#Kaleski

[grison-in-space]

Man, Robert Kaleski really is a great counterexample to that whole "the lone autistic eccentric, immersed in his dogged study and obsessions, is the genesis of truth!" trope that you'll sometimes see "aspie supremacists" trot out as part of a justification that autistic (or ADHD) people are Better, Actually.

My good bitches, sometimes what happens is simply that dogged pursuit of one's own pet theories blinds us to the truth of corroborated sources, experimental evidence, and hypothesis testing.

Just because someone is autistic and fixated on a special interest doesn't mean they're right about it. Sure, you can see how someone might look at Dalmatians and cattle dogs and come to a conclusion that some of one might have influenced the other. I reckon that by the 1930s, when the first appearance of the Dalmatian lore appears, Kaleski had enough exposure to Dalmatians to know that they are all born white or almost white and develop the characteristic spots as they grow—just like his beloved heelers develop roan and speckles as they grow. Dalmatians are all almost certainly homozygous for a modifier mutation adjusting the expression of roan that is not found in cattle dogs, but Kaleski can be quite forgiven in the 1930s for not knowing that: the study in question only came out last year. However, he might easily have realized by inquiring to kennel clubs, a Dalmatian club or breeder in his country, or simply perusing various books of British dog breeds — a self admitted enormous pastime! — that his timeline of a dog breed standardized in 1890 being infused to any great degree into his familiar cattle dogs before he personally would have observed evidence of the cross in 1904, after nearly twenty years of studying cattle dogs, is impossible.

Unfortunately, despite his careful observation of things that he felt confirmed his theories about dog function and evolution, he failed to look for any facts that were difficult to reconcile with them. Scholarly study of natural history would immediately have poked holes in his frankly batshit bonkers theory that bears were descendants of Tasmanian devils while dogs and cats derive from thylacine. Miacis was discovered in 1872. Cuvier had famously and correctly identified marsupials as a parallel clade to placental mammals a full century before, in 1816. There was abundant information available to Kaleski with which to test his theories about natural history and the known consensus of the evolution of his local Australian fauna.

Special interests encourage us to absorb, collect, and integrate information that might not strike a neurotypical person as interesting. But there is absolutely nothing about that interest which protects us from collecting and absorbing incorrect ideas, connections, and justifications as we amass our hoards of knowledge. We have to test our own assumptions, every step of the way.

[foxeia]

Anna Kaleski

[enfranchisement]

via amyz_k on instagram

[grison-in-space]

Absolutely not, formally speaking--aside from the, uh, theories from @farm-paws ' fun spelunk through Kaleski the other day, since we established that even given when he was writing in 1933 there was ample evidence that dogs are not descended from marsupials, the specific origins of dogs were a huge controversy right up until cheap nuclear DNA sequencing allowed the taxonomists to conclude that dogs really are more or less wolves.

Everyone knew they were canids, obviously; domestic dogs aren't that weird compared to other canids, particularly coyote and jackal as well as wolves. But which canids did dogs spring from? There was quite a lot of argument about this for quite a long time. As late as 1977 you can find J.P. Scott laying out the extant theories in the field: 1) a camp held that the ancestors of dogs were some species that had now gone extinct; 2) a camp held that dogs were descended from a blend of wolf and jackals, probably black-backed jackals; 3) dogs descended from local varieties of small wolves.

(The book this chapter is included in was edited by Dobzhansky, Hecht, and Steere; Dobzhansky being one of the great luminaries of the Modern Synthesis of genetics and evolutionary theory, of course, you can generally view this as a then-current assessment of the scholarship in the field in a way that Kaleski was never anywhere near. Marsupials, for fuck's sake.)

Behavioral ecologist Konrad Lorensz, still one of only two behavioral ecologists/ethologists to have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine (along with Tinbergen, who I like much better for a number of reasons), was very vocal as a supporter of the jackal-based dog theory right into the 1950s, although he did later recant. He's part of the reason that the Sulimov dog, which is a Russian project descended from crosses between herding laika types and black-backed jackals, exists today. (Although I would not believe their marketing about the dogs' noses without some externally verifiable proof, frankly.)

Anyway, Scott eventually comes around to settling on dogs as descendents of small wolves, although he is probably wrong about the number of domestication events and certainly wrong about the level of backcrossing and gene introgression between dog and wolf populations. There were also theories that indigenous dogs in the Americas were descendents of coyotes, plus the actual non-Canis-lupus culpeo of Tierra del Fuego.

weird question but i hope it makes sense - domestication history speaking, have humans always known dogs descended from wolves, or did we lose that information along the way and have to relearn it??

[ohlalaparis]

amy kaleski

[authorcecelia]

my reading shelf over the past few years... among a hundred others

[blueboyluca]

Alsatian dog breeders showing off their dogs at Randwick racecourse, c. 1934

The ‘Alsatian Wolf-dog Menace’

Kaleski went on to warn that the danger of Alsatians that crossbred with dingoes would create such a problem that ‘all stock would have to be permanently guarded and that boundary riders, stockmen and drovers will have to work in armed numbers or else they would be killed and eaten’.

Kaleski then went on the full offensive, telling his gaping audience that the German police used their German shepherd police dogs as instruments of terror. ‘The German police preferred a dog capable of serious attack. Their law, unlike Australian justice, does not presuppose innocence until guilt is proved.’ With the hide of Jessie the Elephant, he accused German law of doing what he himself had done to the Alsatian: presuming guilt without a speck of evidence.

‘In Germany, there is nothing like our sensitiveness to public opinion with regard to people being bitten. The German police-dog is a powerful animal capable of great severity. One sees persons being constantly attacked in Germany by such dogs in a manner that would never be tolerated over here.’

Kaleski could not have done more to vilify a breed of dog, not to mention Germans and German coppers. He added a lame, insincere declaration that he had nothing at all against the breed. It wouldn’t have placated or convinced Alsatian owners, or anyone else with anything between their ears.

The ill-informed and discriminatory way the Australian federal, State and Territory legislators managed the ‘Alsatian wolf-dog fiasco’ was a stark contrast to the attitude of the rest of the world. While Australia was treating the German shepherd dog like a mindless killing machine, and its owners like second-class citizens, in other nations it was the dog of choice for police, the military, and search and rescue organisations. It was the first seeing-eye dog, and won bravery awards, obedience awards, community service awards and agility awards. It starred in twenty-seven movies and a 166-episode television series (in which no sheep were harmed).

The German shepherd was considered the most talented dog in the world. It just took Australia forty-five years to work out it had been conned. But there’s your federal leadership for you.

Saving the Australian wool industry from the imaginary menace of the Alsatian wolf-dog was Robert Kaleski’s most notable achievement. He would release several editions of Australian Barkers and Biters and would write and publish Dogs of the World in 1947. Its execrable subtitle, ‘Showing the Origin of the Canine and Feline Species from the Australian Marsupial Lion About Three Million Years Ago’, is enough to demonstrate that nothing had changed Kaleski’s laughable biological theories since he first published Australian Barkers and Biters in 1914.

He died aged eighty-four, on 1 December 1961, the year The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin premiered in Australia. Rinnie was the most popular dog in the country, but banned nonetheless. And no one seemed to notice or mind that The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin was set fifty years before the German shepherd was even developed. Yo Rinnie!

Robert Kaleski’s importation ban was still in place when he died. And would be for another unlucky thirteen years.

⁠— The Dogs That Made Australia by Guy Hull (2018)

[ainawgsd]

Queensland Heeler

The Australian Cattle Dog (ACD), or simply Cattle Dog, is a breed of herding dog originally developed in Australia for droving cattle over long distances across rough terrain. This breed is a medium-sized, short-coated dog that occurs in two main color forms. It has either brown or black hair distributed fairly evenly through a white coat, which gives the appearance of a "red" or "blue" dog. Australian Cattle Dog has been nicknamed a "Red Heeler" or "Blue Heeler" on the basis of its coloring and practice of moving reluctant cattle by nipping at their heels. Dogs from a line bred in Queensland, Australia, which were successful at shows and at stud in the 1940s, were called "Queensland Heelers" to differentiate them from lines bred in New South Wales; this nickname is now occasionally applied to any Australian Cattle Dog.

In the 19th century, New South Wales cattle farmer Thomas Hall crossed the dogs used by drovers in his parents' home county, Northumberland, with dingoes he had tamed. The resulting dogs were known as Halls Heelers. Thomas Hall crossed his Drovers Dogs with dingoes he had tamed, and by 1840 was satisfied with his resulting progeny. During the next thirty years, the Halls Heelers, as they became known, were used only by the Halls. Given that they were dependent on the dogs, which gave them an advantage over other cattle breeders, it is understandable that the dogs were not distributed beyond the Hall's properties. It was not until after Thomas Hall's death, when the properties went to auction with the stock on them, that Halls Heelers became freely available. After Hall's death in 1870, the dogs became available beyond the Hall family and their associates. They were subsequently developed into two modern breeds: the Australian Cattle Dog and the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog. Robert Kaleski, who wrote the first standard for the breed, was influential in its development.

As with dogs from other working breeds, the Australian Cattle Dog is energetic and intelligent with an independent streak. It responds well to structured training, particularly if it is interesting and challenging. It was originally bred to herd by biting, and is known to nip running children. It forms a strong attachment to its owners, and can be protective of them and their possessions. It is easy to groom and maintain, requiring little more than brushing during the shedding period. The most common health problems are deafness and progressive blindness (both hereditary conditions) and accidental injury; otherwise, it is a robust breed with a lifespan of 12 to 14 years.

There are two accepted coat colors, red and blue, though chocolate and cream do occur. Blue dogs can be blue, blue mottled, or blue speckled with or without black, tan, or white markings. Red dogs are evenly speckled with solid red markings. Both red dogs and blue dogs are born white (except for any solid-colored body or face markings) and the red or black hairs grow in as they mature. The distinctive adult coloration is the result of black or red hairs closely interspersed through a predominantly white coat. This is not merle coloration, but rather the result of the ticking gene. A number of breeds show ticking, which is the presence of color through white areas, though the overall effect depends on other genes that will modify the size, shape and density of the ticking.

In addition to the primary coloration, an Australian Cattle Dog displays some patches of solid or near-solid color. In both red and blue dogs, the most common are masks over one or both eyes, a white tip to the tail, a solid spot at the base of the tail, and sometimes solid spots on the body, though these are not desirable in dogs bred for conformation shows. Blue dogs can have tan midway up the legs and extending up the front to breast and throat, with tan on jaws, and tan eyebrows. Both color forms can have a white "star" on the forehead called the "Bentley Mark", after a legendary dog owned by Tom Bentley. The Cattle Dog has a double coat—the short, straight outer guard hairs are protective in nature, keeping the elements from the dog's skin while the undercoat is short, fine and dense.

The breed standards of the Australian, American and Canadian kennel clubs specify that the Australian Cattle Dog should have a natural, long, un-docked tail. There will often be a solid color spot at the base of the tail and a white tip. In the United States, tails are sometimes docked on working stock. The tail is not docked in Australia, and serves a useful purpose in increasing agility and the ability to turn quickly.

[sincerelykarenjo]

Release Day Celebration - You, Me and Letting Go by Katie Kaleski

Release Day Celebration – You, Me and Letting Go by Katie Kaleski

  You, Me, & Letting Go by Katie Kaleski

presented by Swoon Romance!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

Published: May 14, 2019

Publisher: Swoon Romance

Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Romance

Pages: Ebook 286

Van Sato’s got labels. Tourettes, ADHD, SPD – words that have defined his existence since the time he was old enough to know what they meant. Now, Van wants to…

[grison-in-space]

Still reading Noreen Clark's A Dog for the Job, on the history of the Australian Cattle Dog (and the Australian Stumpy-Tailed Cattle Dog), which is as endearingly bitchy a dog history book as any I've seen.

I had not realized that Italian Greyhound had been proffered as a source for the blue roan heeler coat at about the same time (and by the same person) as that bizarre Dalmatian bit. I, ah. What? What the fuck?

Nor had I previously seen some of the color justifications Kaleski made to go along that appalling garbage about the Bentley spot.

(I still see people on Reddit confidently insisting that the Bentley spot, the white spot on the forehead seen on many heelers, is a sign of old purebred ACD ancestry. Look, Benton has one and he's about 25% ACD! It's actually just that for whatever reason, ticked or roaned dogs typically don't tick or roan through any white on that spot, and ACDs are one of two heavily ticked/roaned breeds that routinely breeds for sufficiently extreme piebald that there's usually no head spot covering that place, either. And the other one is Dalmatians, on whom a small part of the dog without spots fades much more easily into the white background. One of these days I'm going to go collect Bentley spots on non-ACD dogs of known ancestry.)

Anyway the same dude was all "oh they need red brown legs so they don't show the dirt" (WTF it's not like anyone gives a shit) and "oh the blue ones are good for night time so the cows can't see where to kick but the red ones are real hardy because you can see the dingo ancestry." Okay, man. Sure.

The thing I find interesting, reading between the lines, is that the dingo fixation sure seems to me like an aggressive attempt to distinguish the nascent cattle dogs from Smithfields (themselves more of a descendant of the bearded collie/OES family of things) by rhapsodizing on the importance of prick ears and a short coat.

Dog people never change, but the hilarity certainly intensifies as you dig through history...

[foxeia]

Amy Kaleski

[followthejackal]

Actually, there was a single Dalmatian cross in the 1800s.

"Two brothers, Jack and Harry Bagust, went in another direction with the crossing of these dogs. They bred a Hall's Heeler bitch to an imported Dalmatian, with the intent of instilling the love for horses and faithfulness to their master into the breed. This cross was successful, but it cost the breed some of its working ability. The Bagusts admired the working ability of the Black and Tan Kelpie, a breed in development itself at the time, and added this blood to these Blue and Red Heelers. This final infusion set the breed type, gave the blue dogs the distinguishable tan "points", gave the red dogs deep red markings instead of black and were the direct forebearers of today's Australian Cattle Dog." [Source]

"It was the Bagust brothers, Harry and Jack, who lived near Davis's slaughter yards, who were really responsible for developing "Halls Heelers" into what we know today.

"The Bagust's noted that the heeler was deficient in three desirable traits - an affinity and fondness for horses, a guarding instinct and the capacity for working the sides and head of a mob.

"Crossing them with the Dalmatian, essentially a horse and carriage dog, imparted the first two qualities. It also smoothed the coat, gave them an attractive speckled colour, and eliminated the 'wall' or white eye, prevalent in the merle. The clever head and side working ability was produced by a cross with a Black and Tan Kelpie.

"These crosses however, were not without problems. The Dalmatian influence tended to bring out drop ears and thin tails, while the Kelpie cross tended to make the body colour too dark and the dogs a little too fine in the muzzle, at the expense of the strong biting jaws of the Dingo. But the Bagusts persisted and after a lot of patient work, came up with the dog they wanted. As the Bagusts said, "We bred a lot and we drowned a lot".

"It should also be noted that at some stage during this process, a blue dog of the same pure Hall strain, owned by Tom Bently, a butcher at the Glebe Island abbatoirs, was crossed through the Bagust dogs. According to Kaleski, writing in 1911, all the early blue cattle dogs of any note were descended from "Bently's Dog", a great worker of fine proportions and appearance."" [Source]

I dont know too much about Dalmatians or what they were bred for so the other day i was talking to the security guard on campus about em and decided to google why they’re so aggressive and hard to handle and apparently its because they were bread as coach dogs, which means that they were trained to run alongside a coach or carriage and fucking attack anything that wasn’t their carriage. Like they were bonded to the horses used to pull the coach and to their handlers and other than that they would just jump anyone who came near em. If you had coach dogs you actually had to have someone who rode ahead and warned anyone coming toward you that you had coach dogs so they could move out of the way and not get attacked. So thats a mystery solved for me.

[lovebooksgroup]

Hello Lovelies, Today it is my stop on the Little Forevers blog tour. It is a Youg Adult contemporary romance novel by Kate Kaleski. I hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by.

Kelly xoxo

Book Jacket 

Phoebe likes Gage, but there’s a problem—he’s her brother’s best friend.

As the result of an extra-marital affair, Phoebe Bautista has had little contact with her dad, none with her step-mum, and her siblings have just recently learned of her of her existence. Now she goes to stay with them while her mom is on assignment in The Yukon for three months. As she tries to find her place and navigate the developing and rocky relationship with her temporary family, she begins to spend time playing music with her brother, Oliver, along with his best friend, Gage.

Gage is cute, smart, has selective mutism, and makes Phoebe’s heart skip a beat, but she knows she has to fight her feelings for him, so she doesn’t ruin her growing bond with Oliver. But the more time the three of them spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore what she feels for Gage, especially when she learns he might like her too.

And with her dad pretending everything’s fine, the fact that she might never belong anywhere, and knowing that she only has so much time with her new family, Phoebe might not make it out with her heart intact.

Review

This was my first experience of Kate Kaleski’s writing and I really enjoyed her style. The story was well written with lot’s of awkward moments for Phoebe as she tries to fit in with her new step family.

Teen romance novels can go to the level of cheesy by not in the case of Little Forevers, it was funny and kept me engrossed till the end. Phoebe is a very matter of fact character which was endearing.

It was a refreshing storyline that I haven’t come across before. Covering topics such as family connections, drug use reference, marital affairs, teen love, step families and most of all finding that sense of belonging.

A great read and I look forward to diving into more Kate Kaleski books.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Forevers-Katie-Kaleski-ebook/dp/B072BTRN1S/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

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Little Forevers By Kate Kaleski @XpressoTours #YA #Review Hello Lovelies, Today it is my stop on the Little Forevers blog tour. It is a Youg Adult contemporary romance novel by Kate Kaleski.

[kinziethings]

REVIEW: Bookstores, Crushes & Mortal Enemies by Katie Kaleski

REVIEW: #BookstoresCrushesAndMortalEnemies by @katiekaleski || funny, charming, and sweet :) #Meetcute #QueerYA #QueerNewAdult #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIAYA @gaybookpromo

The Official Description: Jackson Hillside just had a meet-cute made for the movies. It could have been truly epic except the other guy, Auggie, spilled coffee all over Jackson’s favorite shoes. Determined to break his streak of bad luck with dating, Jackson goes to a party where he bumps into Auggie again.

Turns out, Auggie’s pretty great, albeit a little clumsy. Things almost look promising…

[blueboyluca]

Koolie

The Koolie is a working or herding dog which has existed in Australia since the early 19th century when it was bred from imported British working dogs. Robert Kaleski, in an article on Cattle Dogs in the August 1903 issue of the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, describes the “Welsh heeler or merle, erroneously known as the German collie,” as a “blue-gray dog about the size and build of a smooth-haired collie, generally with wall eyes.”

There is substantial variation in the Koolie population, as Koolies were bred to exhibit different characteristics in different regions. The Koolie Club of Australia defines the breed based on its ability to work rather than on its conformation. However, most Koolie breeders refer to the Koolie as a breed rather than as a type, and assert that it "breeds true", with various types or strains.

[australiancattldog-blog]

Australian Cattle Dog

You might be familiar with this breed by one of his other common names: Australian Heeler, Blue Heeler, Queensland Heeler, or Halls Heeler. Officially, however, he's the Australian Cattle Dog; the "heeler" moniker comes from the fact that the dogs were bred to herd cattle by nipping at their heels.

The Australian Cattle Dog is a high-energy working dog. He is not a couch potato — we repeat: he is not a couch potato. He wants to be active and busy most of the time. His energy must be directed, or he'll become bored and will resort to entertaining himself, usually by doing something you consider naughty, like digging in the trash or digging up your flower garden.

The Australian Cattle Dog is also highly devoted to his owner and family. He usually attaches himself closely to one person and bonds less closely with others. He's often called a "Velcro" dog because he attaches so firmly; he likes to be in close physical contact with his chosen person all the time.

Because the Australian Cattle Dog was bred to herd, and herd with force, by biting, he is a mouthy dog. His instinct is to nip cattle, children, pets, cars, anything that moves. He has a strong tendency to bite, even in play. This tendency must be properly directed with socialization and training when he's a puppy, or it can turn into dangerous behavior.

Another part of the breed's instinct is his strong prey drive. He's fascinated by squirrels, cats, and other small animals. If the Australian Cattle Dog is raised from puppyhood with other pets, including cats, he can be trusted to live peacefully with them in his home. He's likely to consider those outside his household to be fair game, though.

The Australian Cattle Dog is generally friendly, but he is protective of his family and home turf, and he tends to be wary of strangers.

There is a toughness about the Australian Cattle Dog — he had to be tough to handle the high temperatures, rough terrain, and long distances involved in his job on ranches — that makes him both highly tolerant of pain and intensely focused. He'll keep working even when he's injured. Owners must pay careful attention to this breed to make sure he stops working or competing if he gets hurt. The Australian Cattle Dog was bred by 19th-century Australian settlers to herd cattle on large ranches. This breed was instrumental in helping ranchers expand the Australian beef industry by quietly but aggressively herding the sometimes uncontrollable, almost wild cattle with nips and bites.

Today's Australian Cattle Dog is the result of many breedings and cross-breedings. Ranchers sought a hardy dog who could handle the harsh climate and working conditions in Australia. Dogs initially brought from England weren't up to the job, so they were bred to the native Dingo. Countless breedings by many different ranchers finally resulted in what's believed to be the ancestors of the present-day Australian Cattle Dog.

Blue-colored dogs proved to be the most popular among ranch owners and drovers, and they became known as Blue Heelers. They were especially popular in cattle runs in Queensland, where they were given the name Queensland Heelers or Queensland Blue Heelers.

In 1893, Robert Kaleski took up breeding Blue Heelers, and he started showing them in 1897. Kaleski drew up a standard, basing the Cattle Dog on the Dingo, believing that this was the type naturally suited to the Australian outback. (Today's Australian Cattle Dog does look much like the Dingo, except for color.) The Kennel Club of New South Wales approved this standard in 1903.

The breed was first known as the Australian Heeler, then later as the Australian Cattle Dog, which is the name now accepted as official throughout Australia and elsewhere. However, some people still call them Blue Heelers or Queensland Heelers.

After a period in the Miscellaneous Class, the Australian Cattle Dog was accepted for registration by the American Kennel Club May 1980. He became eligible for show in the Working Group as of September 1980. The breed was transferred to the Herding Group in January 1983.