I don't have many photos of Buster. Border collies tend to be a bit shy. But this photo shows Buster watching over the farm. As Buster got older my parents added other Border collies to the farm, but Buster was always my favorite!
When I grew up and had kids of my own, I wanted another dog. Though I had great memories of Buster, I also knew that he was more gregarious than most Border collies. They tend to be one-person dogs, and I wanted a family dog. I'd known a few people who had Shelties, and I thought I'd like to get one. I mentioned this to my husband as we bought our first house. A few months later he decided to surprise me with one for Christmas. As a young family with a new mortgage though, our funds were a bit tight. Purchasing a purebred dog would have been quite a stretch. So, he first checked with the local shelter. They did not have any Shelties, but they did happen to have a collie. He reasoned that since this dog was the same color as a Sheltie I'd probably like him, and so he brought him home! Though I still laugh at his reasoning, I also readily admit that Cocoa was the best Christmas present I ever received.
Though we were told that Cocoa had been a washout in the show ring, he definitely excelled at being a family pet! He was everything which we learned was typical of collies - gentle, intelligent, playful, and eager to please. I swear that dog could smile, too! He was great with our boys, and he watched over us all.
He did seem to think he was a lap dog though!
We had twelve great years with Cocoa before cancer claimed him. I only hope that we added as much to his life as he added to ours.
Eventually we started looking for another collie. Since we'd had such good luck at the shelter the first time, we checked all the area shelters for collies. There weren't many collies to be found, and the few we did find were adopted before we could get to them. It took over a year of searching, but we finally found a collie who needed a home.
Bella entered our lives last year, and she was well worth the wait! She was two years old when we got her, and had just weaned her first litter of puppies. We had no thoughts of breeding her at the time. We just took her home with us and enjoyed having a collie again!
She fit in to our family quite well, and also quickly learned who the "soft touch" was when it came to handing out treats! She also very quickly won over our family and friends. She's a friendly girl who loves to greet people, and to try to herd them all into the same room! She's also quick to alert us to anything which is out of place. She takes her guardian duties very seriously!
She's such a great dog - and collies in general are such great dogs - that we started to consider the possibility of having a litter of puppies with her. After some doing some research on the topic and getting advice from breeders we had her bred in March. We should have puppies here in early May! Stay tuned for updates on their arrival!
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