Glaucoma
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I currently have a litter born 3/6/2010. There are just two little girls available , pictured below. If you would like more information on them please read my puppy notes and puppy sale agreement and email me with a few details of the kind of home you would be able to offer.
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I do, very occasionally, also have older dogs that are retiring from breeding or showing, available for pet homes.
I prefer first contact to be made by email, outlining a little about the
kind of home you could offer one of my puppies, your experience with
owning a dog in the past and the type of thing you would like to do with
your puppy, i.e. Breed show, obedience, agility, h.w.t.m, or as a
companion. This will help me to assess your suitability as an owner of
one of my pups and help me to advise you as to which of my pups would
best suit your requirements.
Thank you.
One line
emails, or emails that do not tell me the kind of home you can offer
will not be answered.
Please note, I WILL NOT sell to third parties. I WILL NOT sell to
dealers
and I only export my pups if the future owner is known to me and has
had a dialogue with me for at least 2 years, or can provide a reference
from someone that I already know and trust.
FAQ'S
If you are thinking of obtaining a border collie, particularly if it is
your first, please read these notes, it may help you to decide if a
border collie really is the best breed for you.
Border collies are highly intelligent, very active and highly motivated
dogs. They are not, couch potatoes.
If you want a dog that is going to be left alone for long periods of
time, and expect to be able to return home and find your house intact,
and as you left it, then a border collie is probably not for you.
Do Border collies make good companions?
Yes, in most cases, so long as you have the time to devote to training,
exercising, playing, and generally spending quality time with them.
A border collie Will be quite happy to help around the house, following
the boss around, accompanying you on trips out, helping in the garden,
though not always digging in quite the spot you may have had in mind, so
long as they have your company for most of the time, and you are able to
provide adequate entertainment in a safe environment for periods when
they must be left, they can make wonderful companions.
Are they good with children?
More to the point are your children good with dogs? Most border collies
get on well with children, providing that the children understand that
they are not just animated toys, that they need some place of their own,
where they can go and rest or chew a bone, if not in the mood for play,
and that they need to be treated with respect, they get hot, tired, and
fed up at times the same as we do, and the children should be taught
that if the dog wants to be left alone, then it should be left alone and
not plagued.
My own children, now both in their early 30's grew up with an assortment
of borders, and they were never growled at, nipped or herded by any of
my dogs.
Are they easy to train?
Border collies are very smart. If you do not train them they will soon
train you. If you have not owned or trained a dog before, I would
suggest that you spend some time with your pup at a local training club.
There are also plenty of good books on training, get them from the
library and read them before you get your pup. Always be consistent,
think from the beginning exactly what you consider to be acceptable
behavior, or non-acceptable behaviour and stick to it.
Don't allow a pup to do anything you would not like it to do as an
adult.
It is funny to see a pup hanging on to your foot as you walk or dragging
at the hem of your skirt, it is not so funny if it is still doing it as
an adult, and learned behavior is often hard to change. The simple
answer is not to let the behavior start in the first place. It is not
reasonable to allow the dog to do something as a pup, and then expect it
to change its behavior as an adult, If pup starts to do something you
don't approve of, do not smack it or shout, it will not understand and
will only become confused, and possibly even stop trusting you, just say
gently and firmly, no, and offer some alternative, such as a toy that is
acceptable. Chasing lights or shadows is also amusing to watch in a
puppy, but can be pretty irritating in an adult, and soon becomes
compulsive behaviour if encouraged
Do they need much grooming?
A good brush and combing once a week is normally plenty, with maybe a
bit more attention when molting to get rid of the dead coat. If you do
not bother to groom at all you will find knots develop behind the ears,
and the feathering on the back legs will become clogged and matted. It
is better to spend 20 minutes once a week than a couple of hours every
few months.
If grooming is carried out from an early age, even before the proper
adult coat develops, they become used to it and will lie on a bench or
table and often fall asleep while you work on them. If you do not feel
able to cope with the grooming yourself, consider booking the dog into a
grooming
parlour
every couple of months for a bath and groom.
Are they good with other animals?
If they are brought up with other animals, there is usually no problem,
my pups are introduced to my cats at an early age, the cat soon shows
the pup that they do not take kindly to being grabbed and chased and the
pups grow up to respect the cats. You must remember though that they are
herding dogs, bred for generations to herd other animals, and the
herding instinct can kick in at any time. If you are walking where there
is livestock, it is important to make sure your dog will come back to
you the minute you call it, EVERY time, without hesitation. A lesson
that should be taught very early on in the training programme. A farmer
has the right to shoot any dog that he suspects may be worrying his
stock, and while you think Fido is only playing, the farmer will
probably see things very differently.
Do they have to work stock?
No, but it is basic instinct to want to. This can be channelled into
other forms of activity. Where I live we have free roaming sheep, my
pups are taught to ignore the sheep, if we are out and they start to
show interest in the sheep I distract them with a toy and a game, giving
praise for their attention.
Unless you are in a position to work your dogs on sheep on a regular
basis, I feel it is unfair to even get them started, and can cause
frustration that can lead to all sorts of problems. It is better not to
start at all unless you are in a position to do the job properly.
There are plenty of other activities their energy can be channelled
into, like Agility, obedience, Fly ball, working trials, etc.
HEALTH
Generally speaking Border collies enjoy pretty good health. Though there
are a few things you should ask about when considering buying a puppy.
There are a number of links at the side of this page that go into more
detail about different conditions that can affect the Border collie.
HD or hip dysplasia. This is where the ball part of the ball and socket
hip joint, does not fit properly into the socket. A badly affected dog
can suffer considerable pain with this condition as arthritis develops.
Puppies cannot be tested for HD until they are at least 12 months old,
as the bones are not fully developed before then. The condition is
considered to be partly hereditary and partly due to the environment the
pup is bought up in. Pups that are over exercised as babies, or allowed
to get very heavy and fat, or encouraged to jump obstacles or jump up on
their back legs before the joints are fully developed, could be more
prone to the condition than pups that are not over exercised as babies,
are kept to a sensible weight, and are not encouraged to put stress on
undeveloped joints.
Breeding animals should be x-rayed for hip dysplasia, before they are
bred from. These x-rays are then examined by a panel of specialist vets
and the x-ray plates are scored. The lower the score, the better the
hips, the total score can range from 0 to 106.
Make sure both parents are scored, and have a low score. (I prefer the
score to be less then 14 on each parent, but breeder's views differ)
This gives the pups a better chance of having good hips them selves.
Eyes.
There are a couple of conditions, routinely looked for in border
collies.
PRA
which is progressive, and cannot normally be detected until the dog is
an adult. Adult breeding dogs should be regularly checked for PRA.
CEA
which is non-progressive and can be detected in the pup. There is now a
DNA test available for cea. This can tell the genetic condition of the
parents relating to cea. Normal. Affected or carrier.
If both parents are genetically normal, then the pups must all be
genetically normal. If one parent is a carrier and one is normal, all
pups will be un-affected, but some could be carriers, both parents are
carriers, then the pups will be carriers or affected. Affected animals
should not be bred from.
If the parents are not DNA tested then all of the pups should be eye
tested before leaving home to ensure they do not have cea.
Glaucoma . Recently it has been found that a few Border collie lines seem to have a predisposition to a condition that can cause glaucoma, this is currently under investigation and it is possible to test adult dogs now for this predisposition.
TNS
This condition normally only affects very young pups. It is hereditary
and there is now a DNA test available to test breeding animals for the
defective gene. If an animal is affected it means that the white blood
cells become
‘trapped’
in the bone marrow and are not released into the blood stream, so the
pup is unable to fight off infection, affected pups rarely survive
longer than 3 months.
It is inherited as a recessive gene, so the same rules apply as with
cea, so long as both parents are clear, or at least one is clear, the
pups cannot be affected. More details are available from my links page.
CL
This condition is very rare, the body is unable to get rid of toxins in
the normal way and causes a build up in the brain. More details are
available on my links page. There is a dna test available for cl.
Epilepsy and
deafness
can also affect the Border collie, and it is wise to discuss with the
breeder if there is a likelihood of these conditions being present.
It is always advisable to take you new pup for a vetinary health check as
soon as possible after purchase, just to put your mind at rest, and if
there are any problems detected, you should contact the breeder
immediately to discuss them. Even if you decide that you want to keep
your pup, problems and all, the breeder should be informed, if they
genuinely did not know about the condition, telling them can help them
prevent the same problem arising in future litters.
I would suggest getting your pup from a breeder who has had all
available DNA tests done and parents hip scored, as the more problems
you can avoid the better. These tests are expensive for the breeder and
you must expect to pay a little more for a pup who's parents have had
the relevant tests, than you might pay for a pup picked up straight from
the farm, but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.