BC Breeders/Rescues in the Oregon Washington Area

[Maralynn]

I can relate to your daughter's desire for a pup (and the reasons behind it). But my past 3 dogs have come to me as second hand adults. I've learned more about training dogs working with them then I ever would have training puppies. While I don't want to undercut the importance of good training and socialization to those who get pups, I'll also point out that good dogs -including working and performance dogs - are made by great owners much more than they are made by perfect upbringing. Working with a teenage or adult dog brings it's own set of very sweet rewards. My "best dog ever" came to me as a 3 y/o and made the world of dog training come alive to me. Pretty sure you get this, but thought I'd share to pass along to your daughter to encourage her to keep her mind/options open. You're a great dad helping her research and I'm sure whatever dog or pup you end up with will have a bright future!

[amc]

Hi David,

You've received great leads and great advice here, and I have nothing to add to that. I will be at the Scio trial, so please find me - I'll be delighted to meet you and your daughter. I'm running two Open dogs, Jean and Roy.

 

Looking forward to seeing you!

 

Amy

[David C McCall]

Hi Maralyn,

 

I think your advice is excellent and a young adult rescue would be my first choice for a number of reasons, but, as you mention, it won't really be my dog. Our 5 year old Border learns tricks with ease and is learning agility with no issues what-so-ever and I'm sure many others would be the same. The focus on a puppy may come from our current BC's shyness and the hope that more serious and thorough socialization might have made a difference.

 

Best regards,

 

David

[David C McCall]

Hello Amy,

 

I look forward to seeing you guys compete at the Scio festival! My daughter can't wait, and neither can I.

 

See you soon, David

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I will be at Scio as well! Hope to see ya

[David C McCall]

Hi Diane, sounds like it's going to be a popular event! We're really looking forward to it and will see ya there. My daughter will be dragging my wife and me along faster that our little BC pulls us to the park when we are carrying a chuck-it!

 

Regards, David

[amc]

Great, David! Just remember that the sheepdog trial where Diane and I (and many others) will be is not in the same location as the Lamb Festival in town. The trial is at Wolston Farms, 39562 Hwy 226, just east of town.

 

Take care,

 

Amy

[MrSnappy]

 

"Holly is a very attractive 11 month old tri colored, semi rough coated border collie. She came into TDBCR as a chubby 6 month old pup, but has grown into a tall lanky girl and is nicely proportioned. Holly is good natured and has a wonderful temperament. She is a happy go lucky dog and friendly to everyone she meets. When she sometimes sees a stranger at a distance, she might bark, but once she meets them closer up, she immediately wags her tail & wants to be friends. She’s the type of dog that you can take anywhere with you and would be the perfect sidekick to an active individual or household - so long as she is an integral part of the family.

She has fantastic manners around other dogs and has been sharing her foster home with 3 resident dogs (and a cat) as well as a wide variety of other visiting dogs. She is very playful and would probably enjoy another energetic dog to be around, but is also respectful of grumpy or snarky dogs. She has no breed or gender biases and has playmates of all sizes and shapes. She has not been around children, but their quick and erratic movements might be too much for her as she does want to control moving objects.

She travels well and takes new experiences in stride. She’s already gone on multiple week-long and weekend road trips and was a great travel partner; staying in hotels, hiking off leash and playing at the beach. She has been tested on sheep and did well and would possibly blossom with additional exposure and training. She’s also been a spectator to agility competitions, and is fairly good at maintaining her composure. She will get excited if she’s too close to the action but can be easily redirected. She would probably be a nice agility prospect for a casual competitor.
Holly is crate-trained & uses the doggy door in her foster home consistently. At less than a year, she is still a very busy puppy, and loves to play ball or with her other toys, but settles nicely in the house so long as she’s gotten enough mental and physical exercise. She is very smart & picks things up quickly & has a nice desire to please. The fact that she is both toy and food motivated will make continued training fun & rewarding.

There is not much not to love about Holly, and she’s pretty darn close to being the perfect dog. Her only major fault is that she does enjoy counter surfing and has earned the nickname of “quiche-hound” after she helped herself to a pie cooling on the oven. She will flourish with training & continued socialization, so a home that will continue her training as well as someone with border collie experience would be ideal for her.

Holly has been spayed, vaccinated and microchipped and is ready for a home of her own.

If you are interested in adopting Holly, please email us at bcrescue@shaw.ca Holly is located in the Seattle area of Washington State."

 

RDM

[GentleLake]

The focus on a puppy may come from our current BC's shyness and the hope that more serious and thorough socialization might have made a difference.

 

All I can say to that is that my most fearful dog (a border collie) by far was one that came to me at 6+ weeks of age and was very well socialized. She was never shy with people or other dogs and didn't start out as a fearful dog. But one day something scared her and it all went downhill from there. When she died at just 3 years and 3 weeks old (horrible, unrelated situation), she'd become so fearful of so many things that I've often wondered if that didn't contribute to her death, that she was just so afraid she couldn't face living any more.

 

Don't mean to be a downer with this sad tale, but just wanted to point out that socialization from early puppyhood doesn't guarantee a confident dog.

[dogfish6]

I rarely post to the forum and you didn't say how old your daughter is, but Holly is a fantastic dog. I've met her in person and am really impressed by her appropriate friendliness with both people and other dogs. She's being fostered by an excellent person too that can give you an idea of her potential career as a performance dog. She young and she's a blank slate. Plus she's very adorable. Raising a dog from a puppy is great and all that, but it's a lot of work and no guarantee of the ultimate adult personality. Of my present four dogs, three have been acquired through rescue as adolescents or young adults (a year or older) and all were blank slates from a training perspective. The cool thing about acquiring a dog at that age is that you have a personality to work with and you can start in on performance training pretty much right away if you so desire. My youngest, who I acquired through PNW rescue at the age of 18 months, is a joy to train and work with. Because I'm in no hurry to compete with her (already compete with my others), started agility foundation training about six months after I got her. Holly's foster mom acquired her very excellent dog also from rescue as a young adult (That'll Do Border Collie Rescue) and I think many people in these parts will agree that they are a formidable team in agility.

[David C McCall]

Hi Dogfish and MrSnappy,

 

Thanks very much for posting about Holly - she does look like an great dog. My daughter, who is 13, and I have been amazed by the generosity of people on this forum with information and advice. It has made our decision much more challenging in some ways! After speaking with a variety of people we now feel a male is likely our best choice given our small, timid, "bossy" current female, Ren. As I think I"ve mentioned my daughter and I have slightly different thoughts about this next dog and are still working toward consensus. We were within a few hours of adopting a 40lb male BC from Marion County's dog shelter about two weeks ago but someone else got him and that is what prompted us posting here and starting the discussion. At this point I think our best fit would be a male BC, 8 weeks to six or so months, with an "off switch" and calm temperment but strong toy and food drive. A lot to ask, I know. The really confounding variable, though, is our time frame. MIddle of June school gets out and the clock really starts running. We don't want to have to leave a puppy home alone for too long and my daughter wants to have absolutely as much time as possible to work/play with the pup before school starts.

 

So, although Holly looks like a wonderful dog, I don't think she is quite the right fit for us. I'll definitely keep her in mind, though, and if we come across anyone will mention her right away. Thank you very much for mentioning her and we'll hope she finds a good home soon.

 

Best regards, Dave

[David C McCall]

HI AMC,

 

Thanks for clarifying the trials location - we definitely would have gone to the "wrong" location and might have missed some of the action! We're looking forward to seeing some great BCs work.

 

Regards, Dave

[David C McCall]

HI Gentlelake,

 

Very sorry to hear about your tough experience with your fearful young dog - I think you and several others who have posted here are right - the interplay of genetics and experience play a huge role in a dog's confidence and temperament. Our little BC has not, to my knowledge, had a major bad experience and is overall a very sweet, happy and well adjusted dog - she just is not interested in other dogs much and is a timid and thus a bit snappy around them. We are hoping for a young, not necessarily super young but 6 month or less, male who will hopefully defer to her and gradually become a friend and playmate. Always a throw of the dice and we may be overthinking it, but that is where we are headed now.

 

Best regards, Dave

[GentleLake]

Best of luck finding exactly what you're looking for!

[ShoresDog]

I don't believe you should worry about "over-thinking" it. Getting a dog is a serious commitment. Better to think too much than barge on heedlessly!

[red russel]

pups in washington available here:

 

http://www.wastockdoghandlers.org/#!classifieds/ck7w

 

trials available here:

 

http://www.wastockdoghandlers.org/#!coming-trials/cq56

[GentleLake]

I know of another breeder too, puppies due in June. Predominantly ABCA bred.

 

Don't know how I missed this before, but wow!

 

"Predominantly" ABCA bred?! Now there's a red flag if I ever saw one. Any ACK in a breeding program is evidence of dogs being bred for other than working ability. Far too many ABCA dogs are being bred without regard for working ability as it is, so even that's not guarantee of good breeding. But any who are just "predominantly" ABCA bred should be rejected out of hand.

[Mandalark]

You know, I have met some AKC lined dogs who had great eye and drive, *GASP!!!* not all of them, but some do. People want different traits for different dogs. My 3 are all ABCA, but guess what- my oldest male stinks at agility. He's very long and lanky, very 'crouchy'. Makes tight bendy turns hard for him, and jumps aren't so elegant. However; he's a work of art in the field with enough power to make sheep tremble at his presence.

 

I don't know if you know much about horses, but we will look at the Paint or Quarter horse for example. There are so many 'lines' within those breeds, that you can have one bred for Halter (conformation), working (cow/gaming), Performance (English/western pleasure/jumping)- they are all the same 'breed' but bred for different purposes and look nothing alike. I do western pleasure, so I looked for bloodlines with those qualities. I wouldn't purchase a halter horse to do performance or vice versa.

 

It's OK to own a border collie that heaven forbid isn't strictly ABCA. If you want a working dog then absolutely!! I love my 3, they all compete in obedience, flyball, and are accomplished herding dogs. But say I wanted an agility superstar- one bred like my male wouldn't be my first choice.

 

And what I mean by predominantly- is that one parent is ABCA, the other is ABCA/AKC. It's ok to have choices, as long as there are still working breeders out there the border collies roots will be around for people to enjoy.

[amc]

Sorry, it's NOT okay to support breeders who breed for anything but working ability. The reason you wouldn't buy a halter bred (conformation) quarter horse for anything resembling actual work is because their bodies are so distorted and grotesque they can barely walk, much less do a job. Same for ACK Border Collies.

[Mandalark]

That's such a blanket statement. I have seen AKC bred dogs with great drive, eye and work ethic, And I have seen crappy ABCA bred ones. I don't support Bc's bred for conformation alone, but I have seen and met some lovely dogs that were more on the agility-like side with plenty of herding instinct. To say no one should own one that is AKC bred ever is a little over the top. If you don't want one, don't get one- but to bash the breed you love or accusing sound dogs of being crippled is silly. You think Hob Nob bred dogs excel in agility because they can hardly walk? (Some of her dogs are ABCA bred as well as AKC and have nice work ethic) I just don't understand the hatred I guess.

[waffles]

Mandalark... It would help if you read the READ THIS FIRST post at the top of the boards. Then you would understand why you aren't going to get anywhere arguing about how good AKC dogs are with people on these boards. It is everything the boards stand against. Reading the book "The Dog Wars" would also help if you were interested in learning more.

[Mandalark]

I've been on this board a long time, I understand it's a working driven board. I was merely informing the OP of a litter I know of. They are free to make a decision past that point.

 

As I've said. All of MY dogs are ABCA, and have great drive and work ethic. They come from some of the best working dogs around here in Oregon. I get it- I know all about the fight, I've had BC's for a long time. I'm not here to fight- thanks.

[GentleLake]

I've been on this board a long time, I understand it's a working driven board. I was merely informing the OP of a litter I know of. They are free to make a decision past that point.

 

The point is that it's not OK to endorse breeders who breed for anything other than working ability on this list! If you've been here a while, then you should know that.

 

12.5% ACK breeding is not OK.

 

Hob Nob and their ilk are not OK.

 

ABCA breeders who are breeding for sport or color or pets or anything other than working ability are not OK.

 

Sure, there will still be some ACK and indiscriminately bred ABCA border collies that will throw back to working ability for a while, but it won't remain a dominant characteristic of the breed -- and therefore won't actually be the breed -- that was developed as a working sheepdog. All those other things can be found in a working border collie, but the things that make it a border collie can't always be found in the look-alikes. And if it ain't there, it ain't a border collie; it's something that just looks like a border collie, plain and simple.

 

Where is that banging your head on a brick wall icon?

 

ETA: Oh, and even though you've been here for a while, I'm guessing you missed the post that linked to a graph showing that show bred "border collies" are as genetically distinct from working bred ones as border collies are from other breeds.

[Mandalark]

I get your point. Thank you.

[GentleLake]