Snarky answers to silly questions...
 I'm so proud of him. Many people even commented on what a calm, well mannered dog he was. 
What drove me NUTS though, was all the dumb questions and comments he seemed to provoke in people  .
Bert is shaved down for summer, and I realize that most people have no idea what a Nekkid Sheepie looks like....but STILL! A few samples: "What is He?"...(Me)- "An Old English Sheepdog with a short haircut." "REALLY??....OMG he has two different color eyes....did you KNOW he has two different color eyes??!!"...(Me)-"Yes." "He doesn't have a tail! Did you realize your dog has no TAIL??!!"...(Me)-"Yes." "So...is he blind in the blue eye, then?"...(Me)-"No" "Won't he go blind without the hair covering his eyes?"...(Me)- "No" 
New responses I'm considering for NEXT weekend: Me--" His eyes aren't the same color? Sure they are...both green! You can't see that? OOOH you better see your eye doctor!" Me--"What do you mean NO TAIL...he had one this morning! OMG! Who took my dog's tail!!!!!???" Taking additional suggestions....!  |
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| "Nawww, if one of his eyes turned blue, his tail might fall o OMG!!!!"
Joan and I love the questions! Hire us to come answer them! |
I can so imagine how your day went with all those people walking by wanting to know more about Bert. 
The whole post made me laugh! I should bring my maltese out there with you. Then you'll really be banging your head against the wall. People ALWAYS tell me she's the cutest OES puppy that they've ever seen. |
Joahaeyo wrote: I can so imagine how your day went with all those people walking by wanting to know more about Bert.
The whole post made me laugh! I should bring my maltese out there with you. Then you'll really be banging your head against the wall. People ALWAYS tell me she's the cutest OES puppy that they've ever seen. One of the things that was funny about this, was that almost ALL of the odd questions/comments were from tourists....and many of them were under the impression that Bert was some kind of unique "Alaskan" breed!
He even got his picture taken several times...so amongst the pics of moose, mountains and bears, are photos of a very nekkid Eggbert!! |
| Too funny.... |
ravenmoonart wrote: many of them were under the impression that Bert was some kind of unique "Alaskan" breed! RRRROFL
"While Jim is wrestling with the grizzly bear, I'll head over to the art show where there is a vicious and rare nekkid OES who seems to have lost his tail in battle. Oh look, his poor eye was injured in the fight." |
| Don't ya just love it, all the dumb questions
I get with the long coat "Ooooh do they have eyes" I say no, they use there big black snoofing noses to track where there going. 
Or the other, where are there eyes? Geez I thought they were possibly on there head, who knows under all that hair 
This was an aussie one too, where is the tail? Heck it was there yesterday, blasted Kookaburra must of flown down and pecked it off. (there food is snakes)
Honestly it drives me nuts the dumb questions people come up with, you have my complete sympathy there Enjoy the next fair and give good sarcastic smarty pants answers and leave them wondering then |
Gee I have told people I bathed him and he shrunk.......
 he is a rare coated hungarian pitbull (I am Hungarian)
Sometimes it is just a here is you sign moment. I think people mean well and are curious but I think with OES we get many..............well stupid questions. Guinness is large and one time when my dog therapy group participated in a parade in Baltimore city (home of pit bulls and rotties) the kids had never seen an old english sheepdog he was in full coat. You could see the reactions as we walked the parade route ,people were jumping out to take his picture and yes posing with him for pics (after all he is a RARE coated hungarian pitbull) one little boy marveled at how big he was (mostly coat) and asked me if he had a big woof...I said indeed he does.. I meet far more people with Guinness than I do with my labs and GSD sigh |
that's so funny! I'm going to have to try some of those answers next time. Or we could say that they use sonar, like bats, to see where they're going. 
On Saturday, we went hiking in the Smoky Mountains with Callie. After hiking, we were hungry so we went into downtown Gatlinburg (which is flooded with tourists year-round) for dinner. Callie and I were waiting while Jon ran into a store for a second, and a random dad asked if he could take a picture of Callie - not with his kids or anything, just of Callie... (personally, I think that is a little weird). Then when we were crossing the street, another lady jumped out into the street and snapped a picture of us before we even knew what was happening! (which reminds me - I would hate to be famous!) I don't know, I just think it's funny how people think we have some sort of rare creature. -- and it kind of freaks me out to think that strangers will go home and show other strangers pictures of me and my dog.. |
| One time Darcy and I took Bailey and Panda to a neighborhood fair and we couldn't believe all the silly questions we got! "Is that a Great Dane?" I've been told by several "authorities" that my sheepdog is supposed to have hair over his eyes because his eyes are too weak to handle direct sunlight. But my favorite experience was when we stopped at the Hoover Dam on our way to Vegas, and a very excited Japanese tour group asked if they could pose with Bailey in front of the Dam. I kept hearing the words "Shaggy Dog"! Bailey, ever gracious with his fans, was happy to pose and give out kisses. |
| So funny
I can understand not knowing what kind of dog it is and having questions, but "did you know your dog doesn't have a tail?"...seriously.... I am surprised some people have made it in the world this long |
| yup, i also get dumb questions.....my favorite one....wow, your dog has blue eyes, is she blind???
my answer...you have blue eyes, are you blind??? |
Amanda P wrote: So funny
I can understand not knowing what kind of dog it is and having questions, but "did you know your dog doesn't have a tail?"...seriously.... I am surprised some people have made it in the world this long I get some saying to me , "Hey, he has a tail!"...Like I hadn't noticed...
And sooo many people ask me if they are litter mates. They do not even LOOK alike....but I guess because they aren't seen often folks might think I got 2 just in case I wouldn't be able to get another one. |
Bosley's mom wrote: I get some saying to me , "Hey, he has a tail!"...Like I hadn't noticed... You should say...OMG, where did that come from |
| I get this one, "Why is his hair in a ponytail," and, "What happens when you don't put it up?"
Hmmmmmm I'm glad you had fun, though! |
| Clayden comes to work with me. One time, there was a client waiting at the Reception area and Clayden of course did his job and went to greet the client. The client asked me how old he was. I told him 6 months old and then he asked me what kind of dog he was. I started by saying I didn't really know. I got him from a rescue and he was listed as an Old English Sheepdog... Client went like" Noooo...he is not old, 6 months is not that old..."
Gigi |
| I had actually forgotten one of the best ones..."HEY! Honey, that cute stuffed dog you liked just MOVED! I think its ALIVE!"
LOVE some of the suggested responses....Ron, I'll definitely be using yours next week!
I'm cracking up over some of the comments you guys have gotten...I guess its a sheepdog universal experience! The flip side of this story is the fairly large number of people who approached us with tears in their eyes to tell me about a beloved sheepie from their past  . Several of these mentioned that they would love, more than anything to have another one some day, and so I passed out many of my business cards with the OES forum's web site written on the back, as well as the name and number of our local OES rescue people. |
| Well that was nice of you! They should have given you THEIR business card/phone number. Where were they when you needed a home for Max
Did anyone ask you if that's the dog from the Shaggy Dog movie? I get that 100% of the time I go out and then they argue with me when I say it's a different dog. |
ravenmoonart wrote: The flip side of this story is the fairly large number of people who approached us with tears in their eyes to tell me about a beloved sheepie from their past
. Several of these mentioned that they would love, more than anything to have another one some day, and so I passed out many of my business cards with the OES forum's web site written on the back, as well as the name and number of our local OES rescue people.I can't remember how many conversation have started with people that rush up to me asking to hug my pups and then tell me how much they miss their Sheepie.- |
| I do believe the only questions stupider than those OES questions are the comparable Komondor questions. I usually have to answer those first and then I get the round of dumb OES ones. |
| This reminds me of people who wear slogans across their chest and then take umbrage when I read the slogans.
Of course I am quite nearsighted. |
Ron wrote: This reminds me of people who wear slogans across their chest and then take umbrage when I read the slogans.
Of course I am quite nearsighted. That's not a fair comparison. I don't mind questions that cannot be presolved by some sort of logic or deductive reasoning on the part of the asker. I happily answer those. I LOVE talking about the dogs but, c'mon-- where did the tail go? Unless you've been living under a rock, you had to have seen at least one OES in your life. One of the most strange questions (yet common) I've gotten with Bear is "Does that hurt him?" Again, c'mon. Why would I let him be in pain and, if I was into hurting him, would I admit that? Either way, it's a silly question! |
| I don't think that's what those questions mean. People are relating it to their experiences and wonder if "matted" fur pulls at the skin, and questions about tails aren't asking if there was an accident, they're looking for more info about why the dogs have no tails.
You could look at it as an opprotunity to forearm them with your info about docking before someone knocks on their door to ask them to support banning that gruesome docking thing, if you like. |
Ron wrote: I don't think that's what those questions mean. People are relating it to their experiences and wonder if "matted" fur pulls at the skin, and questions about tails aren't asking if there was an accident, they're looking for more info about why the dogs have no tails.
You could look at it as an opprotunity to forearm them with your info about docking before someone knocks on their door to ask them to support banning that gruesome docking thing, if you like. I do. Believe it or not, I'm amazingly patient in talking about all the stuff about the dogs. I'm really only referring to the truly stupid-- the people who think the tail was stolen or that Komondors enjoy living in pain. |
| Maybe Koms are in pain because they stole all of the Sheepdogs' tails, and the sheepdogs tried to follow them but couldn't see, and ran after them following their unique corded aroma and bumped into them, pulling their cords and making them yelp, which made the Koms bite off the Sheepdogs' tails. |
| You need to fight these misanthropic tendencies |
Ron wrote: You need to fight these misanthropic tendencies
Nah, I find if I encourage them, I'm never disappointed. |
Ron wrote: I don't think that's what those questions mean. People are relating it to their experiences and wonder if "matted" fur pulls at the skin, and questions about tails aren't asking if there was an accident, they're looking for more info about why the dogs have no tails.
You could look at it as an opprotunity to forearm them with your info about docking before someone knocks on their door to ask them to support banning that gruesome docking thing, if you like. The question of "Why do people make dumb comments?" comes up a LOT in my profession. If you think dumb sheepie questions are bad....try dumb art questions! .....A few random samples:
"So...you do all this on the computer, right?" "Dont you have any pictures of Elvis?" (yes...I was really asked this) This one from the files of my friend Karla, who's studio name is "Whalebone Watercolors": "So then, do you put ground-up whalebone in the paint?" From the (frequent) experience of a friend who carves designs in fossilized mammoth ivory: "Those poor mammoths! Aren't they endangered?!"
I could go on and on...
The fact is though, that I've come to realize, that most of the time its just a matter of....they want to say SOMETHING....to get a conversation started,... and really have NO idea what to say. I think they are, often as not, as surprised by what comes out of their mouth as we are! |
| The questions and answers had me ROTFLMAO. As for people coming up and telling about their sheepies...we were at a rest stop walking the dogs and this women comes running from across the parking lot to see Simon. She was gushing over him(he was loving it) and telling me about her sheepie that had passed. The one I love best is what made you get this type of dog. When I was a kid we got the cutest little sheepie puppy and as he got bigger my mom started to complain about how the house was to small for two big dogs. When he was about a year old my mom gave him away to someone that wanted him. Like we didn't. Anyway I just wasn't done with having a sheepie. I got my sheepie fix and can't stop telling my mom how much fun it is to have two big dogs. So there mom...Pam |
| Will he go blind with that hair in his eyes?
No actually these dong see with their hair, so its not a problem. 
What is that? A yettie, what you think it is? or OMG where did this come from? Fluffy Fluffy, where are you girl? or Are you calling my child ugly? |
| One I think is funny is when people come up and ask what kind of dog is it and I say Old English Sheepdog and then they say Oh, I used to have one of those...wouldn't they know what kind of dog it was before asking? |
| ^^^
So funny... I've heard that too and always thought "uh-huh... yeah." |
Simon's Mom wrote: TThe one I love best is what made you get this type of dog. When I was a kid we got the cutest little sheepie puppy and as he got bigger my mom started to complain about how the house was to small for two big dogs. When he was about a year old my mom gave him away to someone that wanted him. Like we didn't. Anyway I just wasn't done with having a sheepie. I got my sheepie fix and can't stop telling my mom how much fun it is to have two big dogs. So there mom...Pam
Same thing happened to me.....I had always wanted a sheepie....we got one when I was 15. My mom did nothing but complain about the dog.....Shannon was a submissive pee'er.... And my dad was not the type that should have a sheepie, he was too much of a harsh disciplinarian. Then one day when I got home from school my sheepie was gone  At the time my mom said they gave her to a lady that lived on a farm.....I STILL don't believe that story So am I compensating for my childhood....YOU BET! |
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