I had intended to self publish this as a book but realised that nobody was going to buy it. Therefor I have put it here for anybody who is interested in this subject can read at their will.
There is a saying that “A Breeding Kennel is only as Good at its Bitches.”
There are many books on the breed, but they tend to concentrate on the males, leaving the females on the side lines. Of course, a popular stud dog is going to have a bigger impact on the breed than any bitch because of the greater number of puppies he can be the sire of. But, during my research I have found at least thirty bitches who have direct lines of at least eleven generations in front of them. This is far more than most of the stud dogs in the breed. Making me believe that the bitches are rather more important than the dogs in the long run.
Before I get into the facts for the bitch lines, I think that it is a good time to sort out the origin of the Rough Collie. From my research the breed appears to be a combination of dogs from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, This combination came together as a breed in about 1874 to form the modern Rough Collie.
The English Working Collie was mainly black in colour and taller than those from the other countries. This English dog was probably used more for herding cattle due to the size of the breed and also sheep were not as common as cattle in England.
The Working dogs from the other countries were used almost exclusively for herding sheep. The start of dog shows encouraged breeders to invent a breed that would be attractive in the showring to please the judges.
Breeders in the Birmingham area were the keenest to breed a type that would appeal to dog judges and the general public. This all started in the late 1860’s and by the middle of the 1870’s huge strides had been made in establishing what was to become the Rough Collie. This work on the breed had lead to the fact that by the middle of the 1880’s we had a breed that contained exhibits good enough to win at the shows today.
To get to this position breeders used a dog called Old Cockie that was brown and white in colour and was born in England. But could have had Welsh Collie ancestors. They used a black and white Collie from Ireland called Trefoil and they used a couple of blue merle Collie bitches and two or three tricolour dogs from Scotland that were called Border Collies.
Trefoil
Old Cockie
These two dogs were not Rough Collies as we know the breed today, but they were very good specimens of what we might call working Collies. And they were shown at some of the dogs shows at that time. In fact Old Cockie (he started out as Cockie but due to his show success the prefix Old was added to his name) was considered to be the best sheepdog of his time. He won at shows all over the country. Surprisingly he was not used at stud until he was eight years old. But when he was used he changed the breed because he was brown in colour and he was dominant for that colour. And it was that colour, which was to change to Sable and White that got the general public really interested in the breed so that by the end of the eighteen hundreds the breed became the most popular in the World.
A lot of inbreeding and close line breeding was practiced by these very keen breeders. We have to thank them for their expertise and dedication that resulted in probably the most beautiful breed of all.
From my research I have to say that the modern Rough Collie does not originate from just one country but is combination of the dogs and bitches from all of the four countries that make up Great Britain.
But these Collies did not look like the Border Collie of today. They were mainly short haired and looked more like mongrels than pure bred. If we credit Old Cockie for the Sable and White colour, then we can credit Trefoil for the long coat as from a picture of him he had a longer coat.
These are some of those very keen breeders breeders from mainly the Birmingham area. Mr J Bissell, Mr M C Ashwin, Mssrs. J & W Charles, Mr J D Tomlinson, Mr W A Walker and Mr J Sivitor. They evidently clubbed together to try and improve the breed. They were extremely successful.
I thought that it might be good to see that Trefoil did not just sire Charlemagne that started the main male line but he also sired several others that were to make their mark on the future of the breed. In fact he was the sire at the start of at least four of my bitch lines. I cannot find the dam of Walker’s Scott but his first female offspring is in Family B.
CH Charlemagne
Reverse Pedigree of: CH CHARLEMAGNE
Sex: M
Date of Birth: 04/01/1879
Colour & Markings: S/W
Owner: Bissell
CH Charlemagne
| Champagne- Sire of Florrie – Family S
| Young Cockie- Sire of Sweet Lassie – Family A
| CH Eclipse
| Grove Daisy – Family B
| Paramount- Sire of Molly Swan- Family D
| Lady Godiva- Family AA
| Daisy Miller- Family I
| Sefton
| CH Metchley Wonder- The top sire of his time.
| Strawberry Girl
| Sweet Fairy- Grand Dam of Edgbaston Marvel
| Gladdie - Family I
I have only included those that continued a line. However as can be seen from this list he was a very important sire.
Amazingly we actually know the birth date of Trefoil. There was much close mating here as he was mated to his daughter Elcho. From this list we know that at least five dam lines started in the 1870’s.
It has always been said that the Rough Collie is Scottish Breed. Having done a considerable amount of research I have to disagree with this. The main reason that it is a supposed Scottish breed is that Queen Victoria had them at Balmoral from 1860 onwards. From my research she liked her Collies at Balmoral, but they were Working Collies. She did not have any Rough Collies until the Rev Hans Hamilton gave her one or two in the 1880’s including a dog by the name of Darnley 11.
Darnley was born on the 8th January 1888 and lived at her English country Sandringham estate. His half brother Ch Christopher was born a year later on the 14 June 1889, and he went on to win the Best of Breed award at the first all breeds Crufts show in 1891. Darnley was entered at this show but did not get a high award.
These are some of Queen Victoria’s Collies in 1860. This rather demonstrates the difference from the Collies of today. I have to assume that these were Working Collies apart from the dog in the front which is a pet. They are very much smooth coated and could well be behind today’s Smooth Collie as well as the Rough Collie.
Obviously Scottish dogs were used on English Collies, but from the names of them I have to assume that they were Working Collies. I have seen a head photograph of Marcus a dog that came from Scotland and was used on English bitches with some success. From his head photo he was a Border Collie.
Another that came down was Perthshire Bob and with a name like that he must have been a Working Collie. A blue merle bitch called Lassie came down south, was mated to an English dog. She was evidently a very good worker as indeed all of the dogs and bitches that were bred from in those days would have to be excellent workers otherwise, they would not be kept.
From my research the first true Scottish Breeder was Mr J Agnew who had the Old Hall prefix. But he did not start in the breed until about 1892. Before that date there appears to be no other successful Scottish breeder.
The very keen breeders from the Birmingham area included Mr C H Wheeler who wrote a book on the Collie and is my main reference source for the early days in my research.
The Collies of that time were not kept as pets but were frequently sold to other breeders. The Rev Hans Hamilton came into the game during this time. He was a dominant member of The Kennel Club and was on the Crufts Dog Show Committee. He was also the president of The Collie Club for many years. He gave Queen Victoria at least one of his dogs and he is much remembered in the breed as the breeder of Ruby111, one of the great early bitches in the breed.
The most important Collie in those early days was Old Cockie. He was born on a farm at Bleasby near Nottingham which makes him an English Collie although his colouring probably means that he is from Welsh farmstock. This colour was unknown in the Border Collie and the English Collie at that time. All of his puppies were born with this colour which was later changed to Sable and White. This colour is the most popular colour for the breed, so we have to thank Old Cockie for introducing this most colourful point in the breed. Unfortunately we do not know his breeding. He was bred and owned by a Mr A White who lived in Nottingham. This dog had a spectacular show career and was acknowledged as the best of his generation. Having been born in Nottinghamshire he was obviously an English Collie.
But he was not used at stud until he was eight years of age. Maybe his colour put off those who were more used to black and white Collies. But this soon changed when the general public realised how beautiful the breed was in the sable and white colour.
When he was eight years of age, he had been bought at a stock auction in Birmingham by a Mr G Tomlinson who retired him from the show ring. But he was soon bought again, this time by Mr Bissell, who used him on his own bitches with outstanding success because he bred Maude and her daughters that were to have such an enormous influence on the breed as the breeders were beginning to stamp a type for the breed.
Old Cockie was born in 1868 and lived until 1882. We do not have a photo of him as a young dog. The only photo is of him lying down when he was ten years old.
The improvement of the Rough Collie was rapid and from the photos of some of the early dogs they would not be disgraced in the showring today.
In his book Mr Wheeler mentions many dogs and bitches that were dominant winners during the 1875 to 1900 period yet so many of them disappeared from the breeding lines as time went by. I have traced bitch lines as far back as I can but only four or five carried on their lines for any great length of time.
I have found some lines that have carried on for 150 years which is quite remarkable. What is also remarkable is that some Collies appear in far distant pedigrees thousands of times. My program will do a thirty five generation pedigree and this will contain many millions of Collies. A popular dog in those early days will appear quite frequently.
What other crossing was going on at this time? What other breeds were used? We do not know for certain but Borzois where suspected and indeed Queen Alexandra had them with her Rough Collies at Sandringham. Was it a Borzoi that was the dam of Sowerby Model the dog that had such a long head when long heads were in such demand in the showring? According to his pedigree his sire was a well known Rough Collie but his dam was of unknown parentage.
CH CORYDON QUI VIVE CH WITCHCRAFT OF ROKEBY
Champion Corydon Qui Vive is one of the most influential bitches that I have found in my extensive research for this book. She is the only bitch that I can find that has both male and female lines up to the present day with her Champion son being sired by a dog that was different to the dog that sired her Champion daughter. Champion Witchcraft of Rokeby is also there as her litter Champion son and daughter lines are still going strong. Rather strange that both these bitches should be tricolours.
I have worked out a 4-generation reverse pedigree of Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby. I am amazed that in these 4 generations there are at least 65 UK Champions. She has to be the most influential Collie bitch of all time in the breed. But there is only one bitch line coming down from her and that is the Corydon line. All the other lines stopped after a maximum of four generations. Why? I have to say that I find it incredible that no other kennel based their female stock on this outstanding bitch. No other kennel used her in their breeding plans.
In this book I have headed the chapters by using the name of the bitch that started the line. I have also put in dam’s lines. That is the name of the most recent bitch at the top followed downward with the name of her dam then granddam, great grand dam until the end of the line or in other words the first bitch I can find in the line. I also use a term called reverse pedigree. This is where I name a bitch and then her offspring. A female reverse pedigree names the bitches coming after her. I.E her daughters, granddaughters, great granddaughters. A normal reverse pedigree would include her sons, grandsons etc.
Looking at the Kennel Clubs Breed Record Supplement for Autumn 2023 of the 25 litters registered in that period just three were sired by a Champion dog. Little wonder that the breed has deteriorated so that many of today’s winners would not get placed at the shows held just a few years ago.
When I started, I was told by the real experts that the best dog to use was only the cost of a stud fee. In those days it was, for the best dogs, the price of one puppy. Seeing the cost of puppies today I suspect that a stud fee for the same would not be popular with present breeders. I think that they would throw up their arms in horror if I quoted a fee of £2,000 for the services of one of my dogs. Yet why not? Further research though tends to show that the breeds gene pool is not nearly as low as we have been led to believe. I have put in an example of this by the input of the pedigree of Ch Metchley Wonder. He was the most used sire of his time and probably of all time in the breed.
Mr Wheeler wrote that he thought he was the biggest earning dog ever in the breed. His four generation pedigree shows that there are three dogs and five bitches that are entirely unrelated to each other.
The dogs are Twig, Old Cockie and Marcus. The bitches are Bess, Meg, Nellie, Jessie and Lassie(Hunt’s)
I have pedigree program which works things out as quickly as anything on Google. I have over 16 thousand names on it. Some of the early bitch lines are still going strong but others died out early.
One bitch that I have studied was called Nell an unregistered bitch born about 1900. She did not produce any bitches, but her reverse pedigree goes on for ever as she was the dam of two or three very popular dogs. Although she did not have a female line she was without doubt a very important bitch in her time. Her main son was Ch Balgreggie Hope that started the Old Hall kennel.
These early Collies were probably all farm dogs and presumably all were good workers because the farmers would not have kept them if they were not. They could not afford to keep dogs that were poor in this respect and would certainly not breed from them. I would imagine that not all were working Collies, but all would have been herding dogs.
Blue Merles were not uncommon but for some reason were not popular. For instance, CH Metchley Wonders granddam Catrine was the sole survivor in her litter as she was the only puppy born that was not a blue merle. Yet we have bitches that started long female lines that were blue merles.
I am finding it very difficult to get an accurate picture because so many of the early bitches were not registered at The Kennel Club. I have some old Collie Folio’s that include the names of registered Rough Collies. From this it would appear that only one or sometimes two would be registered from a litter. It is no wonder that so many bitches that had litters at the start of the bitch lines were unregistered with the unfortunate probability that the parentage of the unregistered bitch is impossible to find.
Another problem is that so many had a change of name. Also, The Kennel Club allowed names to be used again and again. At one time it got to the state where the same name was being registered very frequently. This was very evident when Carol Smedley sent me a list of EDEN Collies. The total number of names that she sent was about 270 and of these 61 were repeat names. One name Eden Exclusive was repeated two times.
I have overcome this on my pedigree program by adding a number to the name. Hence, I have Eden Exclusive 1 and then 2 and then 3. My pedigree program will not allow the same name to be entered twice but by doing this system I can get all the names into the database.
When I first started in the breed Margaret Osborne had been given the task by the Kennel Club to go and examine a dog to see if it was a true Rough Collie. If the animal was deemed to be a member of the breed, then it was registered at the kennel club. The problem with this is that we do not know the parents of the dog or bitch involved.
I assume that the Kennel Club used this system because there was no registration of dogs by the kennel club during the second world war. Of course, breeding was carried out as it is quite difficult to keep a randy dog away from an in season bitch. However, some breeders such as Mrs George of Beulah fame did manage to do some breeding, and it is thanks to them that we are able to confirm the pedigrees of many of the dogs born during that period.
My next question is why it is called a sheepdog? I worked on farms for a number of years and on one farm I managed a herd of 500 cattle and a flock of 1500 sheep. I used my Rough Collies to help me, and I noticed that they were much happier with the cattle than the sheep. In fact, my bitches did not really want to work with the sheep at all.
This breed could quite likely have been bred for looking after cattle as there are and indeed were a lot of cattle in England. The Rough Collie is actually rather too big to herd sheep. They are also more aggressive than the Border Collie which works silently. The Rough Collie when it is working tends to bark and will nip the hind legs of any animal that is lagging behind. A working Border Collie would never do that.
The English Working Collie was quite a bit taller than the Scottish Border Collie. They were mainly black in colour with just the odd white on the end of the tail and sometimes white collars. They were like todays Rough Collies in that their feet were small and they were loose limbed.
Having gone into this in some detail I suspect that a lot of crossing was going on. Certainly, Marcus one of the early sires did look more like a Border Collie than the Rough Collie he was alleged to be. There have been talks about Borzois and Deerhounds coming into the equation, but I think that these were probably wrong, or if they did occur then they did not carry on into future bloodlines.
Margaret Osborne carried out a lot of research work in the early 1950’s when she traced the bitch lines back for those Collies who had won a CC after the second World war. She numbered the families from 1 to 14. However, since she carried out this research some of her families have died out, while others have come to the fore.
Dareen Bridge also did this work and found some faults with Miss Osborne’s work, so she then called them new names for families that had died out. Hence, she now called one family 1a. I have found that some of these old died out families actually went on for a lot longer, so I have decided to change this numbering and call them in no particular order of importance starting with Family A to maybe Family Z.
In other words, I will call bitches as belonging to family A or B etc.
It is very strange that the family that was most common when Miss Osborne published these lines and was so for some twenty years is now almost extinct. She gave each female line a number therefore this one was Family 1. Why have so many of the winners in that period are not in any of the family lines today?
This is not unusual either because the big winning producing bitches in the late 1800’s have also become unknown today. I know that we seem to be heading in that direction as well as far too many of our bitches are producing male puppies that are of better quality, show wise than their litter sisters. I can easily see how these bitch lines just fade away.
Then the new bitch lines cannot be traced back because the bitch at the start of the line was either not shown or her dam was not. Nearly all of our bitches were or are in Margaret Osborne’s Family 2 and we now know that this family goes back to the 1870’s and is one of the few lines that we can trace back to those times. Fortunately, there are very many bitches from other leading kennels who are in this family.
Another unfortunate fact is that there are so few photos or illustrations of the early bitches. This is very sad as I would love to have seen what they looked like. I have unearthed a few photographs of the early bitches but all too often they do not appear in these bitch lines.
I suspect that like a lot of very good bitches from the show points were not too good at reproducing themselves. Plenty of early dog pictures but the only really early photo of a bitch is one taken of Ch Madge and she is posed sitting down. We have an illustration of Champion Peggie 11 who was the dam of one of the all time greats Ch Christopher the first Best of Breed winner at Crufts Dog Show.
Interestingly he had two direct lines coming from him. The first is the fact that all Rough Collies in the World go back to him tail male. His other line petered out with the great grandson of Ch Antoc Vicar of Bray. All this means that there is only one line of males today in this country.
From my research so far, it has become very apparent that very few Champion bitches actually produced Champions themselves. I remember speaking to a Capt. De Quincy who was a very famous and extremely successful Hereford Cattle breeder and exhibitor. He rather dominated the cattle show scene during the 1950’s. He told me that he had two herds with one for showing and the other for breeding. He did not breed from the show animals because he said they were too pretty to make good breeders. His best show stock came from the unshown cows in his breeding herd.
I have to say that his comments are very practical as the Champion bitches we have had in this kennel only three were successful as breeders and of these only Ch Corydon Hippolyta was what I would call a pretty bitch. She produced two UK Champions for us, while Ch Corydon Qui Vive and Ch Corydon La Stupenda were much more matronly in appearance.
While others like Ch Corydon Kittycat did not produce any puppies at all. She was a very pretty bitch but was hopeless when it came to breeding from her. In fact, several of our top winning bitches never produced puppies. These included Ch Corydon Madchen and Ch Corydon Polly Hera.
On this theme I remember when I was a farm manager my employer, the owner of the farm, wanted to increase the number of cows in his milking herd. We visited several farms that were dispersing their herds. On one we visited the cows were producing enormous amounts of milk, but they were in a cowshed while I milked in the first milking parlour built in this country. They were of no use to us as their udders were nearly on the ground therefor totally unsuitable for my job.
One farm we did purchase from was a large herd with some really nice young heifers and cows. My employer was very taken with a very pretty cow that had become a Champion at several agricultural shows. I felt she was far too pretty to be a good milker and I rather preferred anther young cow who I thought would make a very good milker. My Boss bought them both but the pretty one soon went away as her milk production was very poor. The cow I liked, which was, for me, very good looking and became my top milker in the herd.
What I have learnt from this is that it is not always the best-looking animal from the show point of view but the more honest and substantial animal that will produce the best stock.
I do have a problem tracing early Collies as so often they were sold, and the new owner changed the name. In one case a bitch called Katrine had her name changed to Lassie by her new owner. Fortunately, Katrine won her way into the Kennel club Stud book. It all came to light when Lassie had a litter that was registered at the Kennel Club, and she had the same stud book number as that won by Katrine therefor, we now know that Lassie started life as Katrine.
Dareen Bridge in her book had a bitch line coming from litter sisters called Scott and Clyde. But further research rather proves that Scott and Clyde were not litter sisters as I can find no bitches called Scott, but plenty of dogs were called that name and the same goes for Clyde. But in this particular case she was a bitch. Therefor I have decided that these are two different families.
As I have put Katrine as Family A. I have kept that as it is by far the most prevalent family today. Maude’s family I have changed to AA. She was more important in the early days than Katrine but her bitch line died out even before the turn of that century. But further research proves that her line extended up to the late 1960’s. Because of her importance in the formation of the breed I have named her family AA and put it first.
This problem of lines dying out is not just confined to the bitch lines either. It does seem very strange that no Rough Collies today go back tail male to the two top Champion producing sires in the breed. Ch Lochinvar of Ladypark was the sire of 13 Champions, and Ch Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill was also the sire of 13 Champions, yet no Rough Collies born in this country today go back tail male to these two very famous dogs.
Further back we go to one of the most famous sires called Ch Parbold Piccolo who was a prolific sire in the early 1900’s yet his line died out in about 1923. He went back to Ch Christopher on his sire’s side, and it is this dog that all Collies go back to.
Later we find that all Rough Collies go back tail male to a dog born in 1922 called Ch Eden Emerald. He went to the USA after attaining his title in the UK. Now we find that almost all the American Collies go back to him tail male. He had a full brother in an earlier litter called Ch Backwoods Fashion who had been registered at the Kennel Club with the name Eden Edward. He was actually shown at Crufts with this name and won a first prize at this show. He started a male line but that died out before the Second World War buthe was a very dominant sire in his time.
Ch Eden Emerald success as a sire in America was assumed to be because he was by Ch Poplar Perfection who was by Ch Magnet.
Ch Eden Elenora
But I have been reading a new American book on the breed where it has a quote from Dr Bennett one of the greats in that country where he is quoted as saying that Emerald’s dam Ch Eden Elenora was in his opinion the most beautiful bitch he had ever seen. So why is she never mentioned when the success of Emerald is discussed.
She was the dam of five UK Champions as well as being beautiful. One of the main reasons I am writing this book is that all too often the dam of a Champion is ignored if that Champion is by a well known sire.
One of the most interesting facts to come from my research is that some bitches were for some reason wonderful producers. For instance a bitch born in about 1885 called Sweet Lassie was one of these. She produced at least three bitches that were at the start of their own line. She also produced dogs that were to have a big impact for breeders.
I did an eight generation reverse pedigree of her that covered about ten pages. She was without doubt one of the most prolific dams in my database. Why she should do this is beyond my comprehension. The bitches before her did not produce anything apart from the bitch that followed them. Her sire was a well known dog called Young Cockie that was not a son of the very famous Old Cockie but a great Grandson. I have to assume that all Collies born today will have her in their pedigree several times and in fact could be hundreds of times.
Another bitch that comes into this category was Leecroft Black Magic that was born in 1954. Her offspring numbers are legion yet those before her were not prolific producers, and her pedigree was not brilliant. I have to wonder why she was called Black Magic because she was magical as a producer. Below is her four generation pedigree
There are only three Champions in this pedigree. A rare example of an outcross mating being successful. I cannot find a photograph of this wonderful bitch.
I thought it would be interesting to include this tail male line as it shows how almost all of the American Rough Collies go back to Ch Eden Emerald who was exported there in the early 1920’s
SIRE LINE of: Corydon Pol Roger
SIRE DAM
Corydon Winning Factor.................Corydon Blue Fizz JW
Corydon Victor Ludorum.................Corydon Moonflower
Int CH Pahlex Dollar N Dime ...........Corydon Follow Me
US Ch Tartanside Allegiance .........Int CH Corydon La Suprema
US Ch Fantasy's Bronze Talisman ......US Ch Tartanside Alliage
US Ch Vennessee's Midnight Edition ..US Ch Fantasy's Cover Girl
Vennessee's Midnight Express .........Vennessee's Rambling Rose
US Ch Fury's The Spirit Of Legends ...Vennessee's Etched in Blue
Executive's The Equalizer .........US Ch Executive-N-Fury's Blue
US Ch Twin Oaks Joker's Wild .US Ch Twin OakKs Executive Affair
Executive's Table Stakes ......US Ch Twin Oakks Executive Affair
US Ch Twin Creeks Post Script ........Caven's Executive Affair
US Ch Twin Creeks True Grit ......US Ch Twin Creeks Nitty Gritty
Lochlomun's Interlock .................Lee Aire's Amazing Grace
US Ch Vi-Lee's Myster Mac ........Lochlomun 'N' Lee Aire's Virgo
US Ch Vi-Lee's Classic Contender ..........Vi-Lee's Tenth Thyme
Vi-Lee's Jubilant Jonathon ................Vi-Lee's Jovial Jewel
US Ch Vi-Lee's Redd Robyn ..................Vi-Lee's Jean Belle
Vi-Lee's Country Chipper ...................Bonnejar's Trooer
Vi-Lee's Parading Chieftain ....Vi-Lee's Tweedle O'Twill Parade
US Ch Silver Ho Parader ................Gladstone's Hit Parader
US Ch Silver Ho Shining Arrow .........Lodestone Bandolieara 11
US Ch Honeybrook Big Parade ............Silhouette of Silver Ho
US Ch Future Of Arken ......................Honeybrook Helen
US Ch El Troubadour of Arken .............Nymph of Arken
El Capitan of Arken ....................Gailly Arrayed of Arken
CH Eden Emerald ...........................Halbury Jean
CH Poplar Perfection ..................CH Eden Elenora
CH Magnet ...................................Pickwick Peeper
Tonge Admiration ...........................Southport Seal
Clarksfield Superior ....................Clarksfield Countess
CH Seedley Superior 1225M...............Countess of Clarksfield
Seedley Squire ..........................Seedley Constance
CH Squire of Tytton 148K...................Southport Sissie
CH Balgreggie Baronet ....................Helle of Boston
CH Wishaw Clinker ........................Old Hall Duchess
CH Heachum Galopin ..........................Last Rose
Ormskirk Galopin ...........................Wisbech Dolly
CH Ormskirk Emerald 40941.................Ormskirk Memoir
Heather Ralph ....................................Aughton Bessie
Stracathro Ralph ...............................Apple Blossom 1
CH Christopher 25177.......................Stracathro Fancy
CH Metchley Wonder 23002....................CH Peggie 11
Sefton ......................................Minnie
CH Charlemagne 10691........................CH Madge 1
Trefoil 4523......................................Maude
Twig .............................................Bess (Shirley)
Old Twig .........................................Help
Shamrock .........................................
Shep (McCall) ....................................Bess (Shirley)
Sir G.Foster .....................................
Even here we find that on the American side also very few of the dams were Champions, yet it is much easier to make up a Champion in America because they have so many more shows than we do. Over there all dog shows are called point shows. In other words, the winners are awarded points towards their title of Champion.
This does rather emphasise the fact of the very low gene pool in the breed where the male side is concerned. The bitch lines are much more diverse.
What surprises me is how healthy the breed is even with this very low gene pool. Apart from some eye problems the breed is much healthier than most other breeds. Hip problems really do not exist, at least not to the same extent as this problem is in Border Collies or German Shepherd Dogs that do a similar job on the farm.
While I am on this subject, I have to write that the Smooth Collie is a very different breed to the Rough Collie. I know that in many countries they are crossing the two breeds. But they do a completely different job on the farm.
The Rough Collie is the herding dog while the Smooth Collie is the driving dog. In other words, the Rough Collie looks after and rounds up the herd while the Smooth drives the herd to market. They do a completely different job, and they are structurally very different.
The Rough is very loose limbed as he is always lying down and getting up as he controls the herd or flock while the Smooth is much tighter limbed as he is always on his feet when doing his job. To show this in practice, just put your hand on the back of a Rough Collie and you will find it dropping down and is easily moved on the back. Do the same action to a Smooth and you will find that it does not move when you put your hand on its back. It feels much more solid under your touch.
This is probably one of the few times that I agree with any of the Kennel Club’s rules, as they will not allow the registration of puppies born from a cross between the two breeds.
Being loose limbed the Rough Collie is unique as it is the only breed that is constructed like that. This is probably the main reason why it is so unpopular with the All-rounder judges. They obviously think that this is a sign of unsoundness. They cannot get their minds to accept the fact of this loose limb in the breed.
Now for the bitch lines. So far, I have found at least 26 bitches who are at the head of 11 or more generations of bitches in direct line. For this exercise I have given each of these bitch lines starting with A and going through all of the letters of the alphabet. I felt that for me it is easier to letter these lines than to enter them numerically.
These bitch lines are in no particular order as regards the start of the line. Hence a bitch that was born in 1872 is at the start of Family A while another born in about 1877 a bitch called as so often in those days Lassie which I have renamed Lassie (Lady Hunt’s) is family C
I have over 17,000 Rough Collies on my database, But I am missing a huge number of bitches because they were probably never shown which means that I am unable to discover their parentage. I am certain that most of these bitch families would merge together if only I could find their parents.
Unfortunately, it is almost certain that pedigrees of these bitches no longer exist as they were all born before 1980 with very few of today’s exhibitors showing and breeding before this date.
However, I will start with what is probably the most important bitch of all as she was the first sable and white bitch to be shown and bred from.
There are bitches that have no bitch lines but were the dams of famous dogs. One that comes to mind is a bitch called Pickwick Peeper whose main claim to fame is that she was the dam of the great Ch Poplar Perfection. All Rough Collies go back to him in direct male line.
What other crosses were made in that period, and I am talking about the years from 1870 to 1890? I have to wonder as some extremes in type appeared. Extra long heads became the rule for a time. Extreme height was also common.
This is probably the reason why the American Breed Standard for the Rough Collie has the height two inches taller than the English Breed Standard. However the breed seems to have been fairly pure since about 1900.
From pictures of the breed during that period I have to say that the main winners and ancestors of the breed from that time were good enough to win at shows today. Certainly from their photographs Ch Metchley Wonder and his son Ch Christopher would not look out of place in the showring today.
Family AA – CLYDE
I originally started this line with a bitch called Ladysmith but I was given a very old pedigree that enabled me to find earlier generations that actually made this family rather more important because it goes back to Maude that was the first Sable and White bitch to have an effect on the breed.
When I started this project, I thought I would start it off with a bitch called Ruby111 because she was the dam of at least nine bitches that had puppies that produced litters. However, looking further back there is a bitch simply called Maude who probably had a bigger impact on the breed than Ruby. She was born sometime during 1875/6.
I will start with this bitch who was a daughter of Old Cockie and probably the most influential of all of this famous dog’s progeny. Her dam was called Meg, who was by the dog that all males go back to, Trefoil, out of a bitch called Clyde.
It is Maude who combines the lines of Trefoil and Old Cockie. Hence her importance as an early pillar of the breed.
According to Dareen Bridge this family did not extend beyond 1895. But I have traced it right up to a Danvis bitch born in 1960.
I have put Clyde at the top of this line. Her daughter Meg was a popular name for bitches at that time, I have added her breeders name to hers so that for me she is known as Meg (Ashwin’s). Her main claim to fame is that when she was mated to Old Cockie she produced the outstanding dam called Maude who became the first sable and white bitch in the breed to have any lasting effect on the breed,
Because of this I have decided that Maude should have her own chapter. She is so important in the formation of the show Rough Collie. But before I write about Maude I must continue with Meg because she had a huge impact on the breed before her daughter. From my records Meg had four litters ranging from 1874 to 1881. She actually had a litter to Old Cockie the year before the birth of Maude.
A bitch from this first litter was called Bessie and she did breed on for another three or four generations. Meg then had her third litter to the famous Trefoil in about 1877. From this litter came a bitch called Glen and she whelped a bitch called Hasty in 1878. Now Hasty should have a history page to herself because the Collies coming down from her are legion.
She had a son called Rob Roy McGregor and two bitches called Flurry and Lilly. A reverse pedigree of these three fills my computer. Every Collie born today will almost certainly have all three in their pedigree. Mr Ashwin had a real treasure in his Meg. She must have been a wonderful dam.
Meg was also the granddam of a dog called Sefton that goes down in history as the sire of Ch Metchley Wonder the most prolific sire of his time. Sefton was by Ch Charlemagne out of Madge 11 that was one of the daughters of Ruby 111 the main bitch in family B.
I have put in a reverse pedigree of Meg as it shows in some detail the influential bitches she bred. I will now go into some detail about these bitches as they are important for the history of the breed. These bitches were called Maude, Glen, Bessie, Colley and Elly.
The next daughter of Meg was a bitch called Glen when she was mated to Trefoil. Glen I always thought was a dog’s name but not in this case. She goes down in Collie history by being the dam of a bitch called Hasty the sire being a famous dog called Carlyle. Mr Wheeler liked Hasty as he describes her as a very attractive tricolour with a head above average quality. She goes down in history as being the dam of a famous sire called Rob Roy Macgregor and a bitch called more simply Lilley and enough said about her when I write that she was the granddam of Ch Metchley Wonder. I just cannot forget about this dog. He was everywhere.
Maude was by far the most important of these bitches. Her dam line ended in 1960 through her daughter Watch.
Maud
Maude as a daughter of Old Cockie was a sable and white because all of Cockie’s offspring where this colour. He was what we call a dominant sable. The mystery is where did he get this colour from as all Collies in those days were either just black and white or tricolour?
Now some of us are thinking that this dog was most probably a Welsh Collie because he was said to be quite small as are the Welsh Collies and he was brown in colour with a white collar. Many of the Welsh Collies that are still on some Welsh farms are brown and white, very different from the Border Collie which are almost all black and white.
Old Cockie was evidently a very good worker as well as an exceptional show dog. The most surprising fact about this very famous dog is that he was not actively used at stud until he was eight years old. Was it his colouring that put breeders off using him on their black and white bitches?
Maude was bred in 1875 by Mr J Bissell who was to have a big influence in the early days of the breed as he bought in Old Cockie and Meg the dam of Maude.
Maude goes down in the history of the breed as being the dam of Ch Charlemagne and the granddam of Ch Eclipse, when she was mated to Trefoil. Both of these dogs were to have a major influence on the breed in the 1880 to 1890 period when the breeders were setting a type for the breed.
A lot of line breeding and even the odd inbreeding was taking place. In fact, Ch Eclipse was the result of a brother sister mating as his sire was Ch Charlemagne and his dam a bitch simply called Flirt was the litter sister of Ch Charlemagne.
Maude did not produce many bitches to carry on her female line, but she will go down in the history of the breed as probably the most important dam of all time as every Rough Collie ever bred goes back to her. She was certainly the most important of all of Old Cockie’s offspring.
Maude’s sable colouring was somewhat different to the sables we see today. The colour was much richer and darker. The nearest we have are what we call mahogany sable that are, unfortunately, rather rare today. The sables in those days often lacked the white collar but had white legs and of course the white tip at the end of the tail.
It was Maude who combined the two main lines of that time and it was she who had the most influence on the acceptance of the Sable and White colour being the most popular choice for the pet buying public. This colour really did have an enormous impact and was almost single handed in bringing the Rough Collie to the state where in 1900 it was the most popular breed in the World.
This popularity was obviously very much helped by the fact that Queen Victoria owned and bred them. She was started off by the Rev Hans Hamilton giving her at least one Rough Collie. One of them was the full brother of Ch Christopher from an earlier litter. She actually showed this dog at the very first all breed Crufts show in 1891.
Here I can state that the first Crufts dog shows were for Terriers. The show in 1891 was in fact the seventh Crufts dog show. The Queen’s daughter in law showed Rough Collies at Crufts under the Sandringham prefix.
Enormous publicity does have its drawbacks though and overbreeding produced serious temperament and construction problems in the breed so that by 1910 it was down amongst the also rans.
It would appear that every time a breed becomes very popular, breeders then try to outperform what has appeared before and exaggerations in the construction of the breed come to the fore with the obvious outcome that the breed will lose its popularity rather quickly.
Back in those days the breeders and judges desired that the head should be long, and I mean long. I read an article written in 1894 where the writer extoled the virtues of the length of head of one particular dog, Sowerby Squire who was by the then popular sire Finsbury Pilot out of a bitch called Sowerby Model. This dog evidently had a head that measured 17 inches in length. I must admit I struggled to get my head round that figure.
He was evidently a big winner being said to have been beaten only once in the show ring. The longest head we ever had on one of our Collies was Corydon King Hector whose head measured 13 inches. He was a very big dog, but I have to admit that his head was not balanced with his foreface being somewhat longer than his skull.
I have to assume that this dog with his extraordinarily long head must have looked very ugly especially as he was very much overshot in his jaw. Causing the putting off the pet buying public in large numbers.
The breed became extremely popular in the 1970’s and once again we got exaggerations come into the breed that had a detrimental effect on this popularity. This time the exaggeration was for the very heavy coats that were too soft and were completely unmanageable for the pet market, therefor the breed went into a fairly dramatic decline in popularity.
For example. in 1976 the Kennel Club registrations for Rough Collies was over 7000 but by 2023 this number had dropped to just over 400.
A reverse pedigree of Maude is interesting because it shows that she is behind all Rough Collies very many times. Most importantly she was the paternal Great Granddam of Ch Metchley Wonder through her son Ch Charlemagne who was the sire of Sefton, Ch Metchley Wonder’s sire. Ch Metchley Wonder was probably used at stud more than any other Collie in history. Although his only male offspring of any real note was Ch Christopher
| CH Charlemagne
| | Sefton
| | | CH Metchley Wonder
| | | | CH Christopher
| | | | | Stracathro Ralph
| | | | | | Heather Ralph
| | | | | | | CH Ormskirk Emerald
Maude had three litters. The first was to Tartan who was a full brother to Trefoil. Mr Wheeler did not like him as he thought that his head was poor, his tan was too dark and his coat was too open.
But this mating did produce two bitch puppies who were to have an important impact on the breed. These were a sable and white called Lorna which I have had to call Bissel’s Lorna as there were many other Lorna’s at that time.
This bitch was the dam of Ch Wolf one of the very first Champions and he was the sire of Ch Rutland a very popular stud dog who was bred by Rev Hans Hamilton.
The other bitch from this litter was a tricolour called Watch which seems to be a unique name as I cannot find any other Collie with this name. All these names were registered at The Kennel Club before any breeders had prefixes. Watch became an ancestor of several blue merle lines. And it is this line that goes right up to 1968.
Maude’s second litter was also to Tartan. This litter produced the very famous Ch Charlemagne and a bitch called Flirt a sable and white who goes down in history as the dam of Ch Eclipse when she was mated to her litter brother Ch Charlemagne.
Patience a tricolour was the get from Maude’s third litter. Patience claim to fame is that she was the dam of the hugely successful sire Young Cockie. His sire being a dog called Champagne.
Ch Charlemagne was one of the first really big show winners. He was now competing in the new name of the breed the Rough Collie. Before this time which was about 1874 the Collies competed under the Sheepdog name. Maude’s importance becomes even more evident because Tricolour 11 her paternal grandson was a very effective sire in his time. He was the son of Tricolour the full brother later litter of Trefoil.
Wheeler liked this dog saying that he was very similar in type to his more illustrious brother, He does comment on the length of frill that these two dogs had. He said that this was typical of some of the Scottish dogs but that they had the fault of domed skulls. We do not know if their ancestors came from Scotland of if they were bred for several generations in Ireland.
It was doing this research that proved to me the theory that Rough Collies had a very low gene pool was not as I was led to believe, because even though Trefoil is at the head of the male line there were many other dogs that contributed through their daughters.
And the bitches they mated to produce good producing bitches were also very numerous outcrosses. Trefoil is at the base of the male line, but his influence on the breed was not as great as Old Cockie because it was this dog that introduced the Sable and white colour to the breed.
Maude’s son Ch Charlemagne was the top winner of his day and was unbeaten for about five years. At the age of eleven he was entered in the Rough Collie Clubs show where he won the 60guinea trophy. This is the trophy that is now awarded to the Best in Show at the British Collie Clubs Championship Show.
He must be the oldest exhibit ever to win this most prestigious award. He was a very good sire with many winners owning him as their sire. He is also in direct male line for all Rough Collies. His main claim to fame though is through his son Ch Eclipse and his grandson Ch Metchley Wonder.
Ch Eclipse is interesting as he was a bit like Ch Liberty of Ladypark in that his bitch offspring were more successful than his male gets.
If we go another ten generations we come to another very important dam called Sweet Mary. She was the dam of one of the most popular sires called Master Willie and he in turn was the sire of Ch Parbold Picador who was the sire of many Laund greats including Champions Laund Limit and Laund Luminous.
Sweet Mary’s Champion daughter Seedley Sapphire was even more important as she was the main foundation bitch for the Seedley kennel. This was one of the truly great kennels in the early 1900’s making up a whole host of Champions. It is amazing that a bitch like Sweet Mary can have such an influence on the breed.
I did a reverse pedigree of Ladysmith her granddam. It went on and on. She was behind most of the main stud dogs of the period before the first World War. In fact she is behind every Rough Collie in the World today.
Another bitch in this line is Patricia of Mariemeau, she was the dam of one of the most influential sires in the breed Ch Gunner of Mariemeau and he was the sire of an even more influential dog Ch Gunner of Glenturret.
This family illustrates how difficult it is to try and find these lines. Two of the bitches had their names changed twice. The first was Ch Laund Laud that started off in life as Almondbank Bess then she became Eden Elsie before becoming Ch Laund Laud when she won her title. The other bitch was Eden Entina that started her registered life as Miss Diplomat before being bought by Mr Stansfield who changed her name to Laund Diplomat then on to Mr Robson who changed her name yet again to have his kennel prefix and her other name changed completely.
The main problem here is that whenever the Laund or Eden kennels bought in a Collie they changed the name so that it looked as if they had bred them. I know that the Laund kennel made up about 50 Champions, but most were not bred by him nor indeed did they have any Laund bred parents. These two kennels were dealers in the breed.
Rimington Panda is the next influential bitch and she was really influential as she was the granddam of Ch Mywicks Meadow Lancer through her son Mywicks Monitor. As far as I can find she was the foundation bitch for the Mywicks Kennel that dominated the breed in the 1950’s and early 1960’s.
Going back to the start of this line we find a bitch by the name of Hallwood Serene that had another daughter called Hallwood Secure, and this bitch goes on to be behind the very famous Danvis line.
DAM LINE of: Danvis Gay Girl
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 23/03/1959
Colour & Markings: S/W
Owner: Tom Purvis
DAM SIRE
Danvis Dolly 1126AR………………………….CH Legend of Ladypark
Danvis Doreen ………………………………CH Danvis Driver
CH Danvis Dyllorna ………………………….Danvis Dawson 103AQ
CH Danvis Deborah 1293AH……………………..CH Lochinvar of Ladypark 696AF
Danvis Delta ……………………………….CH Gunner of Mariemeau 2085AE
Danvis Favourite ……………………………Longscar Leader
Redevalley Rita …………………………….Eden Electrician
Redevalley Freda ……………………………Eden Electrician
Old Mill Duchess ……………………………Blue Mischief
Freda of Waldemar …………………………..Bruce of Waldemar (Beau Perfection)
Noble Sasha ………………………………..
Brenda of Proud Heights ……………………..
Sheila of Proudheights ………………………Rex
Laund Letto 1296LL…………………………..
Laund Lesketh ………………………………Laund Leadem
CH Laund Laud (Eden Elsie) (Almondbank Bess) 1279BBLaund Leo 1010EE
Hallwood Secure …………………………….Almondbank Bummer
Hallwood Serene …………………………….CH Magnet
Kettering Ideal …………………………….CH Seedley Stirling
Seedley Lady ……………………………….CH Seedley Superior 1225M
CH Seedley Sapphire …………………………
Sweet Mary …………………………………CH Parbold Peacock
The most important dam was Ch Danvis Deborah as she was the granddam of Ch Danvis Damaskus one of only two dogs to win a Best in Show award at an all breed Championship Show. Ch Danvis Damaskus was also the grandsire of Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby through his daughter Retta of Rokeby. Yet the dam lines of these famous bitches ended after just five generations. An eight generation reverse pedigree of Ch Danvis Deborah went on for ever. I have to assume that every Rough Collie born today will have her in their pedigree.
Danvis were very dominant during the 1940/50 period. I cannot find any offspring of these two bitches. Tom Purvis was held in great affection in the North East of England and I remember the Darlington Championship show had a black band round the prize cards after his death.
KATRINE Family A
This is my first full dam line that Starts off in the late 1870’s up to the present day. It is one of only a very few lines that extend for so long and this line is carried on by just three kennels which are Demelewis, Mejola and Corydon. This family was presumed to start off with two litter sisters called Clyde and Scott whose parentage is unknown. They were born in about 1872. I have taken this from the book Rough Collies of Distinction written by a combination of Iris Comb, Dareen Bridge and Pat Hutchinson that was published in 2001.
I think that it was Dareen Bridge who did most of the research into pedigrees and I have to question the above litter sisters. I am almost certain that owners would not call their bitches by the name of Scott. I have been handed an old pedigree that confirms that Scott was indeed a dog.
The same pedigree confirms Clyde was a bitch. It is interesting that the daughter of Scott (Katrine) should start a long line of blue merles. Therefore, I am assuming that Scott was in fact a dog that was a very good coloured blue merle and the first blue merle to be registered at the Kennel club. His name was Scott and was owned and bred by a Mr Brackenburg who was a farmer in Suffolk.
He was born at the same time as the Scott in the book and he won a stud book number that is the same as the Scott in the book. This dog was used by Mr Arkwright to start his very famous line of blue merle Collies.
I have had to change the line being headed by Scott to that of Katrine. The above book has a bitch line starting with Lady Lamb’s Lassie however as this bitch had the same stud book number as Katrine I have to assume that Lady Lamb purchased this bitch and changed her name to Lassie. This was a very common practice at that time and indeed carried on until the late 1940’s.
This practice of changing names makes research very difficult. Even the famous Eden Examine that was born in 1944 started life as being registered at the Kennel Club as Worsboro Model. Earlier in 1921 Ch Backwoods Fashion started his registered life as Eden Edward.
This dog actually won a class at Crufts Dog Show under his first registered name before he was sold to the Backwoods kennel. He was full brother earlier litter to Ch Eden Emerald who was the main name in UK and American Rough Collies.
Katrine had her name changed to Lassie when she was sold to a Lady Lamb. The only reason that we know that Katrine had her named changed is that she won a stud book number that was on Lassie’s pedigree when she had a litter. The stud book number was 5434
This newly named Lassie had a litter in about 1880 that had a bitch called Leila and this is the start of a very long line of bitches that are very alive today as all Corydon bitches and their relatives go back tail female on this line. I have worked out that our Ch Corydon Clarissa is fifty generations from Katrine.
This has to be the top bitch line in the World today. Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby is in this line. Such famous kennels as Westcarrs, Ladypark, Jefsfire, Glenmist, Pattingham, Sandiacre as well as Corydon, had or have Collie bitches in this line.
I have included the bitch line from our Ch Corydon Clarissa born in 2020, to the earliest that can be traced, Katrine. This line rather proves my point that Champion bitches are not necessarily the best producers as there are so few Champion bitches in this very long line. But it does emphasise that a strong bitch line is very important for future breeding plans.
In this line there are only five Champion Bitches out of the 50 dams. In comparison the male line which I have taken for the litter brother of Clarissa contains many more top winners. As there are 28 Champions in this line of 50 males
DAM LINE of: Corydon Clarissa
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 31/05/2020
Colour & Markings:
Owner: John Blake
DAM SIRE
Corydon Moonflower…………………Corydon The Ringmaster
Corydon Grandeflora JW………CH Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin Over Corydon JW
Corydon Follow Me……………………..CH Corydon Rio Grande JW
Corydon Fancy Me JW………….CH Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin Over Corydon JW
Corydon Sudden Fancy………………CH Corydon Il Supremo JW
Corydon Gold Demelza …………………..Corydon Sudden Impact
Corydon Gold Delilah ………………..CH Alssala Canny Bairn at Corydon
Corydon Hannalara …………………..CH Corydon Gold Star
Corydon Polyhanna JW…………………CH & Aus CH Little Caesar at Corydon
CH Corydon Hippolyta …………………..CH Bririch Gold Edition
CH Corydon Qui Vive ……………………Corydon King Hector
Corydon Regality of Rokeby……………Corydon Quo Vadis
CH Romney of Rokeby……………………CH Royal Ace of Rokeby
CH Witchcraft of Rokeby………………..Dazzler of Dunsinane
Retta of Rokeby ………………………Prospecthill Rustler of Rokeby
Miss Chief of Rokeby ………………….CH Danvis Damascus
Alloas Masterpiece ……………………Netherkier Torchfire
Happy of Narragansette ………………..Normansfield Suntan
Honour of Narragansette ……………….CH Forth of Naragansette 7
Delwood Sarah ………………………..Golden Wonder Boy
Delwood Brenda ……………………………..
Delwood Suzie ………………………………
CH Delwood Meryl ………………………Golden Victor
Delwood Aristocrat Belle ……………….Delwood Barrie
Silver Emblem …………………………Round Robin
Silver Bouquet ………………………..Radient Knight
Blue Poppy ……………………………CH Backwoods Flutter
Westcarrs Blue Dawn ……………………Backwoods Fireman
Westcarrs Blue Moon ……………………Lucas of Sedgemoor
Westcarrs Blue Mascot ………………….Lucas of Sedgemoor
Westcarrs Winsome ……………………..Knight O’ Blue Mist
Rosery Jill …………………………..Treffynnon Squire
Esstar …………………………………….
Billesley Blue Bee ………………………….
Billesley Blue Gown ……………………Billesley Britisher
Billesley Blue Beauty ………………….Master Willie
Billesley Bluey ……………………….Billesley Buller
Curzon Blue Betty ……………………..Moreton Jason
Curzon Jess (Unreg)…………………….Yardley True Blue
Lady Curzon …………………………..CH Metchley Wonder
Lady Anstruther …………………………….
Hesketh Beauty ……………………………..
Ormskirk Rose ………………………………
Sweet Lassie ………………………….Smuggler
Lady Macbeth ………………………….Young Cockie
Leila ………………………………..CH Wolf
Katrine – Lassie (Lady Lamb) 5434….;……Cheviot
Katrine did not produce anything other than her daughter Leila that was mated to Ch Wolf to produce a bitch called Lady Macbeth. That was then mated to a dog called Young Cockie, and no he was not a son of Old Cockie.
However, this mating produced a bitch called Sweet Lassie that was to prove a wonderful dam. No exaggeration to say that she was directly behind almost all of the Rough Collies up to the turn of the 20th century.
She was the foundation bitch for the Ormskirk kennel of Mr Stretch who was to have a profound impact on the breed up to the start of the 1st World War. She had litters to Smuggler and Ch Christopher. I have to guess that her daughter Ormskirk Rose was by Smuggler as Christopher was born in the same year as Rose.
I did an 8 generation reverse pedigree of Sweet Lassie and it covered several pages. Her daughters included Ormskirk Rose, Ormskirk Fanny, Ormskirk Countess, Auchcairnie Duchess, Sweet Mermaid, Sweet Fanny and Newmarket Pride that had her name changed to Olton Pride.
These bitches all had puppies that carried on their line for several generations. Ormskirk Rose was the bitch that carried on the principal line. Olton Pride goes down in the history of the breed as she was the Great Granddam of the very famous Ch Wellesbourne Conqueror.
The next important bitch in this line is Lady Curzon. She was the dam of Champion Emerald Gem. She was by Ch Ormskirk Emerald that was described by many at that time as the perfect Collie. He did not excel as a sire but all Collies go back to him tail male.
Lady Curzon also had a litter to Ch Metchley Wonder that produced a bitch called Little Goldleaf and here I have to make a guess that also in this litter was an unregistered bitch called Curzon Jess, a bitch that carried on this line by being the dam of Curzon Blue Betty.
just as an aside here, the Curzon prefix was owned by a Mr Claypole and this is the name of the village next door to our village.
This assumption that Curzon Jess is the dam of Curzon Blue betty and is by CH Metchley Wonder out of Lady Curzon is highly likely as Mr Claypole was a very close friend of Mr T W Cole the owner of Lady Curzon and is most probably the reason that Mr Claypole used this prefix.
Lady Curzon was probably a blue merle as she was the dam of several of this colour and Ch Metchley Wonder was used quite a lot on blue merle bitches although he was a sable and white. He was very strongly white factored as he himself was from a line of blue merle Collies. This blue to sable mating is not allowed today but was common practise in those early days.
The fact that Ch Metchley Wonder was white factored is the main reason for the white Collies in the USA. This line is the main line for blue merles with the Billesley blue merles and following these the famous Westcarrs blue merle Collies.
This line of Collie bitches went for another thirteen generations before another bitch came along to produce more than a single puppy to breed on. This was a bitch called Blue Poppy born in 1934. She was the dam of a blue merle Silver Bouquet and a tricolour bitch called Backwoods Flower Girl that was the dam of several important Chapelburn bitches.
Silver Bouquet was the granddam of Mystic Maid the granddam of Champions Rose and Maid of Ladypark, and the famous Delwood bitches that carried on this line. Blue Poppy is interesting as she was at the head of another line that stretched right up to 1996 to a bitch called Sandiacre Social Graces.
I have put her dam line right back to Blue Poppy
DAM LINE of: Sandiacre Social Graces
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 07/05/1996
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Sandiacre Soft Music ..............CH Sandiacre Social Climber
Sandiacre Sets Appeal ..................Lingwell Ranger
CH Sandiacre Set 'N' ...............Pelido Forgotten Dreams
Sandiacre Serve 'N'...............CH Sandiacre Stop 'N' Think
Sandiacre S'Only Me ................CH Sandiacre Stop 'N' Think
CH Sandiacre Sweet Georgia Brown .......CH Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill
CH Sandiacre Seed Pearl ...................Sandiacre Softly Softly
CH Sandiacre String of Pearls .........CH Brettonpark Highlander of Dunsinane
Colrenes Seawitch of Sandiacre ...................CH Royal Ace of Rokeby
Sandiacre Jefsfire Gaytweed ......................Jefsfire Fury
Jefsfire Gaytime ...........................Franwyns Jefsfire Starmaker
Riffelsee Rosemary .........................Statesman of Southwardedge
CH Rose of Ladypark ...........................Riffelsee Royalist
Laird's Rose ..................................CH Lochinvar of Ladypark
Mystic Maid ....................................Air Commander
Silver Emblem .................................Round Robin
Silver Bouquet ................................Radient Knight
Blue Poppy ....................................CH Backwoods Flutter
This time it is the very successful Sandiacre kennel that was so dominant for a very long time. And it is one of the bitches in this that I still think is one of the very best I have ever seen. This was Ch Sandiacre String of Pearls. She was bred by Mr Colin Chambers and was sired by Ch Royal Ace of Rokeby. She became a very dominant dam with two UK Champions coming from her. She was also the dam of Sandiacre Softly Softly who must have been the most used dog in the breed that was never a Champion. We used him with some success. He had very heavy ears which rather set him back in the show ring. Why his owners did not shave them when he was young I do not know.
I Remember our Ch Corydon Hippolyta had heavy ears as a young puppy. Barbara shaved them. We could not show her for several months but her ear carriage became perfect.
Ch Sandiacre String of Pearls was the dam of two female Champions Sandiacre Sweet Lorraine and Sandiacre Seed Pearl, they bred on for many generations.
Sweet Lorraine was a prolific dam. She was the dam of two female Champions, Mybern’s Megs Girl and Sandiacre Sweet Valentine and a male Champion Sandiacre Silence is Golden.
Meg’s Girl did not breed on but Sweet Valantine produced a Champion male Sandiacre Sonny Jim of Lassina but no other of note.
Seed Pearl was also a successful dam from just one litter bred she produced Ch Sandiacre Sweet Georgia Brown and she went on to produce Champions and her get produced more and more Champions. This was a very successful family for many years. Yet surprisingly I cannot find any line of bitches that go back to this prefix.
The Wigglesworth’s named all of their puppies from pop songs beginning with the letter S. They also refused to show any of their dogs once they became Champions. Hence they never had what we call a great dog. I suppose the only Sandiacre that could be put in that category is Sandiacre Softly Softly that never became a Champion. His main claim to fame was his ability as a sire of excellence. His sire line only goes on for six generations. Yet a reverse pedigree of him goes on forever.
Back to the main line where Ch Rose of Ladypark was by far the most important of these dams. The Champions coming down from her are legion. Just one line demonstrates how important she was. From her daughter Ch Riffelsee Reward of Glenmist to her daughter Ch Sapphire of Glenmist to her daughter Ch Pattingham Gay Lady of Glenmist. Four generations of Champion bitches is rare in the breed. Unfortunately, this line seems to have run its course by the mid 1970’s.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Rose of Ladypark
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 01/09/1948
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mrs H Hunt
+--CH Rose of Ladypark
| +--Riffelsee Rosemary
| | +--Jefsfire Gaytime 2903AV
| +--CH Riffelsee Resplendence
| | +--Kim Golden Carousel
| | +--St. Edmundsbury Pride
| | +--Glenriver Lenzie of Ladypark
| +--Riffelsee Rowena
| +--Riffelsee Rosebud
| | +--Skitfield Statesman
| +--Riffelsee Rozena
| | +--Dasher of Dunsinane
| +--Riffelsea Black Rose
| +--Riffelsea Rowena
| +--CH Riffelsee Reward of Glenmist C.D.Ex
| | +--Satan of Glenmist 2161AS
| | +--Sheik of Glenmist
| | +--CH Starlet of Glenmist 688AT
| | +--CH Sapphire of Glenmist
| | +--Shepherdess of Glenmist 633AR
| | +--Sensation of Glenmist
| | +--Sceptre of Glenmist
| | +--Sovereign of Glenmist 1200AS
| | +--Spellbinder of Glenmist 1124AR
| | +--Soubrette of Glenmist
| | +--Starlight of Glenmist
| | +--Septre of Glenmist
| +--Riffelsee Regality of Dunsinane
| | +--Riffelsee Rita
| | +--Druid of Dunsinane 363AQ
This is only a three reverse generation of Ch Rose of Ladypark. She was a very dominant brood.
But we have to wait another nine generations before we come to a bitch that will live in Collie history for all time. This was Ch Witcraft of Rokeby and she changed the breeds quality to the extent that it once again became a very popular breed, not only in the showring but with the general public as well.
The line continues through her daughter Ch Romney of Rokeby that was the dam of Corydon Regality of Rokeby and the start of the very successful Corydon line of Rough Collie bitches. Surprisingly this is the only line today that goes back to Ch Witchcraft in direct female line. Very surprising because I have a collection of 65 Champions coming down from Ch Witchcraft in just five generations.
There is a little story here as to how we got Regality. Betty Eglin rang me up one evening and asked if we would be interested in a bitch puppy. As Rokeby were by far the top kennel at this time. We were very interested, but the price was a bit high as I was just a normal agricultural salesman at this time.
The puppy had been sired by Ch Royal Ace of Rokeby out of his litter sister Ch Romney of Rokeby. However, Barbara and I talked about it and agreed
that we would part with the family jewels and buy this bitch puppy. Jane as we called her was not really a show bitch but she bred us a Champion bitch and a very successful stud dog.
She was rather nervous, probably because she was a brother sister mating (would not be allowed today) and of course that very nervous dog Dazzler of Dunsinane was her grandsire on both sides.
I saw this dog once when we visited Audrey Chatfield’s kennel. He would not come anywhere near us. It is said that he would not mate a bitch if anyone was watching.
Ch Corydon Hippolyt
She was the dam of two Champions. The tri dog Ch Corydon Quinault and the sable bitch Ch Corydon Hippolyta. I have to say that Hippolyta must be one of the very best we have bred. And she lived for a long time by living to fifteen years of age. And she produced four Champions, two in South Africa and two UK Champions.
Corydon Polyhanna
But it is her uncrowned daughter Corydon Polyhanna that carries on this line. She was the dam of two Champion dogs Corydon Handsome Hero who I believe is the only male Collie to have won Group 1 and Group 2 awards. The other Champion was Corydon Handsome Hotspur, he was a very successful sire in the breed.
And it is Polyhannah’s daughter Corydon Hannastar that carried on the line to the present day. But back to Hippolyta who had another daughter called Corydon Polytucka a tricolour bitch that could not be shown because she lost an eyeball when she had an infection at just a few days old. She was the litter sister of Ch Corydon Polyhera that was hopeless as a dam and not nearly as good from the show points as Tucka. Corydon Polytucka’s line continues to the present through the Demelewis bitch line. I am especially pleased with this as I thought the line had died out after Corydon Whisper Willow.
Corydon Polytucka
Demelewis Raven Moon was the litter sister to Ch Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin Over Corydon that won thirteen CCs making him the most successful modern tricolour dog. Like her brother she was a tricolour and won at least one Challenge Certificate.Delilah goes down in fame as the dam of Ch Corydon Gold Spur. He was unique at the time as he won his Junior Warrant with his fourth CC. His Junior Warrant certificate did not have his Champion title on it as the KC computers were not programmed to put this in. Evidently, he was the first of any breed to win his Junior Warrant under these circumstances. It is quite a rare feat to win four Challenged Certificates as a junior. It is her daughter Corydon Gold Demelza that carries on the bitch line.
DAM LINE of: Demelewis Double Take
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 09/01/2021
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mellish
DAM SIRE
Demelewis Double Dare .................Corydon Riffson
Demelewis Dare To Tell ..................Demelewis Catch My Drift
Corydon Victoriana at Demelewis ........CH Corydon Once in a Blue Moon
Demelewis Catch The Breeze For Corydon.....Corydon Victor Ludorum
Demelewis Mooncatcher...................CH Corydon Once in a Blue Moon
Demelewis Raven Moon ...................Int CH Corydon Catch Me Driftin
Corydon Be A Madam at Demelewis..........Aqualita Class Act with Corydon
Corydon Willa Bea X2000104........CH Phreelancer Phrosty Moon over Corydon JW
Corydon Whisper Willow.....................CH Corydon Blackcat
Corydon Tuck's Whisper................CH Corydon Gold Spur JW
Corydon Polly Tucka...................Corydon Caruso
CH Corydon Hippolyta ..................CH & Aus CH Corydon Handsome Hero JW
Ch & Aus Ch Corydon Glory Hallelujah was an extraordinary show bitch and dam. She was the dam of four Champions in Europe before we sold her to friends in Australia. She quickly won her title over there. Then she went to New Zealand to have a litter. Her owners in Australia were not confident enough to rear a litter from her.
She went to New Zealand where she was mated to NZ Ch Corydon Hot Rod. I am told that five of the resultant litter became Champions in New Zealand and Australia. To be the dam of nine Champions must be a record in the breed.
Glory was a truly beautiful bitch. I saw her in Australia when we visited there in 1991 and I said at the time that I thought she was the most beautiful bitch I had ever seen. She was very happy in her new home. Just a little story here as when her dam was whelping the litter I helped and pulled Glory out. I then decided that she was the pick of the litter while she was still in her bag. At this point I should add that the others in the litter were not very good.
Ch & Aus Ch Corydon Glory Hallelujah Ch Corydon Qui Vive
From all this research there appears a bitch that has probably had more influence on the breed than any other, Ch Corydon Qui Vive as she was tail female behind all of the Corydon bitches and behind all of the Corydon dogs.
She was the dam of female Ch Corydon Hippolyta and male Ch Corydon Quinault. I have been unable to find any other bitch that has that amount of influence. Very rare for a bitch to produce a female line and a male line, especially when mated to different sires. She is twelve generations in direct line from Corydon Clarissa and seventeen generations on the male side from Clarissa. A five generation reverse pedigree of her is quite extraordinary as it covers about 30 pages. So many kennels have her in their line besides the Corydon’s. She was a great favourite of Barbara who took her to countless shows and eventually won her Champion title. If any bitch deserved to be a Champion, it was her.
I have included here the Mejola line back to Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby
DAM LINE of: Ch Mejola Main Event
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 12/06/2021
Colour & Markings: Sable & White
Owner: Jo White
DAM SIRE
Mejola Main Attraction …………………….,,,,,,,,,,,..Corydon Winning Factor
Mejola Fatale Attraction ……………………,,,,,,,,,,,,.CH Mejola I Am Persuasive
Corydon Femme Fatale at Mejola JW……,,,,,,,,,,,CH Corydon Once in a Blue Moon
Corydon La Donnarita……………….Corydon The Persuader
Corydon Rio Rita ……………….CH Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin Over Corydon JW
Corydon Black Czaretta…………….CH Brooklynson From Rio
Corydon Gold Demelza…………………….CH Corydon Blackcat
Corydon Gold Delilah………………..CH Alssala Canny Bairn at Corydon
Corydon Hannalara………………………CH Corydon Gold Star
Corydon Polyhanna………………………….CH & Aus CH Little Caesar at Corydon
CH Corydon Hippolyta………………………CH Bririch Gold Edition
CH Corydon Qui Vive………………………Corydon King Hector
Corydon Regality of Rokeby……………Corydon Quo Vadis
CH Romney of Rokeby…………………….CH Royal Ace of Rokeby
CH Witchcraft of Rokeby…………………Dazzler of Dunsinane
Amazingly these are the only lines that go back to Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby. This most famous of all the bitches in the breed. I find it difficult to understand how this is the last bitch line left. Maybe it is because Witchcraft was mated to a dog that had no close relations to her. In other words, this mating was an outcross.
Corydon Sudden Fancy is the next in the line and she started another line that is right up to the present day.
DAM LINE of: Corydon Cristal Vision
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 25/05/2024
Colour & Markings: Tricolour
Owner: Corydon
DAM SIRE
Corydon Agatha Cristal………Corydon The Baron
Corydon Cristal………………..Corydon The Grandmaster
Corydon Blue Fizz JW………..Corydon Winning Factor
Mejola My Blue Heaven For Corydon……..CH Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin Over Corydon JW
Corydon Coracat For Mejola…..CH Corydon Once in a Blue Mooon
Corydon Sudden Fancy…………CH Corydon Blackcat
Corydon Gold Demelza…………Corydon Sudden Impact
Mother and daughter that were successful brood bitches. Mejola My Blue Heaven for Corydon had two litters. One of them was sired by CH Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin Over Corydon JW. This mating produced a German Champion dog and a Hong Kong Champion bitch.
Corydon Blue Fizz won Best Puppy at Crufts 2014.
Corydon Blue Fizz only won her Junior Warrant and had only one litter and there were just three puppies. But it contained the outstanding sire Fn Ch Corydon Dom Perignon and the dual CC winner Corydon Pol Roger. She is rather on the small side which held her back when challenging for higher honours.
Family B — RUBY 111
My next dam of real significance is a bitch called Ruby111. Why she should be named the third Ruby we do not know. I have to assume that her breeder had previous bitches called Ruby.
What we do know is that she bred at least nine daughters that bred on. She was the main foundation bitch for the Rev Hans Hamilton who was the most famous breeder at that time. He supplied Queen Victoria with one or two of his Rough Collies which started her off in the breed.
I have included a three generation pedigree of her and will go into some length about the Collies in this pedigree.
Pedigree Ruby 111 Born in 1877. Black & Brown
| TRICOLOUR 11 | TRICOLOUR Full brother to Trefoil | TWIG (Mr Shirley) | |
| BESS (Mr Grasby) | |||
| LORNA (Bissell) | TARTON (Brother of TRICOLOUR) | ||
| MAUDE Family A | |||
| NELLIE (Everard-Digby) | PERTHSHIRE BOB | BOB EX RUG | |
| CLOUDY | |||
| ELSIE (Everard-Digby) | |||
Unfortunately, there is no photograph nor illustration of this very important bitch. According to Wheeler who saw her and liked her, she was described by him as being black on the body with tan markings on the face and legs. She had a lovely head. Nowadays we expect our Collies to have some white on them but back then it was quite common for Collies to lack this colour in their coat.
She was the foundation bitch for the Rev Hans Hamilton who was probably the most important Collie breeder of his time. He became president of the Collie Club and became a prominent committee man with the Kennel Club. He also became a committee member on the Crufts Show. Although it was not until the late 1910’s that he won a Challenge Certificate at that show.
Ruby 111 must have been a very prolific breeder because she appears to have produced at least nine bitch puppies that went on to breed puppies themselves. I will get on to some of them later.
Her dam was called Nellie and as there were so many bitches at that time with the same name, I have had to attach her owner/breeders name to her so distinguishing her from the many other Nellie’s. She again was of a black and tan colour.
Mr Wheeler describes Nellie as a very well made bitch with a fair amount of coat. Her head was a full of quality but a little on the short side. Her dam was called Elsie and I have also had to add her breeders name to her name as obviously Elsie was going to be a popular name for a bitch at that time. I have no further knowledge about her except that she must have done quite well in the show ring as she has a Kennel Club Stud Book number. She was almost certainly a working Collie because they nearly all were at that time.
Nellie’s sire was called Perthshire Bob we do not know too much about, but he goes down in the history of the breed as being the sire of one of the more successful dogs of his day called Carlyle. And what a name for Perthshire Bob’s sire Bob of Rug. I assume that like most dogs of that time he was not registered at the Kennel Club. But where did he get that name? Further research shows that this was not his name. This should have been Bob ex Rug. Rug being the sire of Bob.
Ruby 111’s sire Tricolour 11 was interesting as his sire Tricolour was the full brother, later litter of Trefoil who was the dog that all Rough Collies go back to on their male line. They were born in Ireland, the breeder being Mr Shirley who was the first Chairman of the Kennel Club. Now we can see that there was some proper linebreeding in this pedigree because Tartan the sire of Lorna the granddam of Ruby111 was the litter brother of Tricolour.
| Ch Madge | Marcus. No pedigree and probably a Border Collie. | ||
| Ruby 111 | Tricolour 11 | Tricolour | |
| Lorna (Everard-Digby) | |||
| Nellie (Everard-Digby) | Perthshire Bob | ||
| Elsie (Everard-Digby) |
The most outstanding litter from Ruby was when she was mated to a black & white dog called Marcus. He evidently came down from Scotland and proved to be a popular stud dog. We do not have any knowledge of his parentage. From a photograph of his head he looks like a very good Border Collie which I suspect he was.
However, this mating produced two very good bitches. A black and white called Zulu Princess who was exported to the States after she had a litter in this Country. She became one of the early US Champions. The other bitch was called Ch Madge 1 who was a tricolour and the first Champion Collie under Kennel Club rules.
She is by far the most important as she was the dam of Ch Peggie 11 the dam of Ch Christopher when mated to Ch Metchley Wonder.
Madge was also the dam of a dog called Ch Rutland when she was mated to Ch Wolf a son of Old Cockie. Rutland was a very popular sire. And Madge was also the dam of Sefton when she was mated to Maude’s son Ch Charlemagne. Sefton being the sire of Ch Metchley Wonder.
This then ties up the relation between Maude and Ruby 111. These two bitches really laid down the foundation of the breed, and probably had more influence on the future than any of the dogs.
Ch Peggie 11 was also the dam of Ch Sefton Grace making a run of three Champion bitches. Peggie 11 will live in the history of the breed because of her son Ch Christopher who made more of an impact on the breed, from my research than any other Collie born in the 1800’s.
Peggie’s bitch line only went on for another three generations, but it is her son who was the wonder. From his photograph I have to say that he was the first really true Rough Collie. He would win today.
Yet another very important bitch from Ruby111 was a bitch called Lady Clare born in 1884 when Ruby111 was mated to Ch Wolf. Lady Clare was again a prolific breeder, and it is through her that we again come down to CH Ormskirk Emerald, as her Granddaughter Apple Blossom out of Grove Daisy ex Ch Metchley Wonder is the paternal Granddam of this famous dog.
It is through Lady Clare that this bitch line goes right up to a Champion bitch born in 1948. This was Ch Eden Erasmic. She was actually the second bitch with this name to be registered at The Kennel Club. Mr Robson who owned the Eden prefix did not breed or own her. I have to think that he bought her in then sold her on. She was bred by J & A Cleary and owned by a well known exhibitor and judge Mr A. A. Heywood. Her sire was an unknown dog called Don of Oldpark.
We do not know the sires of so many of these bitches. I suspect that hardly any of them were shown at exhibitions because most were simply pets that were mated to have a litter. Certainly, there are no known offspring from any of the dams after Last Rose. Ch Eden Erasmic was probably, like too many of our Champion bitches proved to be non breeders and I have to wonder what her original name was because Mr Robson changed the name of every Collie he bought so that they became Eden Collies.
I have looked into the progeny of Ch Madge 1. She was owned by the Rev Hans Hamilton and was one of the first Champion bitches in this country. Surprising for the time that when she was born, we have her true birth date which was 10/9/1879. She was by Marcusa dog that came down from Scotland and is probably the reason that the Rough Collie is considered to be Scottish in origin. But from his photo and we do have a photo of his head I have to assume that he was really a Border Collie.
Ch Madge 1
Described by Wheeler as a Lovely bitch that was matchless when in full coat. She was of the desired type with correct head, expression and ears. And we do have a photograph of her. Unfortunately, she is sitting down so we do not see her in her full pomp.
Ch Madge was a prolific dam as not only was she the dam of Ch Peggie 11 but also the dam of four other bitches that produced puppies. The most successful dam from her was called simply Amy that was born in 1892. But Peggie 11 was by far the most influential.
I worked an 8 generation reverse pedigree of Madge. I did this to show the influence she had on the breed in the early years. I had one problem with it though as it covered 50 pages. This is actually rather more than any other bitch I have looked at. She was the dam of two Champions. The aforementioned Peggie and a dog called Ch Rutland. He was very widely used at stud and was a successful sire. Madge was an exception because being a Champion she was also a good dam. Not too many Champion bitches were also good and successful dams.
I have put in here the full bitch line for Ruby 111. It ends with a bitch born in 1948. This is Ch Eden Erasmic that became a Champion. But she did not breed on and she had evidently been bought by Mr Robson who changed her name so that it contained his kennel name. Her sire was an unknown dog. I have to assume that her new owner liked her when he saw her and bought her.
Ch Eden Erasmic 2 was the second bitch registered in this name. The first was born in 1915. She actually won her title in the ownership of Mr A A Hayward.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Ruby III This is just a three generation reverse pedigree. I have also put in the dam lines for the bitches I have found that go back to Ruby.
Family C Hunts” Lassie Short family life but important.
This line is only eight generations and therefor too short for this article. But the line is very important for the formation of the breed and so I have included it.
Another of the early bitches was a blue merle called Lassie but because of so many of this name at that time I have to call her “Hunts” Lassie. She was born in 1874 and was well known as an excellent worker. Her sire was dog called Jack owned by a Mr Bailey, he was a tricolour and also a good worker. Her dam was again called Lassie who must have been a blue merle as well. “Hunts” Lassie was mated to a dog called Druce who was by Duncan out of Mr Wheeler’s Old Bess. As Duncan was a grandson of Old Cockie I have to assume he was a sable and white. This mating produced a bitch called Bonnie Greta who, from the following story, must have been a blue merle. She was mated to a full brother of Druce called Bonnie Laddie. Evidently most of this litter were put down at birth as they were blue merles which at that time was not a popular colour for showing. One bitch puppy, a sable survived, and she was called Catrine. She was mated to a dog called Loafer and it was this mating that produced Minnie the dam of Ch Metchley Wonder the most widely used stud dog of his time.
There is quite a story about this mating as well. Minnie was owned by Mr Wheeler, but as often happened at that time she was loaned out to a farmer called Mr Godfree. Mr Wheeler had intended to mate Minnie to Ch Charlemagne, but Minnie came in to season at seven months of age and was caught by Sefton who was owned by Mr Godfree. Evidently Mr Godfree did not tell Mr Wheeler what had happened, and indeed registered Metchley Wonder in his own name. Much to the obvious annoyance of Mr Wheeler, especially when he found out that this dog was to be truly famous both as a show dog and more importantly as a stud dog.
From my research every Rough Collie born after 1899 had this dog in its pedigree. Evidently the one photograph we have of this dog does not due him justice He is said to have been much better than this image of him. But we do have another much earlier photo of him that has just been unearthed as it was in a French Book about dogs published in about 1896. This photo has been overwritten as the owner of the book did not want the photos published. However, this photo was not severely spoilt and is easily copied for future use. This photo shows Metchley Wonder in his prime and from it we can see why this dog was so successful as a stud. He really was a very good and typical Rough Collie. Also, I think that he must have been the most written about Rough Collie ever.
“Hunts” Lassie does not feature in any of the dam lines after Minnie, but her importance in the history of the breed is immense.
REVERSE DAM PEDIGREE of: Lassie (Hunts)
Date of Birth: 01/01/1874
Colour & Markings:
+--Lassie (Hunts)
| +--Bonnie Greta
| | +--Catrine
| | | +--Minnie
| | | | +--CH Metchley Wonder 23002
| | | | +--Mwsister Unreg
| +--Rust
| | +--Primula
| | | +--Wellesbourne Lady
| | | | +--Wellesbourne Ada
| | | | | +--Aughton Bessie
| | +--Highland Annie
| +--Meg (Charles)
| | +--Chieften
| | | +--Elsie Venner
| | | | +--Vida
| | +--Garry
| | | +--Aggie
| | | | +--Lady Godiva
| +--Russett
| | +--Blue Stocking
| | | +--Blue Rose
| | | | +--Blue Sky
| | | | +--Blue Thistle
| | | +--Blue Belle
| | | | +--Blue Beard
| | | | +--Bluebeard
What is also very important about this bitch line is that Aughton Bessie was the dam of the great Ch Ormskirk Emerald who many said was the greatest Rough Collie of all time.
This also makes two male lines going back to Hunt’s Lassie although these lines do merge as Ch Metchley Wonder is the Paternal Great Grandsire of Emerald. Wonder is also three times his great, great, grandsire. Line breeding at its best. Also it does tie up bitch families B & C as Heather Ralph when mated to Aughton Bessie produced Ch Ormskirk Emerald.
Ch Metchley Wonder
The photo on the left was the only photograph known of Ch Metchley Wonder. The photo on the right was shown to me a few months ago. It was from a French book on dogs published in 1896. Those who knew the dog complained that the image on the left did not do him justice. The photo on the left is the dog at an advanced age while the right hand one is of a much younger dog in the prime of his life.
If the right hand photo is correct, then I can recognise why the dog was used so much at stud as he looks like a very good dog. He certainly resembles his son Ch Christopher. Unfortunately, there are no images of his sire and dam. This dog was white factored and is behind all of the American white Collies. A colour that is banned over here. I have to think that he got this white factoring trait from his grand dam Catrine whose dam was a blue merle.
Probably of more importance is that Ch Metchley Wonder is the sire of three bitches that are in different lines that carried on for many years including two that are active today. These are his daughters that are in these three lines. Firstly is Bridesmaid in Family B. Eva 11 in family F and Curzon Jess in Family A. This dog did have an amazing influence on the early formation of the breed making him one of the most important sires the breed has ever had. I have to conclude that he was probably the most important dog the breed has ever had. This book is not supposed to be about any of the dogs, However during my research I have to put these details about him because he was very important especially when we know that all Collies throughout the World have a direct line to him on the sire side and also on at least three bitch lines.
Hamish 111 Family D
This family is one of the very few that is still going strong today. It starts with this bitch that presumably was the third to be named Hamish and owned by a fancier who was quite dominant in the 1880 to 1900 period. This was Mr Panmure-Gordon who lived in a rather nice property in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. Hamish was born in 1880 but again there is no record of her real date of birth.
DAM LINE of: Thistlewing Rising Star
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 07/02/2022
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Welsh
DAM SIRE
Thistlewing Harp String ..........................Culbrae Red Again
Yenroc Scottish Harmany at Thistlewing ...Karafaye Scotch Blend at Thistlewing
Samhaven Scottish Melody At Yenroc ...............Beldones Black Illusion
Samhaven Music ...................................Samhaven Detox
Samhaven Perfect Harmony .........................CH Samhaven Toast Marster
Samhaven Serina at Carriswillow ............Samhaven Forester for Carriswillow
Treglenza Elegant Charm at Samhaven ..............CH Samhaven Addiction
Treglenza Mystique .............................Brilyn Solid Gold at Aaronwell
Lanteague Magical Bliss at Treglenza ..CH Lanteague Harvest Moon at Silvermoor
Lanteague Abracadabra at Treglenza ...............Glenvalley Lad at Treglenza
Lanteague Bewitched at Aaronwell ................. Golden Harvest at Aaronwell
Brilyn Bewildered ................................CH Pelido Double Fantasy
Jasida's Love Story at Aaronwell .................CH Brilyn Supertramp
Jasida's Jonquil .................................Arranbrook Hit Man
Gay Lady of Jasida ...............................CH Brettonpark Whatzizname
Kwintex Annastasia ...............................Brettonpark Bobbee Dazzler
Amoret of Aberthorne .............................
Allison of Aberthorne ............................
Arlene of Aberthorne .............................Drumbeat of Dunsinane
Desire of Dunsinane ..............................Defiant of Dunsinane 237AY
Daffodill of Dunsinane ...........................Dasher of Dunsinane
Ladyfox Starlight ................................CH Defender of Dunsinane
Foxshot Pompey ...................................Foxshot Daz-Sun
Biddy of Mellinwood ..............................Pearison Prefect
Lavender of Ladypark .............................Crossfox Contender 1892AF
Lilac of Ladypark ................................Lyncliffe Lancer 18AD
Beulah's Night Flare .............................Maroel Blue Mandarin
Beulah's Golden Fantasy ..........................Beulah's Nightvictorious
CH Beulah's Golden Feather 2000SS.................CH Beulah's Golden Future
Beulah's Golden Florida 1334UU....................Knottyash Sensation
Backwoods Florabella .............................Backwoods Farrier
Backwoods Folio ..................................Backwoods Feature
Sandbank Sylvia ..................................CH Freshfield Freedom
Osborne Ladyship .................................CH Poplar Perfection 279X
Osborne Beatrice .................................
Mountshannon Marion (Mona) .......................Mountshannon Blue Charmer
Primley Prunella .................................Mountshannon Twilight
Bearwood Nell ....................................King Of The Blues
Select Lassie ....................................CH Seedley Stirling
Blue in Blue .....................................Seedley Select 1108R
Blue China .......................................
Dainty Dollie ....................................Blue Plasmon
Sprightly Lass ...................................
Billesley Bessie .................................
CH Old Hall Beatrice .............................
Old Hall Ina .....................................Edgbaston Royal
Old Hall Ella ....................................Finsbury Pilot
Parbold Princess (Old Hall Grace) 94.1504A........
CH Old Hall Venus ................................Ch Portington Bar None
Annie Swan .......................................Donovan II
Molly Swan 11 ....................................CH Christopher 25177
Molly Swan 16555..................................Paramount 15020
Lady Bruce 16107..................................Rockwood II 14345
Hamish 111 .......................................Bruce Boy
With only three Champions in this line of fifty-two bitches it rather proves my point that Champion bitches are all too often not very good at producing big winners themselves.
The first of the bitches in this line to produce winners was Molly Swan 11. She is in direct female line to the following Champions, Old Hall Beatrice, Old Hall
Duchess, Parbold Pagoda and Barwell Beatrice. The last named had her original
name changed from Marieville Marilla.
In 1882 Hamish (what a strange name for a bitch) was mated to a dog called Bruce Boy and produced a bitch puppy by the name of Lady Bruce. We do not know any details about the breeding of Hamish 111, but we do know quite a lot about Bruce Boy and I attach his pedigree here. As you can see it goes back to Trefoil, Old Cockie and Perthshire Bob This bitch line is still very dominant today with many kennels owning bitches that go all the way back to Hamish111.
Pedigree of Lady Bruce
Bruce Boy was line bred to Old Cockie as this dog appears on both sides of his pedigree. Also there is a bitch in the fifth generation called Lassie (Robert’s) that started a very long line up to the present day. She is at the head of my family F. Another reason I find researching so interesting and satisfying.
Lady Bruce was mated to a dog called Rockwood 11 of which I can find no details at all. But this mating produced an outstanding bitch called Molly Swan and it is she who started a prolific line of bitches that carries on today. In fact, it seems that most of the blue merles go back onto this female line. Molly Swan was the dam of Molly Swan 11 when she was mated to a dog called Paramount who again was line bred to Old Cockie as his sire was Ch Eclipse and his dam Ch Lorna Doone who must have been one of the very earliest Champion bitches although at that time the Champion Status was not recognised by The Kennel Club. Molly Swan 11 was mated to Ch Christopher that produce a wonderful bitch called Annie Swan and it is she who was the foundation bitch for the Old Hall Kennel which was the dominant kennel in Scotland at that time.
Annie Swan was the dam of Old Hall Vera who was the dam of Old Hall Grace who was bought by the Parbold Breeder who changed her name to Parbold Princess and from there we see the famous Parbold Collies come to the fore. Five generations on we come to a bitch by the name of Ch Parbold Pagoda. Her dams line ends after just two generations, but her daughter Parbold Pleasance was the dam of Parbold Paganini who was a grandson of Ch Parbold Piccolo so that even though this bitch line ended the sire line went on until a Ch Antoc Vicar of Bray great grandson son.
Parbold Princess was also the dam of Old Hall Ella and it was she who had a big influence on the breed and was instrumental in starting another well known kennel the Ellwyn’s. Old Hall Ella was the dam of three very important early bitches. She was the dam of Old Hall Irna the dam of the famous Ch Old Hall Beatrice who is one of the Collies depicted in the famous painting by Maud Earle called Four By Honours. Beatrice only produced one bitch puppy of importance, but the line extends from her to the present day.
Pedigree of Parbold Princess Born 28/4/1894
Apart from Old Hall Beatrice none of these Champion bitches bred any top winners.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Old Hall Venus
Sex: F
+--CH Old Hall Venus
| +--Old Hall Vera
| | +--Finsbury Pilot
| | | +--CH Rightaway
| | | +--Old Hall Ina
| | | +--Parkhill Pilot
| | | +--Annandale Belle
| | | +--Irthlingboro Afton
| | | +--Chesterton Princess
| | | +--Sowerby Squire
| | | +--Birkie Punch
| | +--Old Hall Blucher
| | | +--CH Balgreggie Hope
| | | +--Balgreggie Don
| | | +--Old Hall Wenga
| +--Parbold Princess (Old Hall Grace)
| | +--Old Hall Ella
| | | +--Old Hall Ina
| | | +--Old Hall Moon
| | | +--Ellwyn Queen
| | +--Parbold Pink
| | | +--Parbold Patent
| | +--Old Hall Queen
| | +--Old Hall Quality
Old Hall Venus was the start of the main Scottish kennel at that time, and she as can be seen she was very prolific. The Old Hall kennel bred some very important Collies. They kept the Scottish bred Collies on the map for many years.
It was not until the other Champion bitch’s daughter in this line that we get a big branch off. Beulah’s Golden Fantasy was the daughter of Ch Beula’s Golden Feather. Fantasy was not only the dam of Beulah’s Night Flare in this line up but also the dam of her litter sister Beulah’s Night Flame who is at the head of a bitch line that goes right up to the 1980’s.
The bitch line of Beulah’s Night Flare goes on for nine generations before we come to the next great dam. This was a Champion bitch called Burwydne Brendenbury born on the 12th March 1964. Her sire was a dog called Burwydne Brave Ruler. This bitch was at the head of most of the Sangreat Champion Bitches. The champion bitches in this line included the following. Sangreat Sandra, Sangreat San Black N Tan, Sangreat Satteen, and her champion daughters, Sangreat Softly Sentimental and Sangreat Something Special. The line continues with Champions Angelfiel Habibti, a grand daughter of Sangreat Something Special, Sangreat Snow Saphire of Rubec who was the dam of Ch Rubed Snow Symphony and Ch Rubec Blue Whisper at Saredon
Once again we find that none of these Champion Bitches continued a female line for more than a couple of generations and indeed only two actually produced any winners at all. This line from Beulah’s Night Flame ends with the Rubec bitches.
The next bitch to make a mark in this line was the blue merle Lilac of Ladypark a daughter of Beulah’s Night Flare and sired by the blue merle dog Maroel Blue Mandarin. She was evidently injured soon after birth so was never shown but goes down in Collie History as one of the breeds greatest dams. She was the dam of Ch Lena of Ladypark when she was mated to Lucky of Ladypark. This mating was to be of very much importance to the Cathanbrae, Larkena and Wrenarve kennels.
In fact Ch Lena of Ladypark was even more important for the breed than her dam. Mainly through her sons which included Ch Lena’s Golden Son a prolific sire and Int Ch Libretto Of Ladypark who was exported to Teresa Garibelli in Italy.
Before Libretto Of Ladypark left these shores, he was used effectively on a number of bitches. I have done a reverse pedigree of Libretto which shows that he was in the pedigree of almost every kennel in this country. And a reverse pedigree of his dam Ch Lena of Ladypark results in the fact that she is in the pedigree of every modern Rough Collie. She was without a doubt one of the most important bitches ever in the breed and probably had a bigger influence on the breed than almost any of the dogs used.
An eight generation, reverse pedigree of her results in many thousands of dogs and bitches. For instance Ch Larkena Vanara Golden Victor one of the most successful sires in the breed is in her sixth generation. Further top sires that she is behind are Ch Liberty of Ladypark, Ch Westlyns Wayside Boy, and Ch Legend of Ladypark. Almost all of the Jefsfire Champions and Antoc Champions have her in their quite recent ancestors. In fact she is behind every kennel in this country and almost certainly every Rough Collie in Europe and further afar to Australia etc.
The next bitch in this line to have a mark is Desire of Dunsinane. She was behind the Aberthorne and Abbestone Collies. I have to assume that Abbestone Delecta of Dunsinane was the foundation bitch for the Abbestone kennel.
One of the most amazing points of Lilac of Ladypark is that she was at the head of at least four prominent lines that were started with three different sires. Ch Lena of Ladypark was sired by Lucky of Ladypark. Lobelia of Ladypark was sired by Westcarrs Black Bisley as was Ch Silvaseabear From Shiel and Lavendar of Ladypark was sired by Lyncliffe Lancer.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Lilac of Ladypark
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 03/08/1945
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
+--Lilac of Ladypark
| +--Hewburn Liquorice of Ladypark 2299AK
| | +--Starlight of Southwardedge
| | +--Leafgold of Ladypark
| | +--Lunalubra of Ladypark
| +--CH Lena of Ladypark 1329AF
| | +--Cathanbrae Crystal
| | +--CH Lena's Golden Son
| | +--Int CH Libretto of Ladypark
| | +--Valentine of Ladywell
| | +--CH Eden Rip of Ladywell
| | +--CH Lilt of Ladypark
| | +--Lyrical of Ladypark
| +--Lettuce of Ladypark
| | +--Lookout of Ladypark
| | +--Likely of Ladypark
| +--Letty of Ladypark
| | +--Chloe of Naragansette
| +--Lobelia of Ladypark
| | +--Westcarrs Blue Minerva
| | +--CH Westcarrs Blue Minoru
| | +--Windyhull Black Danube
| +--Lupin of Ladypark
| | +--Cloverfield Cobweb 1528AR
| | +--Pattingham Silver Cloud
| | +--Pattingham Silver Velvet
| | +--Picture Girl of Valtura
| | +--Cloverfield Chearfull
| +--Sombreseawave From Shiel
| | +--Soloist From Shiel
| +--Silvaseadog From Shiel
| | +--Toirua's Diamond Triton
| +--Lavender of Ladypark
| | +--Biddy of Mellinwood
| +--CH Silvaseabear From Shiel
| | +--Silvacymbal From Shiel
| | +--Silvastarjoy From Shiel
| | +--Sombrestarray From Shiel
| | +--Sylvacymbal From Shiel
| | +--Silvaseagull From Shiel
| | +--Silvastartime From Shiel
| | +--Silva Seagull From Sheil
| | +--Silvasinglow From Shiel
| +--Silva Seahorse From Shiel
This is just a three generation reverse pedigree of Lilac Of Ladypark. She was very influential for the breed.
Family E – Miss Perfection
This family starts off with an unregistered bitch called Miss Perfection. She was born in about 1897. Unfortunately, there are no other details about her except that she heads this family which is still going on today with two blue merle bitches being shown. Further research has shown another line with a bitch being younger than the other two bitches.
This became a huge family of very well known bitches, especially during the 1970 to 1990 period when the breed was very popular with very large show entries and Kennel Club registrations. It seems very strange that there are only one or two bitches born in the last few years should be left for the family to carry on.
In just four generations from Miss Perfection we come to a bitch by the name of Edel Excellence born 17/3/1906. And no, she was not an Eden. But most of the early Eden’s came down from her as she was the dam of several Sonnenburgh dogs and bitches that were very prominent in the early 1900’s. she is important because not only does she carry on this family line she is in just six generations the paternal granddam of the very famous Ch Glenack Kingfisher who was born in 1927.
This bitch is also of great interest for us as she was the dam of two bitches owned by Barbara’s Grandfather when he became interested in the breed just before the First World War. One was a bitch he bought in called Bel Ch Horthfield Princess. She was a Belgian Champion sired by probably the greatest winner the breed has ever had Ch Squire Of Tyton. He was unbeaten at all the shows he attended in this country; he was then exported to the States where he continued his unbeaten show career.
Edel Excellence was the first in this bitch line to have puppies producing other puppies to continue the line. She was the dam of two Champions, the aforementioned Bel Ch Horthfield Princess and her litter brother Bel Ch Horthfield Model. They were both by a dog called Master Willy who was a very popular sire at this time probably because his sire was the great Ch Anfield Model and he did not inherit his sires extreme nervousness.
She was also the dam of another bitch owned by Mr Tom Anderson, Barbara’s grandfather. This one was called Kennington Kitty. Kennington being his Kennel Prefix at this time. However, I suspect that he had her name changed as I have another bitch on the database called Branston Kitty with the same breeding. Edel Excellent’s bitch puppies failed to carry on the line for more than a few generations other than the next in this family line Sonnenburgh Symphony. However she is very important because of the males that came down from her.
DAM LINE of: Kourika Kind of Perfect Sex: F Date of Birth: 25/06/2020 DAM SIRE Kourika Krystal Ice .....................Willowdine Double Or Quits at Wassail CH Kourika Karrizma .............................. Kourika Kleopatra .......................Willowdine Double Or Quits at Wassail Kourika Karazmatic ...............................Erjon Ebony Byron JW 0846CQ Kourika Kiss Me ..........................Camanna Coast To Coast at Bahatiview Kourika Lady Killer ..............................Kourika Kool Water Kourika Kinder Surprise .....................Amalie I'm a Believer in Aintshe Roanburn Cherry Ice at Kourika .........Roanburn Rock to the Top with Geosanke Zolkhan Cherry Brandy with Roanburn ..........Amalie I'm a Believer in Aintshe Roanburn Cherry Cola at Zolkhan ..................Roanburn Royal Oak CH Roanburn Black Cherry .........................CH Brilyn Rum N Black 421CA Roanburn Sucha Dream .............................CH Coldarmar Wor Geordie Lynway Sucha Smile at Roanburn ...................CH Lynway Seldom Sober Mybern's Shady Lady at Lynway ...................Cloverbank Scimitar at Lynway CH Abbestone Ruby's Love at Mybern ...............CH Jankeith Gideon at Mybern CH Abbestone Ruby Red Dress ......................CH Mybern's Mandane Highcroft Angels Choice of Abbestone .............Mybern's Marine Boy Abbestone Angel Face ...........................Sandiacre Softly Softly CH Northdale Night Sky of Abbestone ..............Arron of Abbestone Supedra Modern Millie ....................CH Brettonpark Highlander of Dunsina CH Betcherrygah Bridget ..........................Supedra Golden Raffle Selstoma Sparkle .................................CH Chateauroux Flawless Sandpiper of Dindella .........................Selstoma Oakbrook of Gay Laird Selstoma Sunflower ...............................Sudborough Laddie Danethorpe Dairymaid .............................Longmeadow Lancer Danethorpe Crossfox Chick 1508AF..................Air Cadet Crossfox Colleen .................................Orangefield Play-Boy Parkside Patience ................................Lyncliffe Lancer 18AD Kittieholm Fussy .................................Parkside Policeman Sandford Tess ....................................Loughrig Landseer Collieholm Cora .................................. Cheltonia's Treasure ............................. Townsfield Treasure Trove ........................ Sonnenburgh Selene ............................... Sonnenburgh Shelia ............................... Sonnenburgh Sumptious ............................ Sonnenburgh Symphony .............................CH Sonnenburgh Squire Edel Excellence ..................................CH Parbold Picador Bessie ...........................................CH Squire of Tytton 148K Parbold Penguin ..................................Parbold Paragon Moreland Verda ................................... Miss Perfection - E Un Reg........................ This line is different and is more up to date than the previous line.
DAM LINE of: Myriehewe Champers on Ice Sex: F Date of Birth: 29/06/2024 Colour & Markings: Owner: DAM SIRE CH Saganan Blue Diamond ..........................Ch Marvalan Spirit of Rock Saganan Lady True Blue ...........................CH Ingledene Spirits Arise Myriehewe Amazing Grace ..........................CH Samhaven Time Will Tell Myriehewe Imagine ........................Myriehewe Rainbow Quest over Kazmith Myriehewe Persian Affair .........................Jasand Jolson of Birkmyre Myriehewe Mysterious .............................Myriehewe Snowstorm Myriehewe Miesque ................................CH Jasand Young Winston Myriehewe Blue Ribbon .......................Lynway Styled in Black at Clickam Myriehewe Mothers Ruin.......................Clickam Silver Corsair of Penmara Tavena's Spanish Wine ............................CH Aberthorne Arrester Sandiacre Spanish Eyes of Tavena .................NZ Ch Cinlock's Candy Man Sandiacre Sugar Me ...............................CH Royal Ace of Rokeby CH Sandiacre Request of Rokeby ...................CH Rauno of Rokeby CH Rosalie of Rokeby 1605BC.......................Dorgano Double Ace of Rokeby Dentonian Donna Anna .............................CH Royal Ace of Rokeby Dentonian Winta Debut ............................Sheildon Marquis Foxshot Glenis ...................................CH Duntiblae Dogwatch Foxshot Dream Girl ...............................CH Duntiblae Dogwatch Foxshot Surprise ................................. Danethorpe Darkly ................................Rowlyn Lad Danethorpe Crossfox Chick ........................Sensation of Hildern Crossfox Colleen .................................Orangefield Play-Boy Parkside Patience ................................Lyncliffe Lancer Kittieholm Fussy .................................Parkside Policeman Sandford Tess ....................................Loughrig Landseer Collieholm Cora .................................. Cheltonia's Treasure ............................. Townsfield Treasure Trove ........................ Sonnenburgh Selene ............................... Sonnenburgh Shelia ............................... Sonnenburgh Sumptious ............................ Sonnenburgh Symphony .............................CH Sonnenburgh Squire Edel Excellence ..................................CH Parbold Picador Bessie ...........................................CH Squire of Tytton Parbold Penguin ..................................Parbold Paragon Moreland Verda ................................... Miss Perfection - E Un Reg........................
It was not until another ten generations in this line had gone by before we come to another bitch who was to make her mark as an excellent dam. This was Parkside Patience She was born in about 1935. Her sire was called Parkside Policeman, a grandson of Ch Ashtead Applause. The Parkside kennel was going well before the second World War but seem to have had no great success with any of their Collies except for Patience.
Parkside Patience was the catalyst for this family line to suddenly expand so that it did become one of the most successful bitch lines during the period when the breed was at its most popular.
Patience had three daughters who were to carry on and expand the line. These were Parkside Pamela, Crossfox Chaser and Crossfox Coleen. A fourth line was started by the daughter of Crossfox Coleen by the name of Danethorpe Crossthorpe Chick. She had two lines coming from her in Danethorpe Darkly and Danethorpe Dairymaid..
This line starts off with Miss Perfection and includes Crossfox Coleen one of Parkside Patience’s daughters and is right up to date.
Crosfox Coleen was probably the most important as her line eventually led to Ch Rosalie of Rokeby who was the dam of that most productive bitch Ch Sandiacre Request of Rokeby. Rosalie was actually the dam of two Champion bitches. Beside Request she was the dam of Ch Jimarlyns Rejoice of Rokeby who was exported to Ireland. She won both her UK and Irish titles.
Back to Crossfox Coleen as she was the dam of another excellent brood bitch Danethorpe Crossfox Chick. She was the dam of Danethorpe Darkly whose line in six generations was to give us Ch Rosalie of Rokeby. Danethorpe Crossfox Chick’s other get of note was Danethorpe Dairymaid whose line led to the Selstoma, Northdale and Abbestone Champions.
Crossfox Coleen was also the dam of Crossfox Candy that started the Clayswood Kennel. This kennel was owned by a Mrs Clay who refused to show her dogs because she thought the whole game of showing dogs was not honest. She felt that most judges were incompetent. I have a feeling that she was probably correct in her interpretation of dog shows and what goes on at them.
I should have learnt this the first time I ever went to a dog show. This was Crufts in 1953. I still remember Bill Siggers throwing his hat in the air when the dog he was handling, a Great Dane, was awarded Best In show. This dog had his ownership changed to that of Bill Siggers for this show. Little did I know at the time, but this dog was owned by the recent Chairman of The Kennel Club. Bill Sggers was a dog judge. As far as I know he did not own or show any dogs. This dog was also entered in the Special Beginners Class which was for those exhibitors that had never won a first prize at Crufts. This dog was a Champion at this time and there was no possibility that Mr Siggers could have bought this dog. I suspect the dog was transferred back to his original owner after this show. The best bitch award went to a Cocker Spaniel. Her owner was a Crufts committee member. The judges, they had two for best in show in those days, were both Crufts committee members. I have to say that times do not change where the Kennel Club is concerned.
Why do I show my dogs? The only real reason is that I want to breed better Rough Collies and the only way I can do that is to compare them with others and that can only be in the show rings.
Mrs Clay though did breed some excellent Rough Collies and most of the top breeders at that time were anxious to get hold of her best. And it was a Clayswood bitch that was the dam of the last great Ladypark Champion Ch Cathanbrae Ladypark Lavender Blue one of the all time great blue merle bitches.
Further on from Crossfox Candy we come to another famous brood bitch. This one was called Melzars Miss Wonder, and it is from her that most of the famous Mybern’s bitches were descended. She was twelve generations on from Crossfox Candy. It really is very surprising that none of the previous eleven bitches in this line produced other than the one after herself in the line.
The reverse dams pedigree of Melzars Miss Wonder shows just what an influence she was not only the Mybern’s but also the Myrehewe kennel during the 1990/2010 period. It is the Myrehewe line that brings this line up to the present time.
Now we come to one of the most prolific dams in the breed. This was Ch Sandiacre Request of Rokeby bred by Mrs Eglin and owned by the Wigglesworth’s. She had three daughters that carried on the line for several generations. They were Pattingham Sandiacre Sincerity, Sandiacre Sugar Me and Sandiacre Scarlet Ribbon. The latter bitch was the dam of two Champion bitches with her line ending with Ch Beechwyre Midnight Velvet born in 1993. Pattingham Sandiacre Sincerity had a line going eventually to one of the breeds greats in Ch Bhyllsacre Querida Mia.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Bhyllsacre Querida Mia
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 01/05/1979
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Cozens
+--CH Bhyllsacre Querida Mia
| +--CH Bhyllsacre Mia'ly a Dream
| | +--Bhyllsacre Shades of Gold
| | | +--Ch Ingledene Power of Love
| | +--Bhyllsacre Make Mine a Star at Westlynn
| | | +--Jefsfire Fair Share
| | | | +--Jefsfire Another Venture
| | | | | +--CH Jefsfire So Charming to Brooklynson
| | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson Golden Fashion 0250CK
| | | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson From Rio 2633CP
| | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson Headliner 0531CK
| | | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson Liz Taylor
| | | +--Jefsfire A Certain Flair
| | | | +--CH Jefsfire Francheska
| | | | | +--CH Jefsfire So Charming to Brooklynson
| | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson Golden Fashion 0250CK
| | | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson From Rio 2633CP
| | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson Headliner 0531CK
| | | | | | | +--CH Brooklynson Liz Taylor
| | | | +--CH Bhyllsacre Golden Gem
| | | +--Ingledene Ria'ly a Love
| | | | +--CH Ria'ly Famous at Bhyllsacre
| | | | +--CH Wannabe Ria'ly Loved at Ingledene
| | | +--Bhyllsacre Golden Feather
| | | | +--CH Bhyllsacre Golden Gem
| | | +--Layfette Shades of Delight at Rusforth
| | | | +--CH Rusforth Sweet Cherie
| | +--Bhyllsacre Make Mine a Star at Westlynn
| | | +--Jefsfire Fair Share
| | | | +--CH Jefsfire Francheska
| | | +--CH Jefsfire Charlie Boy
| +--CH Bhyllsacre Mia'ly Golden
| | +--Bhyllsacre Make Mine Macho
| | | +--Dalgarven Victoria from Sprucewood
| | | | +--CH Sprucewood Anna-Mae at Dalgarven
There are six Champion bitches in this eight generation reverse pedigree. They include the last Jefsfire bitch Champion and the last Bhyllsacre Champion bitch. Also there are several of the Brooklynson Champion bitches and that line ends with Brooklynson Gladys Nite born in 2010.
Just an aside here as the list includes Ch Brooklynson Liz Taylor. I awarded her the bitch CC when I judges Crufts Dog Show in 2003. The referee awarded Her Best of Breed. I seem to remember that she was the only exhibit I could find that has a flat skull. An important part of the Breed Standard.
Family F Old Lassie (Robert’s)
This family was the original Family 1 of Dareen Bridges families, but she like Margaret Osborne who also had this family as her first had some of the old bitches in the wrong place. But it is still a very important family as it is one of the very few that can trace back from today to the 1870’s. But, I can only find this bitch at the top of the list. This family was the largest in Margaret Osborne’s list of bitch lines.
DAM LINE of: Libanel Everlasting Dezire
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 20/04/2022
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Ponmanka My Fair Lady with Libanel ...............Highnol Echos In The Mist for Welanga
Coahabeg Forget Me Not at Pomnenka ...............
Coahabeg Floral Damce ............................CH Ladnar Kingfisher
Coahabeg Lady of the Lake ........................Wicani Whats New Pussycat
Coahabeg Gentle Zephyr ...........................Coarhabeg Tidal Wave
Mystian Musical Fantasy at Coarhabeg .............Coahabeg Figaro
Camanna Chanel of Mystian ........................Lynway Sandpiper at Camanna
Glenalans Gold and Ivory .........................Erjon Eyecatcher
Glenala'ns Jazz Singer ...........................CH Lynway Sandknocker 1175BT
Kelron Sweet Talk at Glenalan ....................Glenalan's Night Arrest
Glenalan's Lucky Dream ...........................
Glenalan's Solitaire .............................
Glenalan's Golden Karis ..........................Sandiacre Softly Softly 2999BF
Pers-Nality Girl of Glenalan .....................Clickam Golden Captain
Bess of Clovely ..................................Rowdina Rembrandt of Rokeby
Amber The Shepherdess ............................Rowdena Reveller
Dena The Shepherdess .............................
Pattingham Lovely Miss ...........................
Danethorpe Laugh of Ladypark .....................
Proud Lassie .....................................CH Lochinvar of Ladypark
Laughing Beauty ..................................Ronline Laddie
Golden Eclipse ...................................Laund Dewshill Banner
Gay Princess .....................................Gaelic Chieftain
Entwistle Flash ..................................CH Corella Starboy
Loughrigg Lavinia ................................Loughrigg Landseer
Loughrig Lilette .................................
Loughrig Laurelia ................................
Seftonian Sushine ................................
Eden Embrace 1 ...................................
Eden Emily (Laund Lizzie (2) (Cathkin Chris) .....CH Eden Extra
Denny Lively Bird ................................CH Laund Limit
Seedley Sombre ...................................CH Seedley Statesman
Seedley Sagacity .................................CH Seedley Stirling
Longford Queenie .................................CH Seedley Statesman
Woodmansterne Bridget ............................CH Woodmansterne Tartan
Ravensome Lady ...................................Scarisbrook Star
Orleton Eve ......................................
Eva 11 ...........................................CH Christopher 25177
Princess Rutland .................................CH Metchley Wonder 23002
Muscatelle .......................................CH Rutland 13894
Maritina .........................................Blackpool Scott
Fly (Robert's) ...................................Scott (Tomlinson)
Bonnie ...........................................
Lassie (Robert's) ................................
This line includes many famous bitches one of whom is called Denny Lively Bird. She started several lines but of more interest is that she was the dam of a bitch that had her name changed twice. Lively Bird is also the start of my next line that is the last of the famous Antoc bitches.
DAM LINE of: Antoc Soul Diva
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 18/04/2013
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mrs C Smedley
DAM SIRE
Francheska From Antoc .....................CH Jopium Touch of Soul at Triburle
Antoc Dream In The Dark ..........................Atendus French Franc
Antoc Dolly Daydream .............................Lynaire Travilin Man
Antoc Diamond Days ...............................CH Mayd Welcome at Atendus Antoc Diamond in the Sky .....................Wicani Alfa Romay'O at Rickwood
Antoc Frosted Sky JW ..........................Rickwood Black Abbott
CH Antoc Crystal Rainbow .........................CH Maydwelcome at Atendus
Antoc Forgive and Forget .........................Rickwood Alfie
Antoc Midnight Blue ..............................CH Pelido Guilty
Black in Fashion at Antoc ...................CH Rubec Mist'N'Blue at Aberhill
Astrallita Aramanthine of Clickam ................CH Antoc Midnight Cowboy Astrallita Air Hostess at Seamew .............Barnville Blue Barnet at Corydon
Deloraine Dilemma ................................Astrellita Able Seaman
Corena Carey Ann .................................CH Larkena Rabelais
Corena Cindy Lou .................................CH Deloraine Don Juan
Deloraine Demoiselle ..........................CH Larkena Vanara Golden Victor
Christina of Calverley ...........................CH Debonair of Glenmist
Beauty of Briarmains .............................Comet of Calverley
Koggala True Lady ................................Acrobat of Arranbeck
Whitelea Winniepoo ...............................Rimington Kittieholm Pilot
Lassie's Return ..................................Stantree Squire
Maureen of Faux ..................................Chapelburn Ronald
Miss Muffet of Faux ........................Masterpiece of Faux
Marguerite of Faux ...............................Netherkeir George
Upton Beauty .....................................Malcombe Monty of Faux
Letham Lillias ...................................Wallace of Ashtead
Letham Luella ....................................Letham Landmark
Letham Lady ......................................CH Wishaw Standard
Denny Dinah ......................................
Denny Lively Bird ................................CH Poplar Perfection
They both trace back to Denny Lively Bird but different daughters of that most prolific bitch. The Antoc bitcLibanel bitch traces back to another Lively Bird daughter Eden Emilythat was sired by Ch Laund Limit. Eden Emily actually had her name changed twice. It happened in those days. The line though is very important because of two bitches. One of them is in this line Denny Lively Bird while the other is a granddaughter of Bird through her daughter Eden Emily. This is Ch Eden Elenora the dam of 5 Champions including the dog that all Collies in the World go back to in direct male line Ch Eden Emerald.
It is rather sad that Antoc have stopped breeding and it appears that no one has taken over these to lines that have been going for 150 years. This is a line of 44 bitches yet only two were Champions. And one of those was the bitch at the top of this list.
I have included both lines. The first from the original Lassie and the second from Denny Lively Bird. Both lines come directly from Denny Lively Bird . And there are more lines from this bitch. They are not as up to date as the first two but they did carry on for many generations before they died out. I have included these line here as they were from four different daughters of Denny Lively Bird. She is definitely one of the most prolific of all the bitches that I have managed to trace. Robert’s Lassie was the dam of a dog called Carlyle that became a very dominant sire during the 1870- 80 period. He was the sire among others of Wheelers Old Bess who is so dominant in Family B.
I have put a three-generation reverse dam pedigree here of Denny Lively Bird. Why was she so good a producer? The more I look into her effect on the breed the more I find. All I can say is that the 14 bitches that came before her in this line produced nothing other than the bitch that followed in the line. I have to accept that she was owned by Mr Robson who used her intelligently by using the best stud dogs for her.
Denny Lively Bird was instrumental in helping to make the Eden kennel one of the most important Rough Collie kennels of all time. Her most important daughter was called Eden Embrace. She was the dam of one of the most important bitches the breed has ever had in Ch Eden Elenora. It is this bitch’s sons that are so important especially Ch Eden Emerald that is behind all of this Countries Rough Collies and also almost all of the USA’s Rough Collies. Ch Eden Elenora was the dam of five Champions from two litters both by Ch Poplar Perfection. Two were male Champions. One of them Ch Backwoods Fashion had his name changed from Eden Eric even though he had won a first prize at Crufts in his original name. He was really the dominant sire in this country between the two World Wars. Strangely of the three Champion bitches from Elenora two did not produce anything of note. Very strange because of the influence of the two Champion dogs.
Just for fun I have put in a 4 generation reverse pedigree of Denny Lively Bird here. There are 8 daughters three of whom had their names changed. One of them twice as she started her life as Cathkin Chris then her name was changed to Laund Lizzie and then to Eden Emily and she was the most productive daughter of this Denny Lively Bird because she was the dam of Ch Eden Elenora that was one of the very few Champion bitches to actually breed Champions.
Eden Emily was the second bitch to be named Laund Lizzie. Therefore, in my database she is down as Laund Lizzie 2. Why the Kennel Club allowed names to be repeated I do not know but it makes research very difficult.
The Eden kennel is very dominant in this line. Mr Robson really was a very good breeder. It is most unfortunate that there are so few proper breeders left to improve the future of the breed.
CH Eden Eleanora is by far the most important bitch in this line. She was the dam of five Champions. Two dogs and three bitches. Two of the bitches did not breed on at all but the two dog Champions were to have a huge effect on the breed. The first was called originally Eden Edward. He won a first prize at Crufts with that name but he was bought by the Backwoods man who changed his name to Backwoods Fashion. His sire line then went on to Ch Antoc Vicar of Bray. The other Champion dog was called Eden Emerald and his line is the most dominant line both here and in America. He won his title here before he was exported to the USA. When he arrived in his new country, he was found to have a skin problem that would not heal. Therefor he was never shown over there, but the breeders liked what they saw, and he was used extensively to the position where his stock were better than the Collies in his home country. This put a stop to the mass exporting of dogs from here to the States. With this in mind I have to wonder why his Champion sisters did not produce winners as well. What I can say is that Ch Eden Emerald joined Ch Christopher and Dazzler of Dunsinane as the most important and influential sires of all time in the breed. However on second thoughts surely the sire of the Eden dogs should replace them. This was Ch poplar Perfection who was quite unique in that he was Best of Breed at the last Crufts during the First World War held in 1917.
Another bitch from this mating, Eden Esme, had another line that carried on for fourteen generations until 1961 with the birth of Alvit of Arranbeck that was sired by Ch Antoc Tawny Tatt
This family really did become very dominant for a very long time. So it does seem to be very strange that it has almost died out. Why?
What I do find amazing is that most of the famous sires of their day did not have very long lines in front of them. In fact apart from the three mentioned above no other dogs started their own line to carry on for more than just a few generations, yet the dams I am writing about were much more successful in this fact.
Then it was another 7 generations in this line before we come to another top producer in Miss Muffet Of Faux.. She had three daughters that were to start their own line. These were Maureen of Faux, Mignon of Faux and Miss Mischief of Faux. Maureen was the most important one as she is behind all of the bitches in the list above. Although Miss Mischief of Faux was also a spectacular dam as she was the dam of Alphington Glamour that was the start of the Helengowan success and the dam of Moselass of Faux that was at the head of the Coverdales string of Champions. While Mignon of Faux was the granddam of the Arcot line of Champions. Miss Muffet of Faux has to join the list of great dams.
This is a different line starting with Delorraine Demoiselle that was in the first line. She was also the dam of Deloraine Corena Christalyn starting her own line that ended in 2005. The Rickwood kennel based their breeding on this line.
There are so many line coming from this family yet they have all died out. This is a major problem when kennels retire and there is no one to carry on the line. Both Antoc and Coahabeg were going strong until they decided to stop breeding. I have to wonder why other breeders allowed these two famous lines to die out.
This is yet another line coming down from Miss Muffet of Faux through her daughter Miss Mischief of Faux. The line ends with Telforth Blue Fantasia that was the dam of Ch Telforth Mister Blue Sky.
So ends the very prolific Family F
Family G – Stanhope Village Belle
She was an unregistered bitch born at the end of 1899. This became a very strong family especially after the second World War. The Jefsfire kennel was started with a bitch in this line and they were followed by the Aberhill kennel. But it all seems to have come to a full stop before the start of the 2000’s. There were a large number of Champion bitches in this line but as I have found out, Champion bitches were generally very poor producers.
I have done some further research and I have found a line of Danfrebeck bitches that carry the line on into about 2012 with a bitch called Danfrebeck Dressed to Kill. I have no birth date for her as I do not think she was ever shown. I have included her dam line here and obviously it is quite long.
DAM LINE of: Danfrebek Dressed To Kill
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 26/10/2011
DAM SIRE
Danfrebek Voodoo Child ...........................Jopium Cool Touch JW 0233CQ
Sablepark Spellmaker with Danfrebek ..............
Takhisis Lady Jane from Sablepark .......Tiganlea Tomorrows Dream at Sablepark
Aberhill Lady Luck at Takhisis ...................CH Aberhill Bluwatch
Aberhill Nosy But Nice ...........................Erjon Elegant King 1097CF
Aberhill Personality Madam ...........CH Midnight Flyer of Lynaire at Aberhill
Aberhill Personality Plus ........................Lynaire all in Gold
CH Aberhill Personality Miss .....................CH Mr Wot of Aberhill
Aberhill Carousel ........................CH Pied Piper of Aberhill at Rixown
Winrix Sweet Serenade ............................Seafire Sentinal
Winrix Brandy Snap ...............................Brettonpark Bobbee Dazzler
Winrix Rosander ..................................CH Bririch Gold Edition
Silvafox Serena ..................................Dazzler of Dunsinane
Silvafox Sweet Honey of Joywill ..................
Silvafox Shani ...................................Dazzler of Dunsinane
CH Jefsfire Shear Joy ............................Jefsfire Shadyglen
CH Jefsfire Joyous Jodie 281AW....................CH Jefsfire Strollaway
Jefsfire Duskie Dawn 517AT........................Jefsfire Drover
Jefsfire Satin Sensation 2360AQ...................CH Gunner of Glenturret
CH Whitelea Watastra 1515AP................CH Larkena Rexley of Larkfield
CH Sudborough Lochdorna ..........................Whitelea Why Boy
Lassie of Sudborough .............................CH Lochinvar of Ladypark
Lassie of Courage ................................Eden Esquire 2
Sandy of Mariemeau ........................Thane of Mariemeau
Jeannie of Mariemeau .............................Thane of Mariemeau
Mariemeau Violetta ...............................CH Knight of Monister
Mariemeau Genesta 1671TT..........................Ashtead Aristocrat
Cora of Mariemeau ................................CH Knight of Monister
Mariemeau Idylle .............................CH Laund Lindrum (Glenack Glow
Stella-of-Test ...................................Beaulieu Marauder
Laund Lacey ......................................Laund Lucas
Laund Lavinia ..............................CH Laund Laird
Felinfoel Betty ..................................CH Laund Limit
Parbold Peeper ...................................CH Sonnenburgh Squire
Duchess of Weardale ..............................Parbold Privateer
Weardale Welfare .................................CH Ormskirk Foxall
Weardale Superba .................................CH Squire of Tytton
Stanhope Shy Girl ................................CH Lancaster Rex
Stanhope Village Belle ...........................
The line includes several champion bitches including two from the Jefsfire Kennel. One of the most interesting bitches from this line is Felifoel Betty. She was the dam of Ch Laund Logic who was much used at stud.
I have put a five generation pedigree of Lassie Of Courage as it proves that good breeding involves including the best dogs. For instance Ch Knight of Monister appears six times and Ch Laund Lindrum the sire of Knight appears seven times. I do not know how good Lassie was as she was not shown due to be being born during the second World War when showing of dogs was banned. But she was good enough to be the granddam of Whitelea Whatastra and the start of the very influential Jeffsfire line. Her COi would give todays Kennel Club staff to declare a big No No as it was over 45. But it was good for the breed. I cannot understand breeders who demand that a five generation pedigree should not contain any names more than once. This is not breeding. It is just producing puppies with the hope that one of them might turn out to be quite good.
We got started in the big time by inbreeding for our first proper litter. Since then I have always practiced line breeding which is the reason we have an established line of Rough Collies that consistently reach the top. 29 UK Champions and 54 CC winners together with 104 Champions World Wide proves my point.
The next bitch to have an effect was Mariemeau Idylle. Like Betty her Great Grandmother she was responsible for so many Collies that came after her. An eight generation reverse pedigree shows that all of the main kennels after World War 2 would have her somewhere in their dogs pedigree.
There are so many Corydon’s, yet we only used a Jefsfire twice on the same bitch. I did not realise until I started this research just how much of an influence this bitch had, not only on our kennel but many others as well. Every Corydon Puppy that has ever been born goes back to her. A fact I am rather proud of as it proves that we have been breeding correctly. I suspect that this bitch was originally called Ch Whitelea Watastar but the kennel club, not for the only time, got the name wrong. One only has to remember Ch Larkena Vanara Golden Victor to realise that this can happen as Vanara should have been Lanara as it was the prefix name of his breeder. I have to admit I have always questioned the intelligence of some working at the Kennel Club. Ch Whitelea Watastar’s grandson Ch Jefsfire Strollaway was a very dominant sire as can be seen from the above list. I have a story about him as when I took our bitch to be mated his owner sat me down in a chair and put a muzzle on the bitch. He then opened a door and this thing jumped onto my bitch then turned away. I said “He does not seem interested”. His owner replied “It’s OK he is tied”. I have never known any of my dogs to be that quick at mating a bitch and evidently he was always that quick. No wonder he was popular.
Ch Whitelea Whatastra that started the Jefsfire line is really the next fabulous dam. I have included a five generation reverse dam pedigree of her here.
REVERSE DAM PEDIGREE of: Ch Whitelea Watastra
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 18/08/1953
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Jeffrise .A.T
+--CH Whitelea Watastra
| +--Jefsfire Satin Sensation
| | +--Jefsfire Duskie Dawn
| | | +--Jefsfire Melody
| | | | +--Jefsfire Satin Symphony
| | | +--Jefsfire Rosalie
| | | +--CH Jefsfire Joyous Jodie
| | | | +--CH Jefsfire Shear Joy
| | | | +--Tylos Velsheda Vision
| | +--Jefsfire Satin Fantasy
| +--CH Jefsfire Amber Linnet
| | +--Jefsfire Penny Black
| | | +--Jefsfire Penny Edition
| | | | +--Altricia Crackling Rose
| | | +--Jefsfire High Society
| | | +--Jefsfire Blue Riband
| | | | +--Jefsfire Mistyblue
| | | +--Jefsfire Trudy Thankfull
| | +--CH Jefsfire Tudor Queen
| | | +--Jefsfire Tudorella
| | | | +--Countess Betty of Yeldust
What a start she was for the Jefsfire Kennel.
Family H – SEEDLEY LASSIE Unregistered
This is a very strange line as it started with the bitch above that was born in about 1915 which is probably the reason, she was not registered at the Kennel club. This line carried on for fourteen generations with nothing happening at all. Then suddenly a bitch was born that was to change everything. Leecroft Black Magic was the bitch and the whole breed changed. Why was she called Magic? Did the breeder know she was special or was it just luck? Or was she named after the popular box of chocolates at that time? I suspect the latter, but she was rather well named.
Studying this pedigree, I find it difficult to find out how she became so dominant. Her sire was famous, but he did not have any strong breeding behind him and her dam even less so. All I can say is that every Rough Collie born today in this country will go back to her.
This line is really up to date.
DAM LINE of: Breckamore Welsh Honey For Brilyn
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 03/07/2021
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Brilyn Swirls And Curls ……………………..Ingledene Well Sooted
Brilyn Glory Days …………………………..Samhaven Name That Tune at Breckamore
Brilyn Goodbye To Love ………………………Samhaven Detox
Brilyn Finesse ……………………………..Brilyn Secret Weapon
Brilyn Magic Touch ………………………….
Brilyn Magic Dreams …………………………
Aberquarrie Always a Dream at Brilyn ………….
Brilyn Almost A Lady at Aberquarrie …………..Silvermoor’s Teddy Bear
Clydale Country Bell at Brilyn ……………….CH Brilyn Supertramp 911BP
Sade of Sprucewood ………………………….Dolen Double Brandy at Brilyn
Baylands Saffron Lace ……………………….CH Brilyn Supertramp 911BP
Hillandale Audacity …………………………Cliona Dillon
Marcellus Dannas Donation ……………………CH Mybern’s Minstrel 2051BM
Duntiblae Dressed To Kill ……………………CH Ramsey of Rokeby 1677BC
Duntiblae Gambleon Bon Accord ………………..Leecroft Launcelot of Dunsinane
Ravensbeck Sea Urchin ……………………….
Ravensbeck Lucy Locket ………………………Antoc Knight Templar
Ravensbeck Regency Charm …………………….Duntiblae Dundrum 2914AX
Dilys of Dunsinane ………………………….CH Pattingham Pacemaker 279AV
Leecroft Leading Lady ……………………….CH Dorgano Demander of Dunsinane 2150AU
Leecroft Black Magic ………………………..Look-at-Me of Ladypark 1107AQ
Pride of May ……………………………….CH Mywicks Meadow Lancer 2216AN
Golden Sky of White Tip ……………………..Lookout of Ladypark
White Tip ………………………………….Acrobat of Arranbeck
Crossfox Cucarache ………………………….Robroy Rogue
Crossfox Courageous …………………………Crossfox Contender 1892AF
Queenette ………………………………….
Queen Joan …………………………………
Sedgemoor Starturn ………………………….
Sedgemoor Selective …………………………Fashion of Sedgemoor
Sunset of Sedgemoor …………………………Lucas of Sedgemoor
Sedgemoor Sunrise …………………………..CH Eden Extra
Laund Liken (Hallwood Sedate) 1331AA…………..CH Eden Extra
Kinnersley Allegro ………………………….Kinnersley Allegiance
Seedley Lassie – H Un Reg…………………….CH Magnet
To my knowledge Black Magic had three litters. Two to Look-At-Me of Ladypark and one to Skipper of Simbastar. (just an aside here as Look-At-Me of Ladypark was the sire of my very first Rough Collie Light Cavalry of Ladypark). It was her litter to Skipper Of Simbastar that carries on this bitch line in Leecroft Loobi-Lou
The Brettonpark kennel were the largest benefactors of her as all of their Champions and big winners go back to her. Yet there is only one Brettonpark bitch in this bitch line. They were closely followed by the Pelido and Ravensbeck kennels and then to the Emryks and all of their Champions. Leecroft Black Majic is 14 generations from Seedley Lassie. Strange that there are no bitches of distinction in all those generations yet there are so many more following Black Magic.
This line is up to date.
DAM LINE of: Sassari Scintilate
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 03/07/2022
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Tracy Jackson
DAM SIRE
Sassari Sparkles .................................Wicani New Cat on The Block
Sassari Sequin ...................................Takhisis Trick or Treat
Sassari Salsa ....................................Sassari Mister Solitaire
Sassari Sapphire Skies ...........................Gerian Sundance
Sassari Bless Ma Soul ............................Sassari Mister Blue Sky
Sassari Soul Sister ......................Myriehewe Rainbow Quest over Kazmith
Erjon Enchanting Lady to Sassari .................Chrisarion Collier 623CE
Pelido Persian Tapestry ..........................Amalie Envoy in Black
L'Ameythste Dychess Lace .........................Carclew Harbour Light
Pelido Krystal Blue of Daviston ..................CH Pelido Guilty
Pelido Sea Belle ..........................CH Alenzones Blue Stratos at Pelido
Pelido Black Eyed Susie ..........................Pelido Midnight Love Affair
Pelido Deep Purple ........................CH Cathanbrae Polar Moon at Pelido
Pelido Bloomers ..................................Pelido Black Prince 3039BH
Pelido Bloomersloe ...........................Reneson's Cathanbrae Clear Blue
Brettonpark Leecroft Letty .......................Pelido Black Prince
Leecroft Loobi-Loo ...........................CH Dorgano Demander of Dunsinane
Leecroft Black Magic .............................Skipper of Simbastar
This is another line from Leecroft Black Magic. This time she had a litter to Skipper of Simbatar.
This line contains no Champion bitches and only five Champion dogs. I just cannot understand why breeders do not use a Champion dog on their bitches. The cost is only a stud fee and the result should be better.
Leecroft Black Magic was indeed a wonderful dam. So many of the greats came directly from her. The following illustrates just what an influence she had on the breed. Dam of the following
- Leecroft Ladyfair the dam of Ch Deborah of Dunsinane and Ch Mywicks Satine of Simbastar the top winning tricolour of all time.
- Leecroft Larrissa the dam of Don Panza of Dunsinane
- Leecroft Leading Lady the dam of Dazzler of Dunsinane the dog that all male Rough Collies go back to.
- Leecroft Loobi-Lou the dam of Leecroft Lover Boy of Dunsinane.
- Extraordinary that this bitch should be the maternal granddam of such famous Rough Collies. From my records I can only find one other bitch to have such an effect and that was Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby and she was mated to a grandson of Black Magic, Dazzler of Dunsinane.
I have looked closely into the pedigree of Leecroft Black Magic to try and find out where the magic came from. I really have to admit defeat as I cannot see where she got the magic. Maybe it was because she just clicked with her sire Ch Mywicks Meadow Lancer. Eden Examine is the only name to appear twice in her four generation pedigree. This was really a typical outcross mating that had the same effect as the other outcross mating of Dazzler of Dunsinane to Ch Witchcraft of Rokeby. But it could be many years before we get an outcross mating to have such an impact. We have to accept that an outcross mating is just trusting to luck.
Starting at the bottom of this bitch line Kinnersley Allegro was also the dam of Kinnersley Alexus a male who had quite a long line coming from him. Allegro’s daughter Laund Liken, the next in line had her name changed from Hallwood Sedate when she was bought by Mr Stansfield. This makes the research even more difficult as breeders sold their puppies without registering them. Today Hallwood Sedate would be a Kinnersley as the Kennel Club insist on the breeder registering their puppies with their prefix at the front of the name chosen. Also, unlike today dogs were considered to be commercial objects rather than pets.
Further up the line is Sunset of Sedgemoor and she was the dam of an early Westcarrs dog Westcarrs Warcry. I have her having a litter of five with four being registered as Sedgemoor so why was this dog registered as a Westcarrs? I can only surmise that Clare Molony bought this bitch unregistered and registered her with her own prefix. This practice is not allowed today.
None of the other bitches in this line up to Leecroft Black Magic had any other offspring than the daughter in front of them.
Beyond Leecroft Black Magic we come to her granddaughter Brettonpark Leecroft Letty that appears to be the Pelido foundation bitch. She was by Ch Dorgano Demander of Dunzinane. She was born on the 6th August 1966. She was mated to Pelido Black Prince in 1971 that produced Pelido Polka and she was the dam of Ch Pelido Angel Fingers born in 1973.
This is another up to date line from another daughter of Black Magic. This time it is Leecroft Leading Lady who was sired by Look-At-Me of Ladypark.
Ch Deborough of Dunsinane also started her own line that ended with a bitch called Hillandale Golden Loom. She was the dam of a dog called Hillandale Illustrious that was the sire of litter sisters Ch Emyks Clare Dawn and Ch Emryks Cara, they were the start of the highly successful Emyks kennel. Her dam Pelido Black Orchid was the start of the even more highly successful Pelido kennel.
There really is no end to the lines from Leecroft Black Magic She really was magic for the future of the breed. Just for fun I have put in here a three generation reverse pedigree of Leecroft Black Magic. I just have to wonder what the breed would look like if she had not been born. Her influence has to be more than any other Rough Collie dog or bitch. I did consider putting in a 8 generation reverse pedigree but that would have covered more than one thousand pages. And I still do not have the full pedigrees of many of the Collies in this list nor indeed many of the Collies missing from it
3 Generation reverse pedigree of: Leecroft Black Magic
Sex: F
+--Leecroft Black Magic
| +--Leecroft Ladyfair
| | +--CH Deborah of Dunsinane
| | +--CH Mywicks Satine of Simbastar
| | +--Sabine of Simbastar
| | +--Seagift of Simb-A-Star
| | +--Sharon of Simb-A-Star
| | +--Danvis Sheba of Simbastar
| | +--Orangefield Boy
| +--Leecroft Larrissa
| | +--Don Panza of Dunsinane
| +--Leecroft Leading Lady
| | +--Dazzler of Dunsinane
| | +--Drumbeat of Dunsinane
| | +--Ducat of Dunsinane
| | +--Dean of Dunsinane
| | +--Dilys of Dunsinane
| | +--Dunsinane Drumbeat
| +--Leecroft Loobi-Loo
| | +--Brettonpark Leecroft Letty
| | +--Leecroft Lover Boy of Dunsinane
| | +--Leecroft Loyal Lady
| +--Leecroft Lorenzo
| +--Leecroft Lucky Lady 1409AW
| | +--Timbury's Promise
Black Magic had at least three litters. I have written a lot about her for the simple reason that it is extremely rare for a bitch to be at the head of three bitch lines that carried on for several generations. Looking at the above list we find some very famous Rough Collies. And all from just the one bitch. From her daughter Leecroft Ladyfair we got Ch Mywicks Satine of Simbastar the top tricolour of all time. From another daughter Leecroft Lading Lady we got Dazzler of Dunsinane that is behind almost every Rough Collie today. Then from yet another daughter Leecroft Loobi-Loo we got one of the top stud dogs of all time Leecroft Lover Boy of Dunsinane.
Family I LASSIE (Ashwin’s)
Yet another family starting off with a bitch called Lassie. She was bred and owned by Mr M C Ashwin and born in 1873. Mr Wheeler really liked her as he describes her as being on the active side with a good coat and a really pleasing head. Mr Ashwin was one of the stalwarts of the breed in the very early days of dog showing. Lassie produced three bitches that went on to produce lines themselves. These were Gyp a sable and white, Gypsy owned by a Mr Heaton and most importantly Elcho owned by a Mr James and this bitch was a tricolour sired by Trefoil. Lassie was also important being the dam of a dog called Clydesdale who was an important sire at this time. This line just reaches the eleven generation limit that I have for this book, but the line is rather important. An eight generation reverse pedigree of Lassie shows what an important influence she had on the future generations of the breed. And of course, Ch Metchley Wonder is there in the eighth generation. He does seem to appear in almost all of these bitch lines. He is also in the eighth generation of her daughter called Gyp that was owned by another of the major early breeders Mr J Bissel. Gyp was sired by Old Cockie so was obviously sable and white in colour. Mr Wheeler was not too fond of her as he says she was cloddy with very slack ears. But she did breed on. A third daughter to breed on was called Gypsy owned by a Mr Heaton. She bred on mainly through the male line as that famous dog CH Great Gun was in her 7th generation.
Lassie did produce a couple of very well known dogs as well. The first was one of the very first Champions called Cocksie. Named after his sire, Old Cockie, but not as good. Mr Wheeler did not like him and could not understand how he got his title. (Yes, it happened in those days as well) Her other son of note was called Clydesdale and he was much better than his Champion brother according to Wheeler. He was proved right because this dog did breed on. His brother did not.
Mr Ashwin Lassies breeder was an important breeder in the early days of Rough Collie development. His other bitch of note was Meg (Ashwin’s). Once again, I had to add his name to the bitch as others were also called Meg And it is this bitch that will go down as being very important because she was the dam of Maud when she was mated to Old Cockie, the first important sable and white bitch. She is highlighted in the first family chapter AA
Lassie’s daughter Gyp who was a sable and white because her sire was Old Cockie, was her most important daughter as she was the granddam of a bitch called Old Bess. A tricolour that was bred and owned by Wheeler. He naturally says many complimentary points about her. However, she did prove to be of great significance for the breed as she had many offspring that were to enhance the breed. She was sired by a dog called Carlyle and he was out of Roberts Lassie from Family F so tying up the two lines. I printed out an eight generation reverse pedigree of her. I thought of putting it here but it covered nearly twenty pages. Almost every important Collie was in this pedigree. She did have a great influence on the breed, and I have to say that every Rough Collie in the World today will have her as an ancestor.
I think that all of the important sires of the late 1800’s were descended from Old Bess. For instance, her great, great Grandson Ch Metchley Wonder is in every male line. And looking more closely we find that almost all of the bitch lines also trace back to her. She had two sons that were just four generations away from Ch Metchley Wonder. She was the dam of a Champion bitch called Lorna Doone. Another daughter called Floss is behind the early Westcarrs blue merles.
I have to wonder what the breed would look like today if this bitch had not been a good producer and dam. The great pity is that there are no photographs nor pictures of this great bitch.
Lassie also produced a bitch called Elco that was to prove productive with many winners coming from her. She is behind such famous Collies as Master Willie, Ch Parbold Picador and some of the early Westcarrs. In fact Lassie’s eight generation reverse pedigree went on and on.
DAM LINE of: Ormskirk Adair
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 01/01/1905
DAM SIRE
Ormskirk Ada ……………………………….Ormskirk Clinker
Merlewood Rufa ……………………………..CH Parbold Piccolo
Leek Phoebe ………………………………..CH Moreton Coroner
Leek Tibbie ………………………………..
Leek Jessie ………………………………..Edgbaston Marvel
Lady Russett (Unreg) ………………………..Great Alne Douglas
Merry Ruby …………………………………
Merry Fan ………………………………….
Vida ………………………………………Highland Chief
Elsie Venner ……………………………….Tramp
Gipsy (Heatons) ……………………Chieftain
Lassie (Ashwin) …………………………….
Ormskirk Adair is the only bitch in this line that carried on into the 1900’s.
Looking at this list I just have to wonder what the breed would look like if Ch Parbold Piccolo had not left this country and had continued to be used at stud. He did have a big influence while he was here. He evidently ran away when he landed in the USA and was lost for ever.
Old Bess was the Great, Great, Granddam of . Ch Metchley Wonder She was quite a prolific dam as five of her daughters went on to produce themselves. But their lines did not go on for more than 4 generations. But a reverse pedigree of her is quite revealing as she was behind almost all that were after her. I have put a 5 generation reverse pedigree here as it is quite revealing.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Old Bess (Wheeler)
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 01/01/1876
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mr C H Wheeler
+–Old Bess (Wheeler)
| +–Bonnie Laddie
| | +–Catrine
| | | +–Minnie
| | | | +–CH Metchley Wonder
| | | | +–MW’s Sister (Unreg)
| +–Druce
| | +–Bonnie Greta
| | | +–Catrine
| | | | +–Minnie
| | +–Foxey
| | | +–Blink Bonnie
| | | | +–Brittania
| +–Floss (Boddington)
| | +–Quick Silver
| | | +–Stripe
| | +–Kenwood Beauty
| | +–Sir Duncan
| | +–Perraton Donald
| | +–Becky Sharp II
| | +–Wayverley Marvel
Family J Ladypark Meadowsweet of Lewdown
Two very distinct lines of Lassina bitches. Both coming down from the first Lassina bitch which was Lassina Divi’s Darling. This kennel had quite a lot of success for a time but stopped breeding before the turn of the 21st century.
DAM LINE of: Lassina Loves Blessing at Abbafal
Date of Birth: 24/03/1999
Colour & Markings: S/W
Owner: House
DAM SIRE
Lassina Love’s Ambition …………………Lassina Lasejo
Lassina Lilly My Love ……………..CH Sandiacre Sonny Jim of Lassina
Lassina Loves Young Dream ………..CH Pelido Double Fantasy
Lassina Look of Love ……………….CH Sandiacre Sonny Jim of Lassina
Lassina Divi’s Darling …………….CH Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill
Mistypalms Double Dividend …….Duntiblae Brettonpark Even Chance
Lynway Spanish Lace ………………….Sandiacre Softly Softly 2999BF
Lynway Sunsweet ……………………….CH Ramsey of Rokeby 1677BC
Samantha of Sandiacre ………………….Sandiacre Softly Softly 2999BF
Karousel of Kinreen …………………..CH Duntiblae Dogwatch 107AW
Kilarney of Kinreen …………….Wintermaiden Carreer Boy of Kinreen
Kiska of Kinreen 1078AT…………………..CH Legend of Ladypark
Kismet of Kinreen ……………………………CH Liberty of Ladypark
Ladypark Meadowsweet of Lewdown…CH Legend of Ladypark
15 generations
I find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that the Lassina kennel of Brian and Joan House did not go into this century. I also find it strange that these bitch lines should have three sires that are repeated and that they have another sire in between each of them. It is rare in these bitch lines to find a sire that has been used more than once in the line, yet here we have three in just the fifteen and sixteen generations that I can find. The dogs in question are Ch Sandiacre Sonny Jim of Lassina, Sandiacre Softly Softly and Ch Legend of Ladypark.
I cannot find the breeding of Ladypark Meadowsweet of Lewdown. I have to assume that the Ladypark kennel bought in this bitch and added the Ladypark prefix onto the name.
The Lassina prefix was originally owned by the then Joan Gammage. She married Brian House and they shared this prefix until they parted.
In this line is a bitch called Samantha of Sandiacre. Not only was she the dam of Lynway Sunsweet that was at the head of a large family she was also the dam of Lynway Sugar Sugar the dam of a dog by the name of Lynway Some Loving. He was a popular stud dog including being the sire Ch Danvis Jefsfire Johnny Walker who goes down in history as the sire of Ch Danvis Ladyvale Blue Mist and his litter brother Ch Ladyvale Blue Macade. Both won Best of Breed at Crufts.
Then we come to a very prolific bitch Lassina Divis Darling. An eight generation reverse pedigree of her went on and on. She was the foundation bitch for the Lassina kennel and all of that kennels stock were based on her. She was the granddam of Ch Lassina love Me Tender and here I have a big interest because I awarded her the bitch Challenge certificate at my very first Ch show judging at the London Collie Clubs Ch show in 1983. She on the day looked wonderful and deserved her award which I believe made her a Champion. The entry at this show was huge with the minor bitch puppy class being the largest breed class ever for the breed in the UK.
Two generation later and we find another Champion. This time a dog and he became Ch Allsala Canny Bairn at Corydon.
The Lassina kennel did have a lot of fun and success for a few years. Our Corydon kennel also had much success with their breeding especially when it is known that Corydon Gold Demelza, one of those in the A bitch line was by Canny Bairn.
8 generation reverse pedigree of: Mistypalms Double Dividend
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 06/06/1972
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mrs Gammage
+–Mistypalms Double Dividend
| +–Lassina Divi’s Darling
| | +–Lassina Look of Love
| | | +–Lassina Loves Young Dream
| | | | +–Sandandy’s Dreamer at Alssala – Dam of Ch Allsala Canny Bairn at Corydon
| | | | +–Lassina Lilly My Love
| | | | | +–Lassina Love’s Ambition
| | | | | | +–Lassina Loves Blessing at Abbafal
| | | +–Triestina First Bloom
| | | | +–Triestina Aphrodite at Karibuni
| | | | +–Triestina first bloom
| | | | | +–Triestina Ayesha
| | +–Lassina Love Story
| | | +–CH Lassina Love Me Tender
| | | | +–Lassina Love Me True
| | | | | +–Lassina Let It Be Me
| | | | | | +–Lassina Love in the Night of Ladyfayre – Dam of CH Ladyfayre Blue Lagoon at Karava
| | | | | | +–Lassina Let It Be Love
| | | | | | | +–Lassina Love In A Mist
| | | | +–Lassina Loving You
| | +–Lassina Lady Ot The Lake
| +–Mistypalms Mighty Like a Rose of Rifflesea
| | +–Rifflesea Roadside Lass
| | | +–Rifflesea Recapture at Cheilnor
| | | | +–Recaptured of Rifflesea – Dam and granddam of CH Rifflesea Romantasy
CH Jefsfire Francheska
CH Jefsfire So Charming to Brooklynson
CH Brooklynson Golden Fashion
CH Brooklynson Headliner
CH Rifflesea Rhapsody
This reverse generation pedigree of This bitch does help to prove how important she was to the future of the breed. For instance Ch Jefsfire So Charming to Brooklynson was the last in a long line of Jefsfire Champions and the first in a long line of Brooklynson Champions. Corydon come in here as well as Ch Corydon Il Supremo was the sire of Ch Brooklynson Golden Fashion. And then we had the last of the Riffelsea Champions Ch Rifflesea Rhapsody that was sired by Ch Riffelsea Romantasy.
Further research proves that all of the Brooklynson Champions went back to Ch Brooklynson Golden Fashion. They were a kennel that bred to type very successfully.
Family L Glint of Gold
This is a modern family that just reaches the minimum level of eleven generations. I cannot find any more information about this bitch but the line does have some very famous sires.
DAM LINE of: Kurslake April of Ascot
DAM SIRE
Denora Sophie’s Choice at Kurslake …….CH Alenzones Blue Stratos at Pelido
Taralyn Bluebelle At Denora ………………….Mybern’s Mycladic
Taralyn Tristar …………………………….CH Rubec Mist’N’Blue at Aberhill
Skye Blue of Aberhill ……………………….CH Rubec Mist’N’Blue at Aberhill
Nellwyn’s Silhouette …………………….CH Danvis Ladyvale Blue Mist 4567BK
CH Nellwyns Black Beauty …………………….Danvis Westlynns Bags O’Swank
Rokeby Lady Rhonda of Scotforth ……………CH Royal Ace of Rokeby 289AZ
Jefsfire Trudy Fair …………………………CH Ramsey of Rokeby 1677BC
Phares Samantha …………………………….Jefsfire Beau Regard
Glint of Gold ………………………………
I have a personal interest in this family because a granddaughter of Nellwyns Silhouette by the name of Ch Lynaire Chiquitita gained her title when I awarded her the bitch CC at Windsor Ch Show. I had previously awarded her the Reserve bitch CC when I judged the enormous entry at the London Collie Clubs Ch show in 1983. She was an interesting bitch in other ways as well. She had a litter to Ch Karava Kornishman. This produced three dogs that were to have a significant role as stud dogs with many winners sired by them. These were Lynaire Man In Black the sire among many of Ch Seafire Shadow. Lynaire Midnight Blue the sire of Ch Aberhill Bluewatch and Lynaire All In black that went to the Steadwyn Kennel in Sweden and had much success. But no bitch puppies in the litter.
Ch Nellwyns Black Beauty was a big winner in her time but like too many good Champion bitches she did not make a name for herself as a brood. But her dam was a good brood as she was the dam of Knight Porter of Rokeby who was a very influential sire and a huge number of Corydon’s go back on this line.
Just a small example
Reverse pedigree of Rokeby Lady Rhonda of Scotforth
| +–Knight Porter of Rokeby
| | +–Rokeby The Renegade
| | | +–CH Rokeby The Radical
| | | | +–CH & Aus CH Corydon Glory Hallelujah JW
| | | | | +–Corydon Glory Bee
| | | | | | +–Corydon Silver Moon
| | | | | | | +–CH Phreelancer Phrosty Moon over Corydon JW
From a short bitch line that looked fairly benign suddenly became very important. Knight Porter of Rokeby was a well known stud dog as was his son Rokeby the Renegade and his even more influential grandson Ch Rokeby The Radical. While for Radical his daughter CH & Aus CH Corydon Glory Hallelujah was one of the most important dams in the history of the breed being the dam of at least eight Champions.
I am certain that Glint of Gold had a pedigree somewhere and would match up with one of the other bitch lines.
Family M Yieldshire Beaute
This family starts off with an unregistered bitch by the name of Yieldshields Beaute. I have no idea as to when she was born except for the fact that I have found a bitch called Yieldshields Peggy that was registered with the Kennel Club in about 1912. She was by a dog called Model Statesman out of a bitch by the name of Yieldshields Grace. This family did nothing at all for twelve generations. Then suddenly a bitch comes along to change it all. This was Biddy of Daddystown. And did she make a difference. She was born in August 1943 which was in the middle of the second World War. So she was getting on a bit when the show scene started again but she was good enough to win her way into the Kennel Club Stub Book. But it was as a dam that she really excelled. She was mated to a dog called Don of Oldpark. He was by the second of the Eden Esquires. I have no knowledge of his dam. but he was he was also the sire of a bitch called Eden Erasmic, that is the last bitch in the line of Family B.
This line is up to date.
Ambartr’s May Queen
Date of Birth: 01/05/2023
Colour & Markings: S/W
DAM SIRE
Ambartr Winds of Change ……………………..
Wicani My Molasses ………………………….Ambartr Keep The Faith
Wicani Sugar Bon Bon ………………………..Wicani My Sword and Sorcery
Wicani Silken Feather ……………………….Wicani Rumours
Wicani Enchanted Reverie …………………….Wicani Written in Legend
Wicani Hushed Reverence ……………………..
Wicani Wicked Endulgence …………………….
Wicani Opallesence ………………………….Wicani Night Hawk
Wicani China Doll …………………………..Wicani Leading Light
Hardomar’s Touch of Darkness at Wicani ………..
Wicani Dances With Ravens ……………………
Wicani Dark-Moon Dancer Over Markenfield ………Eilroy Blue Blitz
Wicani Wytches Moon …………………………Wicani Nights in White Satin
Stokedale Sea Shadow at Wicani ……………….Karava Blue Kasperov at Wicani
Stokedale Secret Love ……………………….Kourika Mantika at Troydon
Stokedale Silver Lining ……………………..Stokedale Star Brandy
Stokedale Silver Slipper …………………….Stokedale Domino
Stelroy’s Rythm ‘N’ Blues at Stokedale ………..Dundrennan Dark Defender
Stelroy’s Royal Silver ………………………Sangreat Spick ‘N’ Spam
Stelroy’s Love is Blue ………………………Stelroy’s Captain Blue
Burnside Silver Holly ……………………….Stelroy Song Sung Blue
Woodlyn Silver Charm ………………………..CH Ballacoyle Beauty
Woodlyn Corviros Silver Sue ………………….
CH Crosstalk Silver Belle 1943AW………………
Black Ricky ………………………………..CH Westcarrs Blue Minoru
Glendoran Golden Miranda …………………….Alstonian Normington
Eden Epaulet ……………………………….Eden Excelent 2
Biddy of Daddystown 370AF…………………….Killartry Rex (Alphington Smasher)
Pat of Mammystown …………………………..Golden Rufus
Empress of Oldpark 1435RR…………………….Emperor of Oldpark
Mona Avana …………………………………Example of Oldpark
Netherkier Actress ………………………….CH Netherkeir Starboy
Gain Queenie ……………………………….
Netherkeir Morning Dew ………………………Wishaw Reliable
Ina ……………………………………….Early Morn
Gain Dolly …………………………………
Bradnore Rosie ……………………………..
Bradnor Nora ……………………………….
Lady Bounce ………………………………..
Lady Peggy …………………………………
Yieldshields Beaute (UnReg) ………………….
As I have written there were no lines coming from this line for 12 generations until Biddy of Daddystown came along. Then a huge number of offspring came directly down from her. To save space I have just put in an eight reverse dam generation. As you can see the most important bit is that she was the great granddam of Shoinemaw Sheena the dam of Ch Mywicks Meadow Lancer. Unfortunately that line seems to have stopped with a bitch called Linamac Gentle Breeze born in 1998.
Biddy of Daddystown was born on the 30/08/1943. Her owner I have to assume was Mr F Robson due to the number of Eden bitches in the line. She was seven generations behind Ch Mywicks My Lady Fair. She was an interesting bitch because she was awarded Best of Breed at Crufts but was disqualified as she had been entered as Mywicks My Fair Lady.
To start off this line from Biddy of Daddystown is her daughter Eden Edwina that was at the start of the famous Mywicks line of Ch Mywicks Meadow Lancer and Ch Mywicks My Lady Fair. Her next daughter of note is Eden Epaulet and she was at the start of the famous Carramar line. I have to say here that almost all of today’s Collies go back to Biddy. She is even more important if I include the male lines from her.
It does seem very stranger that we have to wait for twelve generations for a bitch to produce so many winners and then we have to wait for just two more gens for another top producer to appear. This was a bitch simply called Black Ricky. She produced a blue merle Champion bitch that was at the start of four generations of blue merle Champion bitches. I cannot find another instance of this happening in the breed. They were Black Ricky’s daughter CH Crosstalk Silver Belle, her daughter CH Corviross Silver Joy, her daughters CH Tilehouse Thistle and CH Kingsville Corviross Gay Silver with the latter’s daughter CH Asoka Gay Mist and finally her daughter CH Acorus Blue Grass of Rokeby. A truly unique line of Champion blue merle bitches. All from a pet named tricolour bitch.
I have put here a three generation reverse pedigree of Black Ricky. It is quite extraordinary how many dogs and bitches are in this. She did have a huge influence on the future of the breed. So many blue merle champions of both sexes and this is just a three generation report. My computer program does an eight generation reverse pedigree and here I have just not got the room to put it on these pages.
There are thirteen blue merle bitch Champions and four blue merle dog champions plus two tricolour male Champions in just five generations. Yet I cannot find the date of birth nor the names of her owner of this quite extraordinary bitch.
Biddy of Daddystown had three litters. Each of them produced bitches that bred on. But two litters are of special interest. The first to a dog called Killartry Rex produced two bitches that were bought by Mr Robson of the Eden kennel. They were born in May 1946. The other litter also produced two bitches bought by Mr Robson. They were born in July 1948 and the sire was Don of Oldpark. However it is Eden Edwina and Eden Epaulet both by Killartry Rex that was of major interest. I have put a reverse pedigree of her here to show what an influence she had on the breed.
Biddy of Daddystown is the great granddam of the next prolific bitch in this line that is simply called Black Ricky. She was by a dog called Alstonian Normington. He was by Ch Caesar of Cobieux out of Lamour of Ladypark. Her dam Glendoran Golden Miranda was by a dog called Eden Excellent. There is a problem here as there are two dogs with this name. This one was born in 1946 while his namesake was born just twelve years earlier in 1934. Why the Kennel Club allowed this I do not know. I have to think that their database was not very good. Anyway Black Ricky was the dam of a Champion bitch, granddam of two Champion bitches and the great granddam of three Champion bitches. All were blue merles. The Champion daughter of Black Ricky when she was mated to Ch Westcarrs Blue Minoru was Crosstalk silver Belle and she was one of the very few Champion bitches to breed on successfully. She was the dam of CH Corviross Silver Joy and CH Kingsville Corviross Gay Silver. The sire was Clayswood Don Nicholas. The Clayswood prefix was owned by a Mrs Clay who refused to show her dogs. She evidently claimed that showing was corrupt. She was probably right but we just have to grin and let it go. We just have to accept that all sport is more or less a bit dodgy.
Ch Corviross Silver Joy was the dam of a Champion Ch Tilehouse Thistle who unfortunately followed the trend of not producing, but her other Champion Kingsville Corviross Gay Silver did breed on and produced two champion bitches that were to breed on themselves. These were CH Asoka Gay Mist who was the dam of CH Acorus Blue Grass of Rokeby. While her other daughter CH Dream Baby of Kingsville went on to establish her own lines.
Though is another daughter of Ch Crosstalk Silver Belle, Woodlyn Corviros Silver Sue that carries on the line up to almost the modern day. We go another five generations before we come to another Champion bitch Ch Stelroy’s Rhapsody In Blue that was by Nite Porter of Rokeby out of Stelroy Misty Blue. This Champion bitch unfortunately only produced the next bitch in this line, and it was another eight generations before we got to another Champion CH Gemastra Flirty Girty. She was by Sundorne Spiritulist who had made quite a name for himself as a stud dog. It seems a great pit y that this line which was quite strong for a time died out in about 2008.
Family N – Ormskirk Muriel
Ormskirk Muriel was born round about 1910. This line of 23 bitches ends with probably the very last Laund bitch by the name of Laund Lusara. These Laund bitches were bred by Mr Stansfield’s daughter Mrs Ada Bishop.
DAM LINE of: Laund Lusara Sex: F Date of Birth: 15/10/1973 Colour & Markings: Owner: Mrs A Bishop DAM SIRE Laund Lara 2 .....................................CH Laund Lucigard CH Laund Livia ...................................CH Royal Ace of Rokeby Laund Lesley .....................................CH Duke of Yeldust Amarylis of Cressbrook ...........................CH Larkena Rabelais Astraea of Cressbrook ............................CH Mywicks Meadow Lancer Sabina of Cressbrook .............................Mywicks Moonbeam Tonge Truth ...................................... Eden Evangelina .................................. Eden Elisbeth ....................................Eden Extra Model Eden Evidence ....................................Eden Esquire 2 Eden Ellena ......................................Eden Eagle 1 Corella Doris ....................................Glenogil Gabang Corella Mona ..................................... Annandale Alicia .................................Annandale Aviator Annandale Aliena .................................Annandale Actor Fifers First Foot ................................Annandale Extra Foremost Fifer ................................... Bandeath Ideal ................................... Pride of Fife .................................... Princess of Leven ................................ Ormskirk Queen ................................... Ormskirk Muriel ................................. Only one champion bitch in this line but Ch Laund Livia was a very successful dam producing several important dogs. Her grandson Ch Laund Lucigard was the last of the many Laund Champions. And her granddam Amarylis of Cressbrook was the dam of many Laund bred Collies. Eden Evidence was another successful brood bitch with many of the top Collies bred between the two World Wars owning her in their line. While her dam Eden Ellena was behind all of the Edens born at this time. The line did not produce anything of note for the first ten generations then came Corella Mona. She was the dam of Corella Doris that started a whole family of Eden Collies and she was also the dam od Ch Corella Starboy. He did not produce much himself but he is behind the Jefsfire and Whitelea’s and several other Champions including Ch Belaccoyle Beauty. A reverse pedigree of Corella Mona is interesting as the number of Eden Collies coming down from her s extraordinary. I have put a reverse pedigree of Laund Livia here to show what an important contribution she made. I remember this bitch very well because at the Championship shows she was benched next to my dogs.
Family O – Golden Thrush of Ravenscraig
This is a very strange family as it starts off with twelve generations of bitches that really did nothing at all and ends with five generations of Champion bitches. In fact the twelve generations did not even produce a winning dog. This is a line of sixteen bitches and it is not until the thirteenth generation Chelborn Wish List that a dog is produced that will win enough to qualify for Crufts Dog Show.
DAM LINE of: Chelborn Ganbler's Wish
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 27/01/2022
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mrs Cronk
DAM SIRE
Chelborn Wish List ...............................The Gambler at Chelborn
CH Chelborn Kiss 'N' Desire ......................Chelborn Decision
CH Chelborn Desirable ............................CH Chelborn Kiss'n Tell
CH Chelborn Desire ...............................
CH Chelborn Wish .................................
Brilyn Satin Sensation at Chelborn ...............CH Samhaven Toast Marster
Brilyn Satin Moon ................................CH Carostar C'est la Vie
Joshren Gold Reflection ..........................CH Emryks Boyzone
Nyittramenti Your Majesty of Snow Hills ...CH Aaronwell Antique Gold at Brilyn
Nyittramenti Pure Taste ..........................
Claredawn Stars in Her Eyes ......................
Stilglen Sweet Solitaire of Claredawn ............
Stilglen Lady of The Isles .......................
Lulach The Fatuous ...............................CH Rokeby The Radical
Ericson Gypsy Moth ...............................Jandana Witchcraft
Golden Thrush of Ravenscraig ....................Misba Winters Tale at Careith
Cedar of Homecrest ...............................Claymore of Homecrest
This line starts off with a bitch that was born in Scotland. Then later on we have a bitch, Joshren Gold Reflection that was born in Ireland. So this line has been around a bi
Family P – Kendal Queen
This is a much more interesting family than Family O.
I will start of with this first dam line and try to explain how some of the bitches in this line are important for the breed.
DAM LINE of: Jus' For You From Jasand
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 07/04/2001
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mrs J Round
DAM SIRE
Jasand Jenna .....................................CH Jasand Going Places JW
CH Jasand Panama Hatty ...........................Sundorne Christmas Spirit
CH Jasand True Blue ..............................Chrisarion Collier
Birkmyre Bella Blue at Jasand ....................CH Brilyn Rum N Black
Birkmyre Miss Cloe .........................CH Ladyfayre Blue Lagoon at Karava
Birkmyre Miss Mischief ...........................CH Jasand Young Winston
Birkmyre Busy Lizzie .......................CH Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill
Birkmyre From Here To Eternity ...................Brettonpark Country Tweed
Aberhill Truly Nice ........................CH Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill
Kathbern Nosey but Nice ...................CH Pied Piper of Aberhill at Rixown
Lady Popinjay of Judigate ........................Aberhill Happy Days
Spring Lady of Judigate ..........................Lucky Omen of Ladypark
Black Beauty of Hotham ...........................
Lynhurst Lucinda .................................
Handbanks Halloween ..............................
Havehill Sadie ...................................
Elmswell Meienda .................................
Elmswell Joy Girl ................................
M'Lady of Elmswell ...............................
Alphington Beauty ................................
Alphington Honeymoon .............................
Alphington Carnation ........................CH The Laird of Killartry 476TT
Alphington Mary ..................................CH Alphington Achievement
CH Alphington Merrymaid ..........................Alphington Safeguard
CH Seedley Sleet .................................CH Ashtead Applause
Seedley Floss ....................................Seedley Supreme
Seedley Saville ..................................
Seedley Jessie ...................................
Kendall Queenie ..................................
Lancaster Dolly ..................................
Kendal Queen .....................................
I was delighted to find near the top of the first list a bitch that I greatly admired and was probably the most important reason we used her sire Ch Brilyn Rum N’ Black on Lene’s bitch that produced the breed record holder Ch Phreelancer Phrosty Moon Over Corydon. This bitch’s name Ch Jasand True Blue. She will go down in the history of the breed as she produced two Champions herself CH Jasand Somthin’ Blue for Sirema and CH Jasand Panama Hatti.
Seedley Saville was the first in this line to make a mark for herself. Mainly because she produced three that bred on and a reverse eight generation of her is quite impressive with at least a hundred Collies coming down from her.
The next bitch in this line to make a real impression was Alphington Carnation. She produced four that really bred on. Even a five generation reverse pedigree of her had her offspring covering four pages. I tried eight generations but I ran out of pages. She was the granddam of a dog that today would not be named as he was called Ch Alphington Nigger King. He won the Reserve CC at the first Crufts Dog Show held after the second World War in 1948 and then won the Dog CC at the next Crufts Dog Show in 1950.
Suffice to say though that Alphington Carnation is behind more or less all of the Rough Collies today. Her son Ch Alphington Achievement was a very popular and successful stud dog. He, for instance was behind all of the Ugony’s Collies and they were very successful following the end of World War 2.
Not a lot happens for the first five generations until Seedley Saville and from this point they became two lines. Unfortunately this second line ended with a bitch born in 1956,
DAM LINE of: Singabeam Sheeanda
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 06/06/1956
Colour & Markings:
Owner: Mr Carter
DAM SIRE
Singabeam Sandra .................................M'Laird of Milburndene
Singabeam Star Girl ..............................CH Legend of Ladypark
Sasha Queen ......................................M'Laird of Milburndene
Queenie's Night Victorious .......................
Pixie of Dunholme ................................
Burn Beauty ......................................
Ashtead Anchorage ................................
Surprise of Ashtead ..............................CH Netherkier Starboy
Betty ............................................Uncle of Ashtead
Talsarn Lassie ...................................Winstonian Warrant
Eltham Park Pansy ................................
Seedley Saville ..................................
Seedley Jessie ...................................
Kendall Queenie ..................................
Lancaster Dolly ..................................
Kendal Queen .....................................
The second dam line is disappointing because there is very little coming from it. I could find no Champions coming from any of the bitches in this line. The only bitch to have any influence was Ashtead Anchorage. She was interesting because I found four daughters that bred on but not for any length of time.
The next table is the dam line for Kampari of Kourika which shows that she goes back to Alphington Carnation. As Kourika kennel was at that time in Scotland we find that there are a lot of Fellview bitches in this line. The Fellview Kennel was probably the top Rough Collie kennel in Scotland for quite a number of years.
DAM LINE of: Kampari of Kourika
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 08/09/1986
DAM SIRE
Brown Eyed Golden Girl ...........................CH Mybern's Merideon
Fellview Miss Scarlet ............................Aberthorne Aphro Beat
Fellview Enchantress .............................Fellview Statesman
Fellview Highlight ...............................CH Aberthorne Arrester
Fellview Exclusive ...............................Fellview Lancer
Midas of Fellview ................................Chateauroux Cap 'N' Scrunch
Fellview Amanda ..................................
Eden Exclusive Design ............................CH Fellview Shepherd Boy
CH Eden Esmeralda...........................CH Mywicks Model Examiner
Eden Eldorina ....................................CH Legend of Ladypark
Eden Eldora 2 .................................CH Eden Vandanson of Marobiny
Eden Exclusive 3 .................................Eden Extra Model
Eden Effigy ......................................Eden Excelent 2
Alphington Sable Queen ...........................Alphington Shepherds Boy
Alphington Honeymoon .............................Alphington Land Boy
Alphington Carnation........................CH The Laird of Killartry
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Alphington Carnation Sex: F +--Alphington Carnation 904VV | +--Alphington Honeymoon | | +--CH Alphington Nigger King 484AF | | +--Alphington Sable Queen | | +--Alphington Shirlee | | +--Alphington Beauty | +--Alphington Land Girl | | +--Golden Rod of Wooden | | +--CH Ugony's Golden Gloria | | +--Sunglory of Wooden | | +--Snowcloud of Wooden | | +--Goldengorse of Wooden | +--Killartry Rex (Alphington Smasher) | | +--Eden Edwina 1327AF | | +--Eden Epaulet | +--Alphington Sweet Lady | | +--CH Laund Ebony of Killartry | | +--Frolic of Killartry
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Jasand True Blue Sex: F Date of Birth: 25/11/1995 Colour & Markings: Owner: +--CH Jasand True Blue | +--CH Jasand Going Places JW | | +--Stokedale Shadow Blaster | | | +--Stokedale Serene Miss at Jimjack | | | +--Chrisarion Cobweb at Mikelene | | +--Chrisarion Cabarello | | +--Myriehewe Ma Biche | | | +--Myriehewe Hawk Wing | | +--Myriehewe Simply Blue | | +--Wenchaela Winter Jasmine | | +--Jus' For You From Jasand | | +--Chrisarion Conchita To Sassari | | +--Chrisarion Crepe De Chine with Jumay 1990CQ | +--Jasand Blue Vein at Birkmyre | | +--CH Birkmyre The Advocate | | | +--Elshajo Amani Moon | | +--Birkmyre Obsession with Seriema | +--CH Jasand Somthin' Blue for Sriema | +--CH Jasand Panama Hatty | | +--Jasand Jenna | | | +--Stokedale Shadow Blaster | | | +--Jus' For You From Jasand | +--Jasand Jolson of Birkmyre | | +--Myriehewe Imagine | | | +--Myriehewe Amazing Grace | | | +--Myriehewe Attraction with Welanga | | | +--Myriehewe Reference Point | | | +--Myriehewe Petite Etoile | | | +--Myriehewe Ouija Board via Capriora | | +--Myriehewe Galileo | | | +--Kazmith Spooktacular | | | +--Maqueeba Lavenda Lace for Tudorlyn
Family Q – Hillcristin Precious Light
This is a very strange family as it does not extend to very much at all until Brooklynson Joanna that was the dam of four Champions but none of them bred on. Probably because the Brooklynson kennel stopped breeding and showing. There were several Carristina Champions but again they did not breed on. This is all such a pity as there were some very nice bitches in this family
DAM LINE of: Brooklynson Amelia Earhart
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 04/12/2014
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
CH Brooklynson Martini ...........................Brooklynson Bruce Willis
Brooklynson Joanna ............................CH Ingledene Late Nite Legend
Pelido Daisy May From Brooklynson ................CH Brooklynson From Rio
Pelido Laura Biagiotti ...........................Pelido Ayrton Senna
Pelido Gina Lollaqbrigida ....................CH Sogno Del Narciso with Pelido
Cathanbrae Night Skies Over Pelido ........Clairone Lonely Dreamer with Pelido
Carristina Song Bird at Cathanbrae ...............Pelido Desert Orchid
Carristina Merry Go round ..........CH Rifflesea Reminds Me of Blu at Leckhill
Carristina Dark Enchantress ......................Lynway Spotted Dick
Carristina Egyptian Wind .........................CH Tameila Gordon Bennet
Carristina Blue Silhouette .......................CH Pelido Guilty
Carristina Cosmic Crystal ........................CH Carristina Silver Shadow
Carristina Mystique Melody .......................Bririch Black Quotation
Carristina Shimmering Star .......................Pelido Midnight Love Affair
Carristina Silver Cascade ........................CH Dameral Aristedes
Carristina Saphire Blue ..........................CH Jefsfire Clean Sweep
Tranquil Night Carristina ..................CH Cathanbrae Polar Moon at Pelido
Hillcristin Sugar Candy ..........................Blueland Majestic Boy
Hillcristin Precious Light .......................Sandiacre Softly Softly
Family R – Yellow Primrose
This family has two distinct lines both ending in the early 2000’s.
DAM LINE of: Beldones Ice Queen
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 15/10/2010
DAM SIRE
Aquarelle Des Beldones ...........................CH Chelborn Kiss'n Tell
CH Lynaire Something Special .....................Brilyn Black Inspiration
Lynaire Blue Lace ................................Jopium Touch of Darkness
Lynaire Kraftwork .........................Tanryn Midnight Express at Lynaire
CH Lynaire She's a Model .............CH Midnight Flyer of Lynaire at Aberhill
Remlaw Midnight Diamonds at Lynaire .......CH Alenzones Blue Stratos at Pelido
Lynaire Summer Rose At Remlaw ....................Lynaire all in Gold
Lynaire Cracklin Rose ............................CH Jankeith Gideon at Mybern
Lynaire Amber Symphony ...........................Lynaire all in Gold
Solwind Slinky at Lynaire ........................Lynaire Man in Black
Sunkap Sweet Charity ...............CH Aberhill Million Dollar Man of Shepmoor
Arcot Helene of Sunkap ...........................CH Erjon Erl King
CH Alida of Arcot .................CH Brettonpark Highlander of Dunsinane
Looknow Brandywyne ...............................Arkle of Arcot
Bririch Belle ....................................CH Defender of Dunsinane
Bririch Sweet Sue ................................CH Duntiblae Dogwatch
Bririch Night Wonder .............................Bririch Carnedd Countryman
Lady of Bradmead .................................Whitelea Winley
Daflona Delight ..................................
Landula Lena .....................................
Landlyric Veronica ...............................
Dawn of Harcongyll ...............................
Golden Kitty .....................................
Alphington Primula ...............................
Alphington Dainty ................................Alphington Golden Melody
Alphington Sunshine ..............................Alphington Spring Bud
Alphington Miss Playful ..........................Alphington Diamond King
Alphington Primrose ..............................Alphington Safeguard
Laund Lovelock 1191 JJ............................CH Laund Lukeo
Laund Limelight (Wellcroft Senora) ...............Laund Larum 1725CC
Spotland Sadie ...................................CH Magnet
Laund Liza .......................................
Miss Moffatt .....................................Doon Rival
Yellow Primrose (UnReg) ..........................Seedley Sovereign
Not a lot happened in this line until the sixth generation when we come to a bitch called Laund Lovelock. She was the dam of at least four that carried on their own line. She was the start of the very famous Alphington line. This family were very dominant during the 1930’s and immediately after the second World War. This led to very many Laund and Eden Rough Collies. In those days the leading kennels seem to interbreed between themselves. An eight generation reverse pedigree of Laund Lovelock goes on forever with most of the famous sires of that time included in the list. The list also has very many Ugony Collies. I have to say that Laund Lovelock will be in the pedigree of every Collie born today. Her influence will last forever in the breed.
The Alphington’s were very dominant in the 1930’s. For instance, Alphington Sunshine was the dam of one of the most influential sires of all time in Ch Alphington Achievement. Every Collie born today will go back to this dog. An eight reverse generation of Sunshine literally goes on forever. Every well known dog and bitch are in that list. It is not until I see this list that I can realise just what an influence a sire like Eden Examine has on the breed. Yet his breeding was not spectacular. But, one of the most interesting facts in this line is that a five generation reverse dams pedigree of Alphington Sunshine has only five bitches on it. however a reverse five generation full pedigree of this bitch covers at least three pages. Very strange.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Dawn of Harcongyll
Sex: F
Date of Birth:
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
+--Dawn of Harcongyll
| +--Bakewell Ideal
| | +--Bakewell Belle
| | | +--Roydon Thunderflash
| | | | +--Lillian's Lady
| | | | | +--Cilla's Lady
| | | | | | +--Sable Thunder Flash
| | | | | +--White Diamond
| | | | | | +--Lady of Longwood Edge
| +--Willow Rose
| | +--Seftonian Serenade
| | | +--Seftonian Blue Princess
| | | | +--Rhodelands Lucky Boy
| | | | | +--Lynway Black Queen
| | | | | | +--Lynway Precious Gem
| | | | | +--Wythenshaw Wedgewood
| | | | +--Seftonian Sunshade
| | | | | +--CH Rhodelands Boy 2596AR
| | | | | | +--Rhodelands Gay Girl
| | | | | | +--Rhodelands Ruby Gem
| | | | | | +--Rhodelands Flower Girl
| | | | | | +--Rhodeland Stylo 689AT
| | | | | | +--CH Carramar Boy Blue 271AU
| | | | | | +--Carramar Comedy King
| | | | | | +--Carramar Midnight Raider
| | | | | | +--Chateauroux Princess
| | | | | | +--Carramar Blue Prince 2528AV
| | | | | | +--Carramar Catherina
| | | | | | +--Carramar Blue Ballerina
| | | +--Winton Lass
| | | | +--Rhodelands Seftonian Skylark 976AR
| | | | | +--Chateauroux Lady Corzet
| | | | | | +--CH Chateauroux Ceasar
| | | | | | +--CH Chateauroux Flawless 2669AV
| | | | | | +--Chateauroux Ideal
| | | | | | +--Jefsfire Chateauroux Fellow 1804AY
| | | | | | +--Chateauroux Queen
| | | | | | +--Chateauroux Isabella
| | | | | +--Chateauroux Madame Dubarry
| | | | | | +--Chateauroux Cap 'N' Scrunch
| | | | | | +--Almacroft Break-o-Dawn
| | | | | | +--Chateauroux Patricia
| | | | | +--Forton Lady
| | | | | | +--Beautys Lady Fine
| | | | | +--Chateauroux Duchess
| | | | | +--Rhodelands Princess 2370AW
| | | | | +--Rhodelands Lassie
| | | | | | +--Rhodelands Princess 2370AW
| | | | | +--Sykeslaw Chateauroux Daphne 2515AW
| | | | | +--Rhodelands Golden Lady 866AT
| | | | | +--Wendal's Carrie 1464AT
| | | | +--Leonora of Ladypark
| | | | | +--Windyhull Black Dancer
| | | | +--Seftonian Show Girl 2301AS
| | | | | +--Rhodelands Gay Girl
| | | | | | +--Jefsfire Fashion
| | | | | +--Rhodelands Ruby Gem
| | | | | +--Rhodelands Flower Girl
| | | | | +--Rhodeland Stylo 689AT
| | | +--Donelose Damassin
| | | +--Dunlose Damassin
| +--Landlyric Veronica
| | +--Landula Lena
| | | +--Daflora Dawn Over Sangro
| | | +--Daflona Delight
| | | | +--Lady of Bradmead
| | | | | +--Bririch Night Wonder
| | | | | | +--Bririch Sweet Sue
| | | | | | +--Bririch Blue Enchantress
Another two generations we come to Winton Lass and she became a very important dam as most of the Jefsfires came down from her. I have to say that a reverse pedigree of these bitches makes very interesting reading as almost all of the famous kennels operating just after the second World War and into the 1950’s are in the list.
The next bitch in this line to have a big impact was Jefsfire Fashion. She was the dam of two very important Jefsfire male champions. Even a reverse five generation pedigree goes no forever. She was sired by probably the most famous of the Jeffries dogs Ch Jefsfire Strollaway. He was the dog we used when we bred our very first litter.
Ch Sandiacre Second Hand Rose was the next influential dam and she was one of the more influential bitches in the saga. Champion bitches were not too often good dams, but this one was very good. Her sire was Dazzler of Dunsinane and she was bred by the Wigglesworths. Like many others in this line her reverse pedigree is extremely long.
The next bitch of interest is her granddaughter Romadale Reflection. And she is interesting because she was the dam of a Champion daughter that started a run of six Champion bitches. These were Ch Matai Jenny, her daughter Ch Matai Flaming Jenny, then her daughter CH Strolester Mis’Understood at Jasand her daughter CH Brilyn Satin Dream then to CH Brilyn Satin Symphony and then finally her daughter CH Brilyn Satin ‘N’ Silk at Carostar I have to say that I find it very strange that after all this success in the line it should die out in 2006.
The other line from Dawn of H actually goes on for a further 4 years but we have to wait six generations before we come to a bitch that produced more than the next in line. This was a bitch called Bririch Sweet Sue and then another four generations before we come to a Champion Bitch. Alida of Arcot and she was productive with a host of offspring coming down from her. Yet another good productive Champion bitch. This line seems to be full of them yet other lines are mainly empty of Champion bitches.
Family S – Sherry
I have no record for this bitch but she had a litter to a dog called Carlyle who was born in 1874. It became a very a prolific family that now is right up to date with the latest bitches being born in 2019 and 2021. Further research shows that the bitches on the Aqualita line also go back to Sherry. We had one that was litter sister to our well-known Ch Aqualita Class Act With Corydon. Unfortunately this bitch did not have any puppies. We did take her to be mated to a Champion dog but the owner of this dog decided to examine her internally with a dire result.
Carlyle is interesting because although bred in England his parents were from Scotland. His dam was Robert’s Old Lassie that was the start of Family F. His sire was a dog called Perthshire Bob and he was owned by Mr J S Skidmore. Carlyle actually did win a lot of prizes and because of this he became a popular sire. He was behind almost all of the main Rough Collies born before the end of the 1800’s.
This dam line is now 45 bitche’s long but only 2 were Champions. Yet they were mated to so many Champion dogs. These included some of the most famous dogs in the breed such as Ch Magnate, Ch Southport Perfection, Ch Caramar Boy Blue and Ch Cathanbrae Polar Moon at Pelido. The blue merles featuring very strongly with Ch Ladnar Kingfisher being the great grandsire of the latest in the line.
DAM LINE of: Dycoshen Emily Morgan Sex: F Date of Birth: 02/05/2019 Colour & Markings: Owner: DAM SIRE Ladnar Kiss'n Temptation at Dycoshem .............CH Samhaven On The Crest Samhaven Temptation Ladnar .......................CH Chelborn Kiss'n Tell Branock Rum Truffle at Samhaven 1062CQ............CH Ladnar Kingfisher Samhaven Courtney Love ...........................CH Lynmead Lust in the Dust Pelido Claudia Shiffer .......................CH Deeohn Blue Devoted To Ileyda Pelido Tender is the Night .......................Pelido Blue Graffitti Pelido Kiss Me Kate at Akdenis ...................Kybo Lad at Pelido Pelido Femme Fatale ..............................CH Pelido Guilty Pelido Love on Ice ...............................CH Pelido Guilty CH Pelido Silver Lady .........................CH Incredibly Blu Di Cambiano Pelido Minuetto Allegretto .................CH Cathanbrae Polar Moon at Pelido Moon Moss of Dunsinane from Pelido ...............Pelido Black Prince 3039BH Moonsparkle of Dunsinane .........................Bririch Black Cavalier Blue Lilac of Leawynn ............................Brayson Premier Shearcliffe Blue Star ............................CH Carramar Boy Blue 271AU Bririch Silver Lace ..............................Don Romeo of Dunsinane Bririch Merry Mischief ...........................Crosstalk Silver Star Cloverfield Charleston ...........................Bririch Carnedd Countryman Cloverfield Cobweb 1528AR..............Cloverfield Westcarrs Black Barn Dance Danethorpe Silver Dream ..........................Lupin of Ladypark CH Danethorpe Silver Dew .........................CH Tideswell Blue Prince Beulah's Silver Wave .............................CH Beulah's Night Glorious Blue Princess 42941/44............................Wychelms Blue Crusader Warbreck Blue Bubble .............................Lyncliffe Lancer Redevalley Dinkie ................................Blue Mischief Keriglen Katinka .................................Overwood Darkie Keriglen Kittiwake ............................... Medyelake Mirabelle ..............................CH Glenack Kingfisher Lady Hilda .......................................City Magnate Sweet Briar ......................................CH Seedley Sepia Stella ...........................................Lucas of Sedgemoor Aldouran Radiancy ................................ Aldouran Spendour ................................ Glenogil Beauty .................................. Queen May ........................................ Leyland Ladybird ................................. Southshore Statue ................................Parbold Prior Southshore Pebble ................................ Balgay Duchess ................................... Cushnie .......................................... Carrick Alexandria ...........CH Southport Perfection (Parbold Perfection) Florrie .......................................... Marigold .........................................Champagne Sherry ...........................................Carlyle This next line is now more up to date than the above line.
Florrie the third bitch in this line was of interest as she was the dam of a bitch called White Heather that started her own line and was the granddam of a Crufts Best of Breed winner CH Great Gun.
Another very interesting bitch in the early part of this line is Leyland Ladybird. She was the granddam of Southport Seal that was the dam of a very famous dog simply called Ch Magnate. He was a very successful sire in this country before going to the USA at quite an advanced age, where he was a very successful sire and is today considered to be the father of the breed over there although it was his grandson Ch Eden Emerald that had more influence on the breed in the States
This bitch line did nothing for another seventeen generations then along comes a bitch by the name of REDEVALLEY DINKIE. And what a difference she made. After reverse generations that had nothing to notate, she filled a page with a 5 generation reverse pedigree. This is quite extraordinary and why did it happen? Her dam was called KERIGLEN KATINKA who I believe did some winning before the second World War. Her sire was called Overwood Darkie and of this dog I have no knowledge at all. So how did this come about? She had a litter to a dog called Blue Mischief who I would imagine was a blue merle. This mating produced another prolific bitch called Warbreck Blue Bubble and it was she that was behind a lot of the Beulah’s. As far as I can find out Dinkie had just the one litter. One bitch was called Eden Ensa that did not breed on but was obviously bought by Mr Robson the Eden man. Another was Redevalley Rosette that did breed on. A vast family came from her including a famous bitch called CH Bapchild Floss. But it was the Longscar line that made their mark as Florrie was the dam of Longscar Lady this leading to the Wearmouth line of famous Collies. Unfortunately, this line seems to have died out.
Starting at the top of the Aqualita line we come down to Aqualita Classic Gold and she was the dam of Aqualita Class ACt at Corydon that was the sire of the top tricolour dog Ch Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin over Corydon and he was also a highly successful sire. Looking at this dogs reverse pedigree is quite a revelation as he must be one of the most successful studs of all time in the breed.
We have to go down another fourteen generations before we come to two of the most prolific bitches in the breed. Firstly Blue Princess that appears to be the foundation bitch for the post war Beulahs.
This next line is the same up to Shearcliffe Blue Star. She was a most prolific bitch. She was the dam of two outstanding Champion bitches. Ch Shearcliffe Black Belle of Dunsinane and Ch Shearcliffe Blue Sonnet of Dunsinane. She was also the dam of the lead into the Ingledene line, Blue Viola of Leawynn and the lead into the Dycoshen line Blue Lilac of Leawyn. The sire of these four bitches was Ch Carramar Boy Blue.
The dam of this wonderful bitch was Bririch Silver Lace and she was not only the dam of Shearcliffe Blue Star but also the dam of Bririch Blue Belle of Ciraveen who started her own line that ended in the birth in 1993 of Ch Rusforth Sweet Cherie eleven generations from Bririch Silver Lace. At this point this family line of Sherry was going upwards and beyond.
The dam of Bririch Silver Lace was Bririch Merry Mischief and she was also the dam of Ch Bririch Silver Dream who started her own family line that ended after nine generations with another well known Champion Saheltra Sally Sunshine of Clickam.
There is yet another line that is almost up to date, as follows.
DAM LINE of: Ingledene Lace N'Grace
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 08/04/2016
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Ingledene Leather N Lace ........................CH Ingledene Spirit of Legend
Ingledene Carry On Lovin .........................Ingledene Mr Majestic
Ingledene Hold Onto Love .........................CH Lingwell Lancer
CH Ingledene Cherish The Love ....................Ingledene Love is a Drug
CH Ingledene First Love ..........................CH Easy Come at Drenoss
CH Ingledene Summer Love .........................CH Karava Kornishman
Ingledene Spring Song ............................CH Brilyn Supertramp
Ingledene Black Sequin ...........................Sandiacre Softly Softly
Leawyn Annabelle of Ingledene .............Pattingham Premonition of Ingledene
Blue Viola of Leawyn .............................Bririch Black Cavalier
Shearcliffe Blue Star ............................CH Carramar Boy Blue
Bririch Silver Lace ..............................Don Romeo of Dunsinane
Bririch Merry Mischief ...........................Crosstalk Silver Star
Cloverfield Charleston ...........................Bririch Carnedd Countryman
Cloverfield Cobweb 1528AR..............Cloverfield Westcarrs Black Barn Dance
Danethorpe Silver Dream ..........................Lupin of Ladypark
CH Danethorpe Silver Dew .........................CH Tideswell Blue Prince
Beulah's Silver Wave .............................CH Beulah's Night Glorious
Blue Princess 42941/44............................Wychelms Blue Crusader
Warbreck Blue Bubble .............................Lyncliffe Lancer
Redevalley Dinkie ................................Blue Mischief
Keriglen Katinka .................................Overwood Darkie
Keriglen Kittiwake ...............................
Medyelake Mirabelle ..............................CH Glenack Kingfisher
Lady Hilda .......................................City Magnate
Sweet Briar ......................................CH Seedley Sepia
Stella ...........................................Lucas of Sedgemoor
Aldouran Radiancy ................................
Aldouran Spendour ................................
Glenogil Beauty ..................................
Queen May ........................................
Leyland Ladybird .................................
Southshore Statue ................................Parbold Prior
Southshore Pebble ................................
Balgay Duchess ...................................
Cushnie ..........................................
Carrick Alexandria ...............................CH Southport Perfection (Parbold Perfection)
Florrie ..........................................
Marigold .........................................Champagne
Sherry ...........................................Carlyle 8505
Family T – Silvermoor’s Society Girl
This is a strange family as it starts with a bitch probably born in the late 1960’s. Doris Mortiboy who bred under the Silvermoor’s prefix did not show too much as she did not drive and travelled by train to shows. So was very much London Show bound. But she did breed some very nice Collies. I cannot find any details for Society Girl. She was not shown, at least not at any of the shows for which I have catalogues. A short family yet several lines coming from Society Girl go up to more or less today. Very little happens in this family until we get to Silvermoor’s Story Teller and then things do happen because she was the dam of a Champion Camanna bitch that bred on and another line that led to the Beldone’s Collies.
DAM LINE of: Camanna Chasing Rainbows at Rahlissa
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 14/11/2007
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Camanna Carmen Miranda 0261CQ................Lynmead Lucky in Love at Camanna
CH Camanna Cindy Crawford ........................Lynaire Travilin Man
CH Mallicot Make Believe at Camanna ..............Camanna The Copyest
Amalie Love Affair with Mallicot .................Geosan Flashback at Mallicot
Mallicot with Love for Amalie ....................Amalie Mild Affair
CH Back in Love at Mallicot ......................Geosan Flashback at Mallicot
Love Maker at Amalie ....................CH Percheron Benjamin Black at Amalie
Amalie Merry Maker ...............................Mallicot Love Storm
CH Silvermoor's Hollyberry at Amalie ....CH Percheron Benjamin Black at Amalie
Silvermoor's Story Teller .............CH Lanteague Harvest Moon at Silvermoor
Silvermoor's Same Old Story ......................CH Pelido Double Fantasy
Silvermoor's Black Sunday ........................Silvermoor's Sniggy Bear
Silvermoor's Black Shrew .........................CH Pelido Sparticus
Silvermoor's Society Girl ........................Silvermoor's Special Edition
DAM LINE of: Beldones Blue Ballerina
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 06/03/2018
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Salsina Black Lace at Beldones ...................CH Samhaven On The Crest
Demi Day Dream In Blue de Cathyja ................Beldones Black Illusion
CH Silvermoor's Black Opal at Buebezi ............Foreign
Silvermoor's May Bee .............................Silvermoor's Spritzer
Silvermoor's Busy Lizzie .........................Amalie Mild Affair
Silvermoor's Barleycorn ..........................Silvermoor's Sunburn
Silvermoor's Sammy Jo .................CH Lanteague Harvest Moon at Silvermoor
Silvermoor's Sun Princess ........................CH Pelido Double Fantasy
Silvermoor's Story Teller ........................Matai Hello Sunshine
Silvermoor's Same Old Story ......................CH Pelido Double Fantasy
Silvermoor's Black Sunday ........................Silvermoor's Sniggy Bear
Silvermoor's Black Shrew .........................CH Pelido Sparticus
Silvermoor's Society Girl ........................Silvermoor's Special Edition
Family V – Clanrole Daisy
A family of thirteen birches that produced nothing until the end one that was called simply Gibson Girl. But she was the dam of a dog called Commander of Cranyglen when she was mated to Lochson of Ladypark. Commander of Cranyglen made some sort of history as he won all of the dog classes and was awarded best of breed at Crufts dog show in 1958. He was just 10 months old at the time.The judge was the top all rounder judge of the day Mr Leo Wilson. This dog never did get his title even after this remarkable win. This show I remember well as it was the first show I ever exhibited my first Rough Collie.
Gibson Girl’s sire Rimington Kittieholm Pilot was a dog that was to live in the memory of the breed by being the sire of four Champions. I can find no offspring from Commander of Cranyglen nor can I find any more stock from his dam apart from a dog from the same litter.
DAM LINE of: Gibson Girl - Dam of Crufts Best of Breed
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 23/01/1955
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Elmtore Beauty ..............................Rimington Kittieholm Pilot
Kintore Lass ...............................CH Beulah's Golden Fuson Kin
Ann Chum .........................................
Fair Ideal .......................................
Honest Lady ......................................
Lisnisky Lass ....................................
Irish Colleen ....................................
Miss Madge .......................................
Princess Ena .....................................
Princess Katinka .................................
Karuna ...........................................
Clanrole Daisy ...................................
I cannot find the sires nor the owners of the first ten bitches in this line. I have to say I find it very incredible that a bitch line like this can go on for so many years, yet the line of top sires disappears after several generations less than this. This line is fourteen bitches long.
Even a reverse pedigree of these bitches produces no results apart from the bitch in the next generatioThe male line from Ch Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill that sired 13 Champions dies out after just 10 generations
Family W Shy Daisy (Unregistered bitch)
SHY DAISY was probably a First World War baby when the Kennel Club stopped registering puppies. Also I have no knowledge of the dog (Ashgill Ben) she was mated to produce the next in line although strangely I have the name of all the sires in this lineup. Many of the sires were Champions which reminds me that when I started in the game, we and most of the other breeders, invariably used a Champion dog on their bitches. Now it is a very rare occurrence. I have to accept that people breeding today are not interested in improving the breed. Why?
DAM LINE of: Gerian Sunberries
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 27/12/2002
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Gerian Sunblush at Salsina .......................CH Amalie Deep in My Soul
Gerian Black Stockings at Kirikomi 1654CM.........Gerian Sunset
Amalie Black Sensation for Gerian ................Gerian Hello Sunshine
Amalie Lewarne Blackberry ........................Geosan Flashback at Mallicot
Amalie Black Penny at Lewarne ....................Amalie Gold Dust
Blossoms Black at Amalie .........................Erjon Eyecatcher
Warjar Hollyberry of Amalie .............CH Percheron Benjamin Black at Amalie
Warjar Diamond Dream .............................CH Pelido Double Fantasy
Warjar Bubbles Galore ............................Ambassador of Amalie
Antoc Amazing Grace from Kinninvie ...............Fugitive of Collydean
Kinninvie's Maid to Measure ......................CH Antoc Midnight Cowboy
Antoc Amazing Grace ..............................CH Antoc Haymaker
Antoc Dearly Beloved ........................CH Geoffdon Westlynns Wayside Boy
Antoc High Society ...............................CH Antoc Vicar of Bray
CH Antoc Daydream 2014AX..........................Glamour Boy of Glenmist
Antoc Tawny Lyric 1321AT..........................CH Debonair of Glenmist
Antoc Tawny Token 1071AR..........................CH Liberty of Ladypark 63AM
Sherry of Shencolne .................CH Ugony's Golden Son 'o Lad of Riffelsee
Runham Rowena ....................................CH Warrenholme Black Prince
Kay of Killartry .................................Sirod Sirius
Killartry Queen of the May .......................CH The Laird of Killartry
CH Queen of the Forge ............................Ashtead Aristocrat
Orange Queen .....................................Exactitude of Knocke
Apple Blossom ....................................Pelton Blue Fella
Shy Daisy (Un Reg) ...............................Ashgill Ben
Shy Daisy started another line that carried on for about four generations and then blossomed out to some very famous dogs including Ch Chapelburn Ivor the sire of at least six Champions.
This was a very strong line for a time. Included are six generations of Antoc bitches, most of them were well known at the time. They included Ch Antoc Daydream a very beautiful bitch that dominated the ring. I worked an eight generation of the first Antoc that was named Antoc Tawny Token. It went on and on. She was born in 1953 and the last Champion Antoc was born in 2013. A long time for any kennel to keep on top. Token is directly behind such famous dogs as Ch Antoc Tawny Tattoo, Ch Antoc The Boyfriend, Ch Antoc Vicar of Bray and Ch Antoc Midnight Cowboy. The number of Champions coming down from that lot would fill several pages.
The Antoc kennel of Aileen Spedding was very dominant for a long time. For some reason there are no Rokeby, Dunsinane or Brettonpark Collies in the pedigree. I have to assume that as the Antoc Collies were based in the far south and the aforementioned were based in the far north of England it would have been difficult to mix these bloodlines. Indeed, in the eight generations there are no Corydon Collies either.
Later on in this line we come to another very successful kennel that were the Amalie Collies of Anne Holliwood. This kennel was highly successful for quite a long time, mainly in the southern part of England. Then onto the Gerian Collies that are still breeding and showing today, but Gerian Sunberries evidently did not breed on.
Once again there are only two champion bitches in this quite long line. The bitch at the top of the line is sired by a Champion dog but we have to go down seven generations before another Champion dog is used. As a dedicated breeder of Rough Collies I just cannot understand why breeders use dogs that are not very good show specimens.
Just for fun I have put in a four generation reverse pedigree of Antoc Tawny Token. It rather emphasises what an influential dam she was. This kennel was lucky to have such a dominant dam to start off with. Then to breed a Champion bitch that also bred on.
REVERSE DAM PEDIGREE of: Antoc Tawny Token
Date of Birth: 11/11/1953
Antoc Tawny Token 1071AR
| Antoc Tawny Lyric 1321AT
| CH Antoc Daydream 2014AX
| Antoc High Society
| CH Antoc April Love
| Antoc Dearly Beloved
| Antoc Amazing Grace
| CH Antoc Antoinette of Soloroy
| CH Soloroy’s Saratoga Springs
Going back to the dam line nothing much happens for seven generations apart from CH Queen of the Forge that only produced the next in the line. Until we get to Runham Rowena. She when mated to CH Warrenholme Black Prince produced several Shencolne Collies. This kennel owned by Mr & Mrs Park were quite successful at the London dog Shows during the 1950/60 period. And it was one of them that was the foundation bitch for the Antoc kennel. ANTOC TAWNEY TOKEN and she did very well as a dam. She was the dam of CH ANTOC TAWNEY TATTOO the first of many Antoc Champions. He would be very unlikely to get his title today because he had a very big white blaze on his foreface. But most of the big winners in those days did have this rather important breed point which has gone completely out of favour today. This is a big pity because the film star LASSIE had a big blaze, and this is what the general public see in a Collie. I know that if we have a litter and one of them has a dominant blaze this puppy will be the first to go as a pet. Our CH CORYDON TRUMP THE LOT has a blaze on his foreface. The allrounder judges liked him and he won his three Challenge Certificated under them. The breed judges did not like him, and he was often put down because of this fact. It really is time that breed judges grew up and realised that a blaze is an advantage. I cannot understand why this feature is seen as an advantage on blue merle Collies but is not allowed on a sable.
Back to Token, as she was the dam of two bitches that bred on. These were ANTOC TAWNEY LYRIC the dam of Ch Antoc DAYDREAM and ANTOC TAWNY LINK the granddam of CH DUKE OF YELDUST. He was the sire and grandsire of the two final Laund Champions.
Not only did ANTOC TAWNY LYRIC produce a Champion Bitch she was also the dam of ANTOC ROSE MARIE the dam of a very famous dog CH ANTOC VICAR OF BRAY. Both Lyric and Link were litter sisters and were sired by the great CH LIBERTY OF LADYPARK. Once again it proves that a Champion is more likely to produce special puppies than the pet that most breeders seem to prefer.
The next bitch in this line to have a lasting effect was Blossoms Black at Amalie. She was sired by a famous dog in CH Percheron Benjamin Black at Amalie that was a Best of Breed winner at Crufts
Reverse pedigree of: Blossoms Black at Amalie
Sex: F
Colour & Markings: Tri
Owner: Mrs A Hollywood
Blossoms Black at Amalie
| Amalie Mild And Bitter
| CH Amalie Lilley Langtree of Danfrebek
| CH Jenset Black Velvet At Amalie
| Lewarne Martini For Deancourt
| CH Deancourt Jenny Wren at Wenchaela
| Amalie Mild Affair
| CH Samhaven Toast
| CH Samhaven Cheers 3719CQ
| CH Samhaven Toast Marster
| CH Lynmead Simply Charming
| CH Lynmead Simply in My Soul Q
| Silvermoor’s May Bee
| CH Silvermoor’s Black Opal at Buebezi
| Amalie Love Affair with Mallicot
| CH Mallicot Make Believe at Camanna
| Lynmead Love of My Life
| CH Collingvale Creme Brulee
| Lynmead Lucky in Love at Camanna
| CH Camanna Chasing Rainbows at Rahlissa
| CH Lynmead Love Me To at Telforth
| CH Lynmead Love Charm at Woodwick
| Lynmead So in Love
| CH Lynmead Love Me To at Telforth
| CH Lynmead Simply Charming
| CH ynmead Simply in My Soul
| Lynmead Yours Truly to Danfrebek
| CH Danfrebek Truly Madly Deeply with Alanita
| Lynmead Brewed with Love
| Amalie Designed With Style For Roanburn
| CH Roanburn Black Is Back at Zolkan
Family Y – Ladypark Meadowsweet of Lewdown
Nothing much was found in this line until the appearance of Mistypalms Double Dividend. Then a lot happened. The Lassina Kennel based their stock on this bitch. Mainly through Dividends daughter Lassina Divis Darling. From her we come to quite a few Corydon’s plus two or three Lassina Champions. Another daughter of dividend was Mistypalms Mighty Like a Rose of Rifflesea and she was the start of several Riffelsea Rough Collies. They lead to Ch Riffelsea Romantasy that was quite a popular sire. It does seem strange that such a prolific line should die out thirty years ago.
DAM LINE of: Lassina Love in Bloom
Sex: F
Date of Birth: 09/06/1993
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Lassina Love In A Mist ...........................Lassina Lovely Boy Blue
Lassina Let It Be Love ...........................CH Pelido Guilty
Lassina Let It Be Me .............................CH Tameila Gordon Bennet
Lassina Love Me True .............................Lassina Lovely Boy
CH Lassina Love Me Tender .....................CH Corydon Handsome Hotspur JW
Lassina Love Story ...............................Lassina Lovely Boy
Lassina Divi's Darling ...........................Sandiacre Softly Softly
Mistypalms Double Dividend .................Duntiblae Brettonpark Even Chance
Lynway Spanish Lace ..............................Sandiacre Softly Softly
Lynway Sunsweet ..................................CH Ramsey of Rokeby
Samantha of Sandiacre ............................Sandiacre Softly Softly
Karousel of Kinreen ..............................CH Duntiblae Dogwatch
Kilarney of Kinreen ......................Wintermaiden Carreer Boy of Kinreen
Kiska of Kinreen 1078AT...........................CH Legend of Ladypark
Kismet of Kinreen ................................CH Liberty of Ladypark
Ladypark Meadowsweet of Lewdown ..................CH Legend of Ladypark
Sex: F
Ladypark Meadowsweet of Lewdown
| Kismet of Kinreen
| King of Kinreen
| Wintermaiden Carreer Boy of Kinreen
| Thistleblue Petrova
| CH Thistleblue Bluelands Boy
| CH Brigand of Thistleblue
| CH Bririch Black Keino
| CH Blue Rock of Bririch
| CH Bririch Blue Yvette
Ch Lassina Love Me Tender brings back memories for me as I awarded her the CC when I judged at my first Championship judging appointment which was the London Collie club Championship Show in 1983. This show was also memorable as my first class the Minor Puppy Bitch class had an entry of 59. I believe that this was the largest class of all time for the breed in this country.
Family Z – Sweetsauce of Glenmist
This line started off with this bitch that seems to have started from nowhere. But she was the start of the well known kennels of Rickwood and Sachenda. These two kennels were very successful during the 1990’s with quite a number of Champions being bred in both these kennels. But the lines have stopped in the early 2000’s when they stopped breeding. I do suspect that this first bitch could be a Smooth Collie. The line does start off with some well known Smooth Collie prefixes.
DAM LINE of: Sachenda Show Me Heaven Sex: F Date of Birth: 14/03/2006 Colour & Markings: Owner: Bedford DAM SIRE Sachenda Showbiz .................................CH Samhaven Toast Marster Sachenda Staring Role ............................CH Carostar C'est la Vie CH Sachenda Red Red Rosebud ......................Sachenda Stand N' Deliver Sachenda Red Red Robyn ...........................Jopium Major Tom CH Sachenda Strawbree Wine ...................Mirpet Murphy's Law at Roughrigg Sachenda Chianti Classico .....................Brilyn Misty Shadow at Carostar Sachenda Red Red Wine ............................Sachenda Magnifico Sachenda Cherie Ice ..............................Sachenda Billy Bunter Sachenda Strawbree Shortcake .....................Barnville Country Cobbler Sachenda Blond'n'Beautiful .......................Jayverly Kinda Smart Sachenda Gold N' Gorgeous ..................CH Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill Jayverly Sweet Innocent ..........................Goldsmith from Antoc Rickwood Pippin ..................................Rickwood Young Winston Rickwood Moonglow ................................CH Dunsinane Radar of Rokeby Rickwood Gay Debutant ............................Recruit of Rokeby Chicnoir Gay Gwendolen ...........................Broncho Mornington Selskars Blue Star ...............................Pattingham Playing Selskars Glenmist Belle ..........................CH Antoc Tawny Tattoo 1301AR Sweetsauce of Glenmist ...........................CH Debonair of Glenmist
Dam line of the other Sachenda bitch line that does not tie in with the above at all. Very strange. Yet they both start of with a Jayverly bred bitch.
DAM LINE of: Sachenda Such a Dream
Sex: F
Date of Birth:
Colour & Markings:
Owner:
DAM SIRE
Sachenda Fantastique ......................Westoak Mr Robertson of Heighinglea
Sachenda Cherry Morello ..........................CH Matai Don Quixote
Sachenda Copper Cascade .................CH Percheron Benjamin Black at Amalie
Sachenda Sarah Kay ...............................Dark Stranger at Barnville
Jayverly Bundle A Joy at Sachenda ................Sachenda Sargeant Pepper
Geoffdon Joybelle of Jayverly ..............CH Arranbrook Mr Chips of Aberhill
Altricia Angie Babe of Geoffdon ..............CH Duntiblae Dodgem of Geoffdon
Altricia Over the Moon .....................CH Geoffdon Westlynns Wayside Boy
Altricia Crackling Rose ..........................Altricia Spellbound
Jefsfire Penny Edition ...........................
Jefsfire Penny Black .............................
CH Jefsfire Amber Linnet .........................CH Jefsfire Lucky By Name
CH Whitelea Watastra 1515AP.......................Jefsfire by Achievement
CH Sudborough Lochdorna ..........................Whitelea Why Boy
Lassie of Sudborough .............................CH Lochinvar of Ladypark
Lassie of Courage ................................Eden Esquire 2
Sandy of Mariemeau 6182/45........................Thane of Mariemeau
Jeannie of Mariemeau .............................Thane of Mariemeau
Mariemeau Violetta ...............................CH Knight of Monister 1950PP
Mariemeau Genesta 1671TT..........................Ashtead Aristocrat
Cora of Mariemeau ................................CH Knight of Monister 1950PP
Mariemeau Idylle ..............................CH Laund Lindrum (Glenack Glow)
Stella-of-Test ...................................Beaulieu Marauder
Laund Lacey ......................................Laund Lucas
Laund Lavinia ....................................CH Laund Laird
Felinfoel Betty ..................................CH Laund Limit 1285T
Parbold Peeper ...................................CH Sonnenburgh Squire
Duchess of Weardale ..............................Parbold Privateer
Weardale Welfare .................................CH Ormskirk Foxall
Weardale Superba .................................CH Squire of Tytton
Stanhope Shy Girl ................................CH Lancaster Rex
Stanhope Village Belle ...........................
DAM LINE of: Sachenda Such a Dream
DAM SIRE
Sachenda Fantastique ……………………..Westoak Mr Robertson of Heighinglea
Sachenda Cherry Morello ………………… CH Matai Don Quixote
Sachenda Copper Cascade ………………..CH Percheron Benjamin Black at Amalie
Sachenda Sarah Kay ……………………….Dark Stranger at Barnville
Jayverly Bundle A Joy at Sachenda ………Sachenda Sargeant Pepper
Sweetsauce of Glenmist was mated to Ch Debonair of Glenmist, He is a most interesting dog as he is one of only two Rough Collie dogs to win a Best in Show award at a General All Breeds Ch Show. He was exported shortly after this win.
Not a lot happened in this line until Rickwood Gay Debutant. She was the dam of three that were of some importance. These were Rickwood Mary Poppins the dam of Ch Rickwood Caprice, Rickwood Young Winston and Rickwood Moonglow that is in the list above. I have to say that I find it rather strange that the Sachenda Collies come in two very separate lines. This line and in the line of“Stanhope Village Belle” and that these two lines do not meet. Very rare for a kennel to have two separate bitch lines that are not interbred.
REVERSE PEDIGREE of: Rickwood Gay Debutant
Sex: F:
Rickwood Gay Debutant
| Rickwood Mary Poppins
| CH Rickwood Caprice
| Sophie Tucker of Rickwood
| CH Rickwood Worthington
Further thoughts
The Group judges know that most of the Rough Collies they have in the group ring are basically unsound. Why do the breed judges ignore sound animals? Is it because their own Collies are unsound. I suspect that they think that their own dogs are perfect so that a cow hocked or straight shouldered dog to them is perfect and deserves the top award.
We now have bitches winning top awards that are far too low in the front. A problem that the breeders in the USA had a few years ago because the most popular sire at the time was throwing this fault. Fortunately they decided to try and correct the fault with one dog in particular improving the shoulders. It is a straight shoulder that is the problem here. But I find that most judges have no idea where the shoulder is and here I have to say that many of the top all-rounder judges are just as ignorant.
We had a similar problem in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Mainly because one dog that was the top winner in the country at that time Ch Mywicks Meadow lancer was himself a very unsound dog. One look at his photographs will prove my point. Fortunately we had a litter born in 1965 that changed the breed so that for a time we had very high quality sound Collies in the ring. This was the litter that produced Ch’s Royal Ace and Romney of Rokeby. Before Meadow Lancer came on to the scene the breed was doing quite well with some very nice Collies winning top awards. We had the Beulah’s, Ladypark’s and Westcarrs doing the breed proud in the showring.
But, I have just had another thought on what is going wrong. The Rough Collie is very loose limbed. The breed is almost unique in the way that limbs are so flexible. They are entirely different from the Smooth Collie in this respect. Also the breed has very small feet in relation to their size. I have to wonder if the judges who judge other breeds as well can understand this feature of the Rough Collie. I suspect they see this as a weakness when in actual fact it is a strength that the breed need for their job of herding. They need to be very flexible as they are always up and down on the job. The Border Collie does a similar job but they are small and have much larger feet which gives them a more solid construction.
This is a photo of a sable & white dog born in 1943. For me he is the ideal Rough Collie Dog. Why has the breed been allowed to come down from this type of nobility. There are no photographs of todays dogs that come even close to the majesty of this dog. If he was alive and shown today he would be unbeatable.
Was it the suspected crossing with Samoyeds that produce the deep stop so common on the poor quality specimens we see today? This is the only reason I can think of that produced this type of head that was so highlighted by kennel owners who owned both breeds.
And what has happened to expressions that was in my early days the most important feature of the breed?
The main problem here is that it is not possible for the Collie to have a deep stop and a correct expression. The head has to be clean on the sides with no discernible cheek bones for the eye to be in the perfect position for a perfect eye that produces the perfect expression. A deep stop means that the cheeks are going to be prominent with the result that the eye is in the wrong position to create that perfect expression.
This photo is of Ch Corydon Christopher. He has the correct expression.
Corydon Collies 