Our Breeding History We had other dogs before, but nothing special. When our daughter, Kara, brought her Tri-color male Collie home everything changed. He was a totally different kind of dog, the first one allowed in the house, a loving, special dog. He was even concerned for the safety of the chicks we had purchased We had moved to an 8 1/2 acre farm in SE Iowa. We had goats from the Amish dairy farmers and chickens for eggs. We planned to breed the male, so we purchased a Sable female, Chica. Unfortunately, he died unexpectedly, so we bought Dusky Knight, a Sable Male born on my birthday from Linda Thompson, a breeder from Wisconsin. We also bought a Tri-color female from Canada, Avona, in November of 2004. As I remember, Dusky bred both girls at quite a young age. Avona ran off and was killed by a car. We have pictures of Dusky pulling Chica on a sled across our pond. A breeder in Nebraska was getting out of breeding, so we bought her three dogs, Audrey (Tri-color), Maggie (Sable) and Chip (Sable Merle), all from VanM lines. We had learned about Collie Eye Anomaly early on, so had been testing our early puppies. We found that Dusky and the Van M Collies were all non-carriers for CEA and Progressive Retinal Atrophy (another eye problem), so we no longer had to test their pups. As we continued our breeding, Linda Thompson and Peg Miles informed us about other genetic problems common to Collies, Degenerative Myelopathy(hindquarter paralysis), Cyclic Neutropenia (Grey Collie Syndrome), and MDR1 Drug Sensitivity. We also purchased a girl from Texas that developed lesions on her face (Dermatomyositis -Autoimmune Skin and Muscle disease). When we purchased Collies for breeding, we had them tested if necessary and thus were able eliminate all 5 of these genetic health issues from our breeding stock and be at low risk for Dermatomyositis. Our dogs are AKC registered and as we want them to be possible useful working dogs as well, we are also registered with the Scottish Collie Preservation Society. We are involved with the Collie Health Foundation as well.