Thats him in my avatar...He might look familer- I have been mistakingly calling him a Golden Retriever for the last 2 and a half years.
Some jerk accosted me at petsmart this morning and wanted to know where I had gotten my blonde australian shepherd. When I told him Whiskey was a golden retriever, they guy argued with me, profusely, that he was too light to be a golden, and OF COURSE I was talking to a world famous australian shepherd breeder, and solid blondes were rare but he had one at home that was just about to pop with puppies. and obviously I had one, just look at the tail. The whole time he had this horrible looking backyard bred red aussie with blue eyes STRAINING on it's chain (yes, chain leash.) to get to Whiskey, and I mean scrabbling, barking, choking, coughing and spitting. The man was oblivous and didn't even look at his dog. So I calmly explained to the man that I was quite sure Whiskey was a golden retriever, that his tail was a birth defect, not docked, and that I honestly didn't think he looked anything like an australian shepherd, and I turned to walk away to get Whiskey away from the dog.
This is when Jerk number 1, turned to his buddy, jerk number 2, and said VERY loudly
"Can you believe this @#(*!@# idiot? She doesnt even know what kind of dog she has! Some people shouldn't be allowed to buy dogs."
So of course there was then a very fun argument where I introduced him to all of my thoughts about back yard breeders, rude rednecks who think they have a monopoly on canine knowledge, and horrible pet owners who have their dogs on CHAINS and can't control them worth a damn.
11:30 am and I can tell this is going to be a great day!