Althouse: "Possible Stylish Owners: People who shop at Orvis, Dads with Barbour jackets that faintly smell of gunpowder."

March 29, 2013

"Possible Stylish Owners: People who shop at Orvis, Dads with Barbour jackets that faintly smell of gunpowder."

"For men who wear hunting jackets for real, actual hunting, and use shooting patches to cushion the blowback from the butt of their Winchester rifles, this is their unironic dog..."

#8 on the list of "Most Stylish Dog Breeds."

Ah, but what kind of style are you talking about?

Note that German Shepherd is not on the list, the "Possible Stylish Owner" that we're talking about 3 posts down is not identified as possibly stylish on this possibly authoritative list.

29 comments:

aronamos said...: Bah. No. 5 is totally wrong. Those dogs aren't dumb; they're just selectively motivated.; 3/29/13, 12:11 PM
edutcher said...: If you're looking to catch a woman's eye, however, get yourself a Yorkie.

You will be deafened by the shrill cacophony of, "Ooohhhh, isn't he sweeeeeet?".; 3/29/13, 12:15 PM
YoungHegelian said...: ...cushion the blowback?....

I've heard the word "kick". I heard the word "recoil". But I've never heard the word "blowback" used for the recoil of a gun.

Have I missed something here?; 3/29/13, 12:19 PM
Anonymous said...: blowback might be a useful word to describe the action of the loading cycle on an open bolt sub machinegun like an M3, or Sten, but recoil or kick is what they are talking about.

also, Gunpowder = blackpodwer, which is used in less than 1/10th of 1% of guns. Smokeless powders are what is used.

what they are referring to us "powder residue", like they talk about in CSI.; 3/29/13, 12:26 PM
Shanna said...: A rottie is stylish now? Odd.

Pointers are good looking dogs.

A 'hunting jacket' where I come from is generally mossy oak or bright orange. None of them look stylish.; 3/29/13, 12:46 PM
MadisonMan said...: Looked for my dog in the stylish list. Not there.

Oh well.; 3/29/13, 12:58 PM
Rusty said...: A 'hunting jacket' where I come from........

Is a faded Carhart for upland game. Camo is for duck hunting. You spend the good money on waders and play catchup with the outerwear as the money becomes available.
Orvis primarily caters to women.

Best bird dog I ever owned was a German Shorthair.; 3/29/13, 1:08 PM
Shanna said...: I had to look up 'upland game'. It's mostly deer and ducks here. I think you can turkey hunt sometimes...; 3/29/13, 1:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Everyone's tiptoeing awkwardly around the fact that no clumbers, rare or otherwise, appear on the list.; 3/29/13, 1:16 PM
Chuck said...: If you are hunting with a "Winchester rifle," you assuredly won't need a German Shorthair Pointer.

Granted that this isn't any sort of rant about gun rights, but it is always funny to see bicoastal social elites stumble over the most basic facts of gun use and hunting. The same people, in many cases, who really are trying to shape national policy on gun laws.

The butchery of the term "blowback" has already been mentioned. "Gunpowder" as well.

Anyway, let's help the poor fashion writer out editorially and suggest that the iconic firearm that she probably wanted to find was something like "Purdey double-barrel" and not "Winchester rifle."; 3/29/13, 1:37 PM
Tim said...: No dog anywhere deserves an owner who buys the dog as a clothing accessory, or to somehow give one some sort of presence they otherwise do not have, or cannot achieve on their own.

That said, any list of good dogs that does not include the Welsh Terrier in the top five is, scientifically and conclusively, a completely failed list.; 3/29/13, 1:40 PM
Lucien said...: No really quick etymology for "blowback" popped up on the web. However, one can imagine situations in which poison gas directed at one's enemy might be blown back toward one's own lines. More apt would be the exhaust/propulsion gasses flowing from the rear of a "recoil-less" weapong, or a tube launched weapon like an RPG, bazooka, panzerfaust, etc.
This gets at what I think is the proper meaning for the term, which is reference to an action taken to harm one's enemy, but which also harms (or risks harm to) one's own side. (but is not to be confused with "friendly fire").; 3/29/13, 1:48 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Best bird dog I ever owned was a German Shorthair.

Excellent for upland game. Best upland game dog IMO....Wire Haired Griffon.

For retrieving the best dog by far that we ever hunted with is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Very versatile and will retrieve ANYTHING under all circumstances. Very smart and very very bullheaded. Not for the faint of heart.

Never heard the term blowback as applied to hunting. If you are hunting upland game or waterfowl, you aren't using a rifle. /facepalm Shotguns and rifles have recoil.; 3/29/13, 1:55 PM
Shanna said...: I'm vastly amused at the idea of a pointer being 'unironic'.

Too many of the dogs on that list are little bitty. Although I do love Corgi's.; 3/29/13, 1:55 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ Shanna

If we ever do get another dog, which is unlikely, a Corgi is tops on our list too.; 3/29/13, 1:59 PM
Sam L. said...: As my daughter once said, those dogs are "too style".

Clothing and accessories may be, too.; 3/29/13, 2:16 PM
Shanna said...: This is the kind of style you can apparently get at
orvis.; 3/29/13, 2:24 PM
galdosiana said...: Not surprisingly, 7 out of the 10 in this list are small breeds. Although I do like small breeds (and grew up with them), I agree with Tim's comment about people using these dogs as "accessories". It is incredibly irritating to see the number of ill-behaved small breed dogs--often the direct result of the "fashionable" attitude their owners take toward these dogs, which are treated more like purses and dolls than pets. My GSD is one of the best-behaved dogs I've known, and she is in an agility class with a tiny little Maltese mix that wears sundresses and raincoats to class, and then proceeds to lunge, growl and nip at anything that comes close to her.; 3/29/13, 2:39 PM
Rusty said...: Orvis has crappy fly rods.
Good flies though.
I know some of the tiers.; 3/29/13, 3:03 PM
Sigivald said...: "Blowback"?

Actual gun types will just be baffled by that, as Drill SGT said.

These guys are posturing.

(Though contra Drill SGT, pretty much everyone I know uses "gunpowder" to mean "whatever powder they're using", and indeed is more likely to specify black powder than smokeless, as it's been standard this past 100-odd years.); 3/29/13, 3:04 PM
Astro said...: It's funny seeing the description for No.5. They're cattle-driving dogs, very quick witted and can anticipate very well. Bred for temperament and for negotiating the rough grazing fields in Wales. The Hobbit of dogs.; 3/29/13, 3:37 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Not nice to put Corgis on the list. I say this entirely because I like Corgis. Also, basset hounds and border collies, which have thus far managed to escape being "stylish."; 3/29/13, 4:18 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: galdosiana,

It is incredibly irritating to see the number of ill-behaved small breed dogs--often the direct result of the "fashionable" attitude their owners take toward these dogs, which are treated more like purses and dolls than pets.

It's not always that, you know. My next-door neighbors have a Yorkie that is treated like anything but a purse or a doll. All the same, he has a habit of defending my own driveway from ... me. If he's out, crossing the street to check the mail involves dealing with the Canine Menace. Who is maybe ten inches tall, adorable, and fierce. You'd almost think that he'd been reading the Narnia books and consciously modeling himself on Reepicheep.; 3/29/13, 4:24 PM
aronamos said...: Corgis are NOT small dogs. They are medium dogs with stub legs. The last male we had was 35 pounds.

Hobbits of dogdom. Love it!; 3/29/13, 4:25 PM
Aridog said...: Note that German Shepherd is not on the list...

German Shepherds are aloof and could care less. They don't suffer fools that think dogs are "stylish" very well either.

BTW: In my experience German Shorthairs make fine watchdogs & guard dogs, for horses in pasture, if in a small pack with a territorial alpha male.; 3/29/13, 4:33 PM
Titus said...: My parents have a cavalier and aren't too stylish.

My dog is too rare to be on that list-the others are a dime a dozen here.; 3/29/13, 5:21 PM
ken in tx said...: The state dog of South Carolina is the Boykin Spaniel—a nice looking dog—sort of a curly haired Cocker Spaniel.; 3/29/13, 6:01 PM
Mark said...: Only two of those animals qualify as dogs, IMHO.; 3/29/13, 6:55 PM
William said...: 'Blowback' from a blowhard (writer).

Generally rifles have a pretty mild 'kick' (recoil). I think shotguns are a little more unforgiving to the shoulder.

That fragrance you smell is not mellifluous prose of this writer, but of the BS being spouted.; 3/29/13, 10:34 PM