About Us

Our focus is on breeding intelligent, healthy, beautiful collies with old-fashioned collie temperament. Originally the collie was an extremely intelligent, well-rounded, all-purpose farm dog, and we want to let that heritage guide our breeding decisions. Our dogs participate in herding and obedience classes, live with us in our home as part of the family, and are included in all farm activities. They are expected to live in harmony with our sheep and free range poultry as well as helping to guard and move them when necessary. They are loving friends to our four children and our cat, Clark. They are also well-socialized off the farm, and often join us on trips to Petsmart, the dog park, friends' homes, and on hikes and other family activities.

Gypsy's sire, Dusky

We believe that if you are breeding dogs, and your dogs do not live with you, in your home, as part of your family, then you can't know whether you are breeding good companions. Personality is inherited, and you need to live with a dog to really know its personality. Also, a dog that does not spend LOTS of time with its humans cannot develop to its fullest potential, either intellectually or emotionally. This is particularly true of collies due to their highly sensitive natures. 

All of our dogs are part of our family. We expect that all puppies purchased from us will be part of their new families as well, and we will not sell a dog to a home where he or she will live in a kennel or outdoors.

  Storm's dam, Riley, in Minnesota

We do not show our collies in conformation. We prefer a more old-fashioned, less exaggerated collie than what is currently winning in the AKC conformation ring. We also feel that when breeding for the show ring, breeders tend to focus on external physical qualities in their breeding decisions, to the detriment of things like personality, health, genetic diversity, and intelligence--all of which we consider more important than following show ring trends regarding eye size, amount of coat, etc.

  Storm's sire, Willow Babe, also in Minnesota

Apart from health, our dogs' temperament is our first priority. When breeders focus on winning beauty contests, not only can they become overly focused on superficial physical traits, they tend to select for a personality that will win in the ring. This may include a dog who is "flashy" and high-spirited, and therefore hard to manage outside the ring; a dog who is happy staring at a piece of bait in the handler's hand for prolonged periods, which may be a dog who is not very intelligent; or a dog who thrives in a large kennel situation without much human contact, meaning the dog is independent and less eager to form a close bond with humans.

If a breeder who is focused on wining in conformation has a litter of puppies, and there is one dog in that litter who has just the right look to win the big ribbons, but he's a little shy, or aggressive, or just plain unintelligent, they need to make a difficult decision--should they choose to keep the sure winner, or should they keep his littermate who has a wonderful temperament...but his ear set, or depth of head, or underjaw, or coat, aren't exactly what the current trends dictate they should be? Even the most well-intentioned show breeder will ultimately need to sacrifice SOMETHING (health, temperament, intelligence) in order to be competitive in the show ring. You simply can't select for everything.  

Snow on trees, December 2008

Many collies no longer have the traditional collie temperament; we have seen this firsthand in collies we have purchased for breeding which did not meet our expectations for what a collie should be. A collie should show high intelligence, good judgment, sensitivity, a strong desire to please, a sense of intuition about what his or her owner wants, herding instinct, and nurturing behavior towards other animals in his or her *pack.* A collie should not be hyperactive or an excessive barker; should bond very closely with its people; and should be VERY trustworthy and gentle around children and small animals. A collie should not require harsh punishments or corrections in order to behave appropriately--in fact being shouted at really hurts their feelings! A collie should be easy to live with--not annoying. If these qualities aren't nurtured and selected for, they will eventually be lost.  

Dandy's dam Abby

An unfortunate side effect of breeding dogs for conformation shows is a loss of genetic diversity within a breed, which is eventually manifested in increased rates of cancer, autoimmune disorders, and other health problems of inbreeding. Many conformation breeders have the goal of creating their own instantly recognizable line of dogs, and the best way to make all your dogs look the same is to inbreed. We don't believe there is ever a reason for inbreeding. Its deleterious effects on the health of a population are well understood in the scientific community.  Check out our Contact us/Links page for a few articles on the subject.

Please email us to talk about collies or if you would like to be put on our waiting list for the next litter!

 Dandy's sire, Simba

Kate and Peter Harker
Romany Collies