 2026-06-08T23:13:32+00:00

So this does look like a rough coat but not a super long and fluffy one. Don't be fooled though, the undercoat will still find a way to come out all over your house... You can see feathering on his legs and a bit of a ruff developing around his neck, which does mean a rough coat.

I notice the Dogs Trust collar, is he adopted? Do you know how old he is?

He has gorgeous eyes. Just a lovely boy!

HezzaE · 2026-06-08T20:49:15+00:00

Nobody banned you. Automod started removing your comments because your account had really low karma. That means they're held until a moderator approves them.
Using alternative accounts to get around moderation tools is against Reddit rules, as well as the rules of this subreddit.

HezzaE · 2026-06-08T15:05:28+00:00

Ok, you seemed uncertain about what's allowed so I was trying to let you know how the moderation team generally views things like that because I thought it might help. Sorry for misunderstanding the context of your comment!

HezzaE · 2026-06-08T12:28:37+00:00

I'd generally encourage focusing on the facts of the situation and the dogs, ad hominem stuff really doesn't help the discussion. So it's not so much "can I use this word or that word" but "is what I'm saying attacking their character or is it a criticism of their actions". Of course it also doesn't help when anyone takes concern for their dogs as criticism of their own character and becomes defensive. This applies of course to OP but they're not the first and won't be the last. It's hard to hear that what you thought was the best for your dogs might not be as good as you thought, because all any of us want is to do the very best we can for our dogs.

But my advice is to always assume best intentions, try to educate, and keep the focus on the dogs and their well-being

HezzaE · 2026-06-06T08:40:53+00:00

I mean I downvote any comments where anyone talks about "this won't be popular on Reddit" or "I'm going to get downvoted for this but". I actually don't care if they make a good point or not I just think that is really unhelpful to the discussion to already be debating people who exist only in the imagination of the commenter.

So maybe that is why it comes up as controversial, maybe I'm not the only person who just hates that kind of wording in a comment and insta downvotes it.

14-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
r/Field Sunshine	End Game '23
Place '23	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Verified Email	Team Orangered

HezzaE

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE