Border Collie Breeders General Chat

Hello, I'm looking into getting another Border Collie... I have no idea where to get one from though as I got my Jessie from a Friend's sister who's dog accidentally had a litter... I was 15 and just wanted a dog so I got her and boy did I get lucky!!! no health issues as of yet and she's so vary well behaved... but I am looking for good breeders now

I have a few picked out and was wondering people's opinions on what I found

Also what is the usual price range for a good Border Collie??

#1 is a place called Grand Oakes Farm. They appear to breed, show, and sell horses. They also breed, and do agility with Border Collies. I've seen a few videos on youtube of the dogs and the puppies and what not and they appear good. If you Google "grand oakes border collies" (with the " marks) their page should come up.

#2 is a place called Rising Sun Farm. They breed Aussies, Border Collies, and Bengal Cats. Google "rising sun farm" (with the " marks) and their page should come up. They are charging $1200 a pup which is about £756.

#3 is a place called Kandu Border Collies. If you Google "kandu border collies" (with the " marks of course)their page should come up. They are charging $600 a pup, that's about £378 if I'm not mistaken.

I went through the BCSA (Border Collie Society of America) referral list, but you can never be too sure

OMG Rising sun have imported Astra MARS!!!!!!!!!

They all look ok, depends on the type you want. Risig Sun, has the edge for me, but they are going to be quite Full on!

To be quite honest this will be my first puppy puppy and I really would like more of an energetic dog that's willing to do EVERYTHING!!! I'm not looking to show, but Agility is a definite possibility Jessie just strikes me as a vary lazy Border Collie, although if I'm going she'll be right there with me, still if I have a lazy day she more then let's me and lay's right on top of my feet and snoozes. Storm will bug me and I like it because it gives me something to do lol...

Also I'm kinda wanting a female blue merle tri with at least one blue eye... although I guess I can settle for a male but I kinda like the females...

THe astra line is really nice. This is a Son of Astra Mars (here in the uk)

http://www.corriedhu.co.uk/Ghost.htm

Don't go into looking for a puppy without first researching the breed not just on the internet, but also in quality books written by people with years of experience in the breed.

I would never look for a puppy of with a specific coat or eye colour. It's what is between the ears that counts.

Also yes BCs can be very energetic , but please ensure that they have had all the health tests done & that they are bred for a purpose & not just the showring. They also need to be brought up carefully & naturally to allow them to grow up balanced in mind & body. Way too many people start serious training too early, no agility before 12 months-basic obedience & control before then & of course socialization, socialization, socialization from an early age.

personaly I wouldnt touch a breder breeding collies for colour, and although some of astras dogs are good looking I am not a fan of their breeding, I have seen some pretty bad dogs by them
On american border collie forums I have been on I have heard lots of not so good stuff about places that are breeding dogs for agility, there can be quite bad temprament problems
I would see about a working lines dog - if you can find a good breeder a working dog should have good drive but able to settle and chill when not working

and there are quite alot of border collie rescues with puppies your way too

I know what you mean about the colour - I would love that too - but breeding for colour is not breeding for the best dog - and the number of epileptic merles round here has really put me off

- and up here they now seem to be breeding for stranger and stranger colours - red tricolour (2 shades of red) heavily ticked merle is the latest I have seen

Make sure both parents are hip scored, cea, tns and cl dna tested, pra and gonioscopy tested. And puppies have been hearing and eye tested at 6 weeks old.
Like Mishflynn, I like Rising Sun, but they are quite expensive, the most expensive BC pups over here are £650.
I love Astra Ghost (by Astra Mars) and used 1 of his sons on my bitch, so I have a gt. grandaughter of Astra Mars, I've heard Astra Ghost has a great temperament and can vouch that Corriedhu Breac (his son that is the father of my little pup) has an exceptional temperament. I have bred my pup to hopefully do agility and maybe flyball when she is older.
JFK on here may be along later she has a son of Astra Ghost that is doing well at agility.

Hi,

sorry to maybe be blunt, but why do you want a BC? Is it for the looks, or is it for the fun and work?

I personally get a bit peeved when I hear someone say they want a blue merle... one or two blue eyed etc etc.... IMO with BC's the looks are soooo not important.... what counts is the amount of working drive you as an owner can handle.... and then if you sign up for a litter and once born and rated the breeder tells you that the best pup for you is a simple black/white one..... who cares what he/she looks like?

Needless to say I'm not one for breeding for looks.... for me it's all character and fitting into family circumstances....

And once all of that has been done just make sure the ancestral ability to work is still there and not bred out of it in the pursuit of the genetically perfect dog.;-)

It's rising sun for me too but thats probably because i like a dog with fire in its belly.
I own a son of Astra Ghost/grandson Astra Mars. Ghost is one of the most stunning dogs i've ever met he is huge in stature and huge in heart, he was working sheep one minute and a floppy cuddly lump the next. I would say though that if the pup's are like my Kyp they are not for the fainthearted and definately need to be 'employed'. All pups from these breed lines i have met have great drive and a love of work and are incredibly trainable. If i was looking for another pup i would go back to corriedhu as Kyp is all i ever hoped for and more and is my boy in a million.

Ok just to make everything clear..... I ALREADY OWN A BORDER COLLIE!!!!!! I want one because I absolutely love the breed and their willingness to work combined with high energy... I'm looking for one a few years down the road and I'm being picky.... I just want a dog that is well bred and with the looks that I want, other wise I could go out next month and pick out a pup, but I won't because we have our hands ful training a year old Sibe that came to us at 9 months not knowing anything! Once she's got all of her basic commands down and settled down a bit (like not jumping up on house guest's lol) then we'll be more in the market.

I assure you that I am looking for a well bred and healthy pup, If I wasn't then why would I be posting here? I just want a healthy dog with the looks that I want, and I don't feel that it's stupid or unreasonable or anything else.

I want to do agility but I don't know if I'll be able to, I'll have to look a little bit more into it, I also want to do agility with Storm, but we don't have the money for the training right now, my dog's are first and foremost part of the family.

Also we're active people so I for sure need a dog that will keep up with us.

If I'm a bad person just because I want a pup that has a cretin coat color, or cretin eye colors, then sue me. I'm also looking at good breeders that won't do merle to merle breeding because I know that that can lead to some serious health issues, so I know getting the pup that I want is a gamble and that I will have to wait (that's why I'm looking now and not later). I'm also looking at breeders that have the best chance of producing the pup that I want (a HEALTHY well balanced Blue merle with the eye's to match). If I do find the dog that I want and the eye's are not perfect (or what ever you want to call it) so what... I just thought it would be cool to have all three of my dog's with different eye's, mainly because you don't see it around here and people are starting to know our dogs because of it (that and their awesome manners!)

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting a certain colour. I watched kyps breeders site for about 18 months and I was totally happy with everything I saw. I also knew I wanted a tri blue Merle dog,having had black and white and two tris I fancied something different. If you can only have a small number of dogs and don't mind waiting why not have what you want. Let's face it we don't always buy black shoes just because they are practical sometimes we just fancy red.
As long as the pup is from healthy lines and is ethically bred then the cosmetics are all personal choice.

I dont think there is anything wrong with wanting a colour - except it means that some poeple breed just for that colour
and yes mearl to mearl is really bad, but IMO so is breeding for colour
not buying - but breeding for colour

ahhh yes, I think some people might have misunderstood earlier? I just found a handful of good breeder's that are known to produce the colors that I want... I honestly don't think that they care if they produce merles, it's just they do because they have good dog's with those colors so should I start saving for a rising sun pup??? I'd have to save for the pup, vet care, and at least 2 trips out there (I don't like the idea of shipping a pup).

I don't see a problem in wanting a specific colour as long as you make sure that all the health tests are done, the temperaments are good and they have a good work drive. I wanted a blue and white girl and waited about 6 years before the right 1 popped up, I even got my black tri girl in this time as I hadn't found the right blue pup. It took me about 2 years to find the stud dog I wanted to use on my girl, I had really wanted a Ghost son as I really like him, but did consider others too. I had wanted a slate merle girl, but had no merles, I ended up keeping the lilac girl from Skye's litter, but this isn't the pup I was going to keep when they were 1st born, she just wormed her way into my heart by the time the pups were about 4 weeks old.

Why don't you contact these breeders now and tell them about yourself and what you want in a pup, then you can build up a relationship with the breeder and find out more information that may help you decide.

Yes, first and foremost this is a working breed so we should all strive to keep it that way. For those who don't know me I have written about the BC for years in all disciplines and understand it's full history (as far a can be determined that is) and just like the shepherds of old who gave us the dog we have today through careful selection of the various working traits to produce a fine sheep and stock worker, others have decided to take it to another area i.e. showing, Obedience, Agility etc etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that as long as once these 'new BC's' have been 'redesigned' then they keep to themselves. It is the mixing and matching back into the original lines and the huge amounts of outcrossing going on into the imported dogs that is introducing or highlighting many of the problems we are seing healthwise today. Personally I stick to my own ISDS lines and will never go down the track of breeding just for colour or conformation. I have a sound working line based on sound traditional working lines. That's where I'm staying.

Yes I did contact a few of the breeder's... 3 answered so far (the three that I listed). I am expecting to wait for a bit as the boyfriend "doesn't want a house full of dogs" right now but a few years down the road he said ok to (I think he's hoping that I will give up or something) but we also might realize our dream in that time of moving a bit north and having a bit of property... I would love this, especially with a new pup, because I could have ducks (they're easier to take care of then say sheep) for the pup to herd around for fun. But if not I know I'll for sure have plenty for her to do. My dog's are rarely bored

*after note* Jessie tried herding a rat in a cage today... the rat just sat there in the corner sleeping though...

This is a very interesting post as there are in my opinion
quite obvious mental and physical differences between show lines and working lines. Out of interest what are your views on taking isds dogs and using them for other activities? I really wanted an isds dog as I had become disillusioned with many of the breed lines in agility dogs. To me, not that I know much about it, it seems to be the working traits that my dog was bred for make him what he is in an agility ring ie athleticism, stamina,drive,but most of all his amazing willingness to work and handler bond.

this just brought a thought to my mind... Why are the "show" dogs different from the "working" dogs? IMO all show dogs, no matter what breed, should also be working dogs, after all isn't that what the dog's are supposed to be bred for? so therefore shouldn't it be a requirement for the show ring for the dog's to be working, or at least vary capable and willing with all the right instincts? I think that should be taken into account for the breed standard too... but that's just me I think that "showing dogs" is a bit over rated sometimes... I think only people who have good hard working dog's should be able to show, so that the dogs are doing what they're bred to do and setting an example. but i guess that's what the sheep trial's are for for border collies, and running races is for for the siberian huskies, and so on... so i donno...