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Our
names are Ray and Lorraine Collins and we live at
Grafton on the far north coast of NSW
Australia.Although we live in town we are on 3 acres
of land so our dogs have plenty of areas to play.
We were introduced to Collies 16 years ago when we
purchased our first pet, a sable male Kimtash dog
called Ricky, 2 years later we purchased another
sable male pet from Clankaree called Blake. This was
the start of our love affair with Collies, at this
stage we lived at Smithfield in Sydney. 13 years ago
we moved up to Grafton and purchased our current
house, 3 years later we purchased the acreage behind
our house.
In
late 2000 we lost Ricky and followed 6 months later
by Blake, this was a devastating time for the whole
family. We were lost without our Collies so we
started to look for another dog to soften the loss
and we purchased our first bitch from Kilcoy
Kennels, a tri girl, Carluke Twist Of Fate named
Kira. Although she was a Show dog, she entered our
yard first and foremost as a pet, in early 2005 we
rethought this idea and entered our first show.
Our
first show was a new but exciting experience; we
didn’t have a clue on what to do or how to do it. We
were very lucky to meet Jacqui Bowden at this show,
who was so friendly and helpful; this started a
great friendship and education that still continues
today. We enjoyed the weekend showing and
socializing, we now saw this was the direction that
we wanted to head. Through contacts we made at our
first show we decided to purchase our second show
dog, Brock a lovely sable boy, Sheordren Master
Class. We really enjoy our showing and over the
years have met some great people that we now call
friends. We thank them for their contribution to our
growing knowledge of this fantastic breed.
In
2006 we decided a mating between our bitch and dog
was the direction we wanted to head with our
breeding program. We had our first litter of 2 pups,
a sable girl, Collingrove Abby Rose and a tri boy,
Collingrove Shadow Ryder in September that year,
both of these dogs we are still showing.
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