The more things change...

... the more they stay the same.

One of my favorite things about staying with some dear friends in Colorado is the bookcases in the guest room, allowing me the opportunity to let my mind wander through German dictionaries, old magazines, and unusual books I wouldn't otherwise come across. Last year I leafed through a very interesting book, then put it on my mental list of things to buy sometime - and forgot all about it.

Until last week, when I finally got around to ordering Joseph B. Thomas's seminal collection of letters on borzoi. Having now read them through, I find him less pedantic that I expected (based on quotes in other works) and sensibly opinionated. To wit:

"You perhaps realize, as do I, that while shows and showing are often amusing and interesting, and while they tend to bring a breed before the public, the are not always advantageous to the improvement in working qualities of the breed... at almost every show hounds that are entirely too fat for any practical purposes are placed in the ribbons.

"In a word, the shows lay stress on purely superficial appearances... on points that catch the judge's eye, rather than on those that prove the efficiency of the animal as a working animal."

The emphasis is his, and I'm a fan. The following sums up borzoi better than anything else I've ever read:

"He must, like all other dogs, be brought up for the purpose for which he is intended; but properly trained and educated, he will be found as companionable as the best - no fonder of fighting than the deerhound, faithful as the collie, and more picturesque than either."

These words were written in 1912; ninety-seven years later it's all still true.