Although we have only been registered as an affix with the Kennel Club
since 1987, our interest in the breed began in 1968 when Heather was given
a sable rough collie as her sixth birthday present, we have never been without
a collie since.
Bed Mates
Shep with Heather and Janice at Beddgelert.
We began attending shows in 1984 to get an idea of what type of collies were
in the show ring and which type we wanted to show. In 1986 we purchased our
foundation male, the well known Tapenas Blue Buccaneer of Lashol (Teddy). He was
by Lynaire Man in Black out of a litter sister to Champion Saheltra Sally
Sunshine at Clickham, and carried the old Carramar and Clickham lines, he was an
excellent colour blue. We had up till this point only ever owned sables, but we
became fascinated by blue merles, and we decided to specialise in this colour.
The following year Chris and Mac Shutt mated his litter sister Tapenas Krystle
Reflections to Carclew Harbour Light and allowed us to have the pick of the
litter. We chose the elegant Tapena's Florentina at Lashol, our first CC winner!
This beautifully coloured blue merle was only ever lightly shown as an adult,
but was always a consistent winner.
We breed few litters, rarely mating a bitch more than once as we do not
believe there is any point in doing this if you have made an improvement on her.
All our dogs live as house pets and therefore temperament is important to our
breeding programme. We have selected the dogs for our bitches very carefully to
maintain this.
The collie we believe to be of the correct type is the true classic collie,
described in the old breed standards. Conformation and movement are high on our
list of priorities, and we will not give into fashions. This means that we do
not win under all judges, but we will not give up on our ideals.
Well bred, home reared puppies are occasionally available, loving homes a priority.
Lassie with Heather and Jonathan at Glen Nevis.
Heather is currently on seven Rough Collie Breed Club 'B' lists, and is due
to judge two Breed Club Open Shows in 2003, she has judged the breed many times
at open show level and has also judged many other breeds in the working and
pastoral group at open show level.
