In some ways our story is more like a typical puppy buyer than most breeder bios you will read. Neither Justin nor I grew up in "the dog world" and we certainly had never shown in conformation events nor participated in performance activities with a dog - until a rescue dog captured our hearts as adults and propelled us towards the place we are today. 

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I don't know what I was expecting when we arranged a meet & greet with a local rescue to see a young Siberian Husky one December afternoon in 2017, but what happened was the most powerful "love at first sight" moment my husband and I experienced simultaneously. Our whole world forever changed when we laid eyes on her - now our beloved Meera. 

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We immediately dove head-first into all the activities we could find to spend time with her which introduced us to Barn Hunt, dog-powered sports (canicross and bikejoring) and novice levels of rally, agility, Fastcat and scentwork. Two years later, of course my husband needed his own dog, and we added another rescue, a Siberian Husky x herding mix we named Maeve.

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We eventually felt the shift into wanting our next dog to be intentionally bred for the activities we were finding so much enjoyment in - but deliberated for some time the right breed for us. We knew we wanted biddable, eager to work companions without the stresses of flight risk, aggression, or dominating prey drive. We were both interested in AKC herding trials and I was interested in showing in AKC conformation but really wanted a breed without a serious split of working and show lines. Nonetheless, this one item on my "con" list did not deter us from choosing the showline Border Collie and we have never looked back.

 

As often happens with your first foray into a new breed, our first Border Collie was not exactly what we had envisioned, but we continued to learn so much about dog training and bringing out the best of the dog in front of you. And, we got an incredibly sweet and loving companion in our male Border Collie, Kraken!

 

Then, in early 2022, I had seen a bitch at a local dog show and heard such wonderful things about her and the dogs behind her. Her breeder, Laura Gilbert, was planning a litter with her sister's littermate. The pedigree contained multiple Dual Champions and accomplished performance and show dogs and Laura has many similar goals as my own. We were so lucky to get on Laura's list for a Gio x Clover puppy - and that is how Salsa entered our lives.

 

Salsa was everything we had hoped for as she loves to partner in anything I ask. While no dog is perfect - she is just perfect for me and has been a wonderful dog to learn my way around AKC and AHBA arena courses. She was my first dog to earn formal agility titles with and she was the first dog I owner handled to majors. She is exactly what I envisioned when I entered the breed and I'm proud to see some of my favorite things about her magnified in her offspring.

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Border Collies are a challenging breed to enter as a new person - there are sport lines, working lines and show lines and the splits can be quite distinct. When you wish to participate in all three spaces, it can be particularly difficult to find a breeder in alignment. Many will say it is an impossible quest - and to some degree "a jack of all trades makes a master of none" will hold true. An AKC Grand Champion show dog is highly unlikely to be found out running an open USBCHA course and expectations must be measured accordingly. Nonetheless, this idea to comfortably exist in all three spaces with one dog is what has always been our ideal. ​​