Tamaron Rough Collies: About Us

ABOUT TAMARON COLLIES

Forget Lassie...give me a chihuahua!!

Unlike a lot of people with purebred show dogs and/or successful kennels, I did not grow up with a collie nor did I pine for one as a child. I knew about Lassie but I was much more interested in horses than dogs, except for the dogs we always had on the farm. We had mostly chihuahua crosses in the house and a variety of big dogs outside throughout the years. But, we never had a collie!

And from humble beginnings...

In 1986 and 1987, while we lived in Aberdeen, Saskatchewan (that will be a mouthful for anyone not living in Saskatchewan!), I was training registered Appaloosa horses for a friend. When these people moved to Alberta to work on a cattle ranch, they asked if I would like to have 2 of their registered collies in lieu of payment for training their horses. Now, my husband and I talked about taking these 2 collies and thought, "Why not? They are as good as any big dog!" Life,as we knew it, would never be the same!

Puppies and grooming and showing, oh no!...

Unfortunately (we thought at the time) the female was bred by the male. I prayed she wasn't pregnant because I had never whelped a litter and didn't want puppies so soon! But, she was pregnant, and on November 1, 1987, my first litter was born. They were all beautiful and we sold all but one as pets. That one was a beautiful reddish gold color, but had very little white. I took her to handling classes when she was 4 months old, and entered her in a "real" show when she was 6 months to the day. I only showed her one day and she won her class. She did not go Winners but then, to my horror, I had to go into the ring with Barry Hastings for Reserve! I was so SCARED because I knew of his incredible Am/Can Ch. Alfenloch Beyond Dreams. We ended up taking Reserve Winners Bitch and I was hooked! She went on to become Ch. Tamara Foxy Lady, CD (I didn't have a kennel name when she was born so she does not have the TAMARON prefix) and was the beginning of Tamaron Collies and a great friendship with Barry.

Tami is the dam of 3 champions, granddam of 5 champions, great- granddam of 10 champions and great, great-granddam of 4 champions with many more pointed, and these are just the champions with the Tamaron prefix. Tami is the dam of our first BISS winner Ch. Tamaron's Rocky Mtn. High, HIC (Tyrone) [by Am/Can Ch. Pinewynd's Rocky Mtn. Cinder,TT, who won the National himself in 1990]. She is also the great granddam of the 1997 CCC National Specialty Best in Specialty winner, Int'l, Can, BISS CH. Tamaron's State of Confusion (Vegas).

Venturing forth...

Our first outside breeding was when we bred Ch. Tamara Foxy Lady, CD to Am/Can Ch. Pinewynd's Rocky Mtn. Cinder, TT. This resulted in 6 pups, three of which became champions. Ch. Tamaron's Rocky Mtn. High, HIC (Tyrone) was our first BISS winner (from the classes), but Ch. Tamaron's Poetry in Motion (Chelsea) is the one that really got us going.When bred to Ch. Tallywood Head of State, she produced the incredible Ch. Tamaron's State of Mind (Stacey) and Ch. Tamaron's Statement (Sara). Stacey, when bred to Am/Can Ch. Gambit's Restless State, gave us 4 champions out of a litter of 5, Vegas being one of them. Ch. Tamaron's Riot Act (Jackson) is the other male that has since sired the 1997 National WD, Ch.

Carostar's Caliban of Cassori. One daughter, Ch. Tamaron's Restless Mind (Madison) is a Specialty BW. Madison's first litter was by Ch. Highcroft Tamaron's Contender (Rocky) which produced 3 champions out of a litter of 5. Madison is now retired but the dam of 6 champions. When outcrossed to Am Ch. Highcroft Oak Knoll Triton, Stacey produced 6 pups, 4 of which are finished and 2 more are pointed. Sara, when bred to Ch. Gambit's Victorian Law gave us Ch. Tamaron Premeditated (Alibi) who was a Specialty RW and BP under George Horn. Alibi was tightly line bred to Ch. Tamaron's Riot Act (Jackson) and produced 4 champions. These pups will be bred back into the Tamaron lines.

Rocky V ...??? !!!

The next important step for us was the purchase a gangly, 4 month old tri male pup from Highcroft Collies in MN. He is by Am. Ch. Executive's All Flags Flying x Am Ch. Highcroft Wyndlair Azure. This young pup grew into the beautiful Ch. Highcroft Tamaron';s Contender (Rocky) whose claim to fame so far is being the youngest dog in the history of the National to go BW and BP ( only 6 months and 13 days) when this honour was bestowed upon him by Dorothy Welsh at the 1996 National Specialty. Rocky has now sired 9 litters, and 3 pups from the first litter earned their championships at the tender ages of 7, 9, and 10 months, 1 undefeated.

And then along came.... Vegas!

Our most successful dog to date is Int'l, Can. BISS Ch. Tamaron's State of Confusion. Vegas accumulated a Specialty WD and BOS over male Specials his first time in the ring at 7 months and then collected 2 Group 1's, 3 Group 2's, 4 Group 4's and 7 Puppy Group's by the time he was 10 months old. At 17 months, he was BOS in Specialty at the 1996 National under Dorothy Welsh, and at 27 months, was Best in Specialty at the 1997 National under Pam Durazzano of the famous Starr Collies. He was awarded his International Championship the week-end before the 1997 National. Vegas is a proven sire with offspring here at Tamaron and Whiteruff Collies (Karen Smith) in Saskatoon.

Our most successful bitch to date in the conformation ring is the lovely Princess Anya (Ch. Tamaron's Picture This), a half sister to Vegas, both having the incomparable Stacey for a mother. Anya debuted at the age of 6 months and one day and was awarded a 3 point Winners Bitch. She never looked back from there and finished her puppy career with 8 Best Puppy in Groups, 1 Best Puppy in Show, a group 2, 3 and 4 and a BOS in the SCSSA Specialty. Anya was bred to Am/Can Ch. Afterhours Color of the Wind (Ricky) and produced three boys—2 blues and a tri. One of the blues went to Gretchen Bare (Lyric Collies) of Maryland and the other 2 boys stayed here. One was shown and became Ch. Tamaron's Inherit The Wind (Flint) who was #4 Collie, #1 Puppy in Canada the year he was shown as a puppy. Anya was then sold to Ferdinand Caprio of the Philippines. Her influenence is strongly felt here at Tamaron through her son Flint who is already a champion producer.

Thanks to All!

To date, our Collies have garnered 64 homebred champions, including the 1996 CCC National (BOS in Specialty, BW and BP), 1997 CCC National (Best in Specialty), 2004 CCC National (WB), 2006 CCC National (BW and BP in Specialty), 2007 CCC National ( Best of Breed Smooth, Best Puppy In Specialty, BOS in Roughs and Best of Opposite in Specialty, WD Smooth, RWB Smooth, WD and BW rough, RWD rough, RWB rough, Best Sire and Get and Best Brace. We also have 2 international titles, 1 multi Specialty winning Australian Champion, many obedience titles, 5 Herding Instinct titles, and several co-bred champions. Most importantly we have met so many new friends that have become our very good friends. We now have new friends all across Canada, the States, New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines. A special thank you must go out to all those who have added our dogs to their breeding programs, their homes and their lives. Your faith in our dogs is very gratifying.

We now live on an acreage near Busby, Alberta, Canada and have since March of 1990. We live there with 2 of our 5 children, 11 horses and our beloved collies. We welcome any and all visitors who would like to see the collies and/or the horses or who would just like to visit!