Border Collie Breeder? General Chat

Awwww, how cute are them puppies

I've no idea - but I think you might need a sheep to keep them rounded up

Snorri

Awwwwwwww....whose are those little beauties?:smt049 :smt049 :smt049

They are Cornywall puppies from the wife of the breeder of my puppy(the individual puppies)Jessie & the two puppies are bred by Roy's breeder from his bitch Flair & his KC reg Blue(who is a cracking working dog & hopefully will be ISDS registered on merit next year)

If I hadn't already got Roy I could be very tempted They are rather scrummy

They're so lovely

Snorri is right, breeders prices are a lot higher than farmyard tykes. Reputable breeders are trying to breed out some of the genetic diseases border collies can have or carry. If you go for a farm-bred collie ask whether the parents have CEA or PRA ( or are known to carry the gene).

Sent you a pm Jake.

awh those puppies are gorgeous - I could look at them all day

I personally would never buy a BC from unregistered parents The puppies above are all half KC reg & half ISDS reg from parents with current eye certs.

Even my first BC back in 1970 was from ISDS parents

The KC only reg puppies tend to be over £400 each, a well bred ISDS puppy is around half that. I know someone that paid £600 for her KC puppy & the parents hadn't had any health tests done some people are easily parted from their cash !

I'm not really worried about the price of the pup just the health/temperament etc. I won't rush to part with my money which is why i'm researching GOOD breeders at the moment; with a lot of help from you guys of course ;-) Also as my Uncle has always used collies on his farm he still has a good idea what to look for I believe his last BC's lived to 14 and 15 years and were amazing dogs (mind you he has great handler skills so that may have played a part) so I will take him with me

I allso know there is a huge difference beetween a farm working BC and an agillity/obedience/flyball/pet BC. I will do my homework before I rush to buy one. Your advice has been very helpful so thankyou guys xx

Good luck finding the right pup Jake

Thanks wufflehoond but I really cant go wrong with you lot helping me out!!

Well we didn't choose, Cassie a friend of ours did. I still blame him for bringing us the nutter (only kidding) wouldn't trade her for anything

pmsl wufflehoond a "nutter" dog sounds right up my street. Could you post her to me she's loveley?

Well she is that Jake, believe me, she's a one off! Don't think OH would let me post her to you though...she's daddy's girl

awwwwwwww bless xx

When I was looking for a collie my only criteria was that the pup came from ISDS registered parents and not show stock. I am very pleased with my farm pup (who has some great working and trialling dogs in his pedigree) and his parents were tested for CEA/PRA and were hipscored.

Hope you find what you are looking for Laura

One day, I did ask one of the staff at my vet's about hip-scoring and the other tests. All she knew was that nobody up here ever does it!

The only prob my Boys have had is Snorri-dog's epilepsy, and you can't pre-test for that, anyway, as far as I know. If it shows up, you control it with pills nad the dog goes on to have a perfectly happy life (like Snorri-dog, fit-free for 4 years now).

I wouldn't have a problem with going to a farm for another (as I'll have to, one day ). I'll be sure to ask to see both parents though (usually, here, that's offered, anyway).

Farmers here (and probably elsewhere) wouldn't see any benefit to ISDS or KC registration, because most BC pups are "farmyard accidents" (like mine) and are sold as "agricultural beasts", rather than as pets or show dogs. This may not seem quite right to us DW folks, but, to an Orkney farmer, there's little significant difference between a dog and a cow (economically speaking), they are all quadrupeds. A dog just costs more to feed, as it doesn't live on grass!

One chap I know paid £750 for his sheepdog (from another Caithness farmer), which is cheaper than hiring men to do the dog's work, but it's a bad-tempered bum of a dog, who attacks other dogs on sight. It's the only dog I've ever kicked (he was trying to kill Kali at the time, and not for the first time, either), as the owner's BiL stood by, laughing. He only intervened when I kicked the dog. Still, Kali got compensation out of it (a bag full of meaty bones) when I complained bitterly about it.

Personally, I'd look for indicators of temperament first, after seeing that.

Snorri

I totally agree with you about temperament Snorri. Temperament for me is absolutely paramount.

I met my GSD's mother and two litter sisters from previous litters. They all had superb temperaments.

I met both the sire and dam to my collie and they too both had excellent temperaments. Many of my doggie friends pooh-poohed the idea of my buying a farm-bred collie, but I am more than happy with my choice. The reason my particular farmer breeder tests his dogs is that he is a well known face in sheep dog trials and is also chairman (or something similar) in the ISDS. At the same time though, he has a working sheep and dairy farm and all his dogs have to earn their keep and are looked upon as "tools" rather than pets. This doesn't mean they don't have a fantastic life though, as his collies are all healthy, happy dogs who absolutely adore the job they do.

I have often seen trained working sheepdogs being sold for £££thousands - but that is more to do with their working ability/trials status rather than their temperament :?

One good reason for going down the ISDS route for a puppy is the eye problems that can & do occur in non registered non eye tested route & a lot of the poor temperaments in BC's can be traced to eye defects & partial vision-strangely enough the dog can still work quite well but not until the dog is on ground that is new do the problems appear

Plus of course poor breeders can be reprted to the ISDS & booted out(has happened)& unreg dogs fetch much lower prices of course.

I've seen a dramatic change in the temperament of ISDS reg dogs over the past 30 years for the better & this of course coincides with the enforced eye testing

My ISDS pup is from parents with hip scores well under the breed median & of course with minimal CEA/PRA in his pedigree