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Our Story
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We were both born in Anaheim, California within two months of each other. Then, at different times, we moved to the Bay Area. Independently, our parents decided to send us to summer camp at Lake Tahoe. At the age of 13, we met at summer camp. After that, we kept up a long-distance friendship.
We went to different High Schools in the Bay Area and still managed to stay friends. In our last years of High School we became girlfriend and boyfriend.
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After High School, Michael unexpectedly joined the Navy. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. Also, he didn't want to go to school any more. So off he went in 1989 to Boot Camp in Great Lakes Michigan.
After Boot Camp, Michael was assigned to Submarine training in Groton Connecticut. Cindi joined Michael there. We were married in May 1989. Our first daughter, Kayla was born later that year.
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We never really planned to become dog breeders, trainers or even owners. It was out of pity for a dog that we even owned our first Collie. We were window shopping at a strip mall in New London, Connecticut. A small pet store had a six month old Collie crammed in a cage way too small for it. We felt so sorry for him that we bought him. No one else wanted a dog that big. They all wanted puppies.
That was the first and last time we bought a dog from a pet store. To his credit, Lance was an absolutely wonderful dog. He was everything you could ever ask for. He was smart, loyal, friendly and great with kids. He was quickly house trained. Even though we lived in an apartment, he was absolutely wonderful and never bothered anyone. Our landlord was hesitant at first but after a while he realized that Lance would not be a problem.
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We later moved to Charleston, South Carolina so Michael could be on his first Submarine. The sub itself was based out of Holy Loch, Scotland but the families were kept in South Carolina. The sailors were flown over twice a year.
We got a little cottage in South Carolina and Lance had a great time. He loved Kayla and played with her all the time. The Navy decided to decommission the ship Michael was on and he had an opportunity to transfer to a newer class of submarine. This meant we had to move to Georgia.
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Michael ended up going to school for 1 ½ years in Georgia and then he was stationed on the USS Pennsylvania, a Trident class submarine. During one deployment, Cindi decided to purchase a friend for Lance. He was lonely and needed company. Cindi managed to locate a young Collie whose owners didn't want to keep her. She purchased Echo as Lance's companion. She turned out to be a great dog as well. Her early days were punctuated with frequent chewing of the house but once she got past that stage, she calmed down and became a great family dog and Lance's best friend.
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After Georgia, Michael was eligible for shore duty. He was assigned to the Naval Submarine Base in Bangor, Washington. This was a three year tour. During this time, Cindi got heavily into animal rescue. She worked with a group called Petsavers and made friends with several people at Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue.
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Eventually, Lance died and Echo became very lonely. She had always had a companion but her buddy was gone. We rescued a very nice but very sick Collie named Jenny from a breeder in Port Angeles, Washington. We tried to nurse her back to health but she didn't make it. Echo was worse than ever. Cindi went on a quest to find a companion for Echo. She eventually found a breeder that had a Smooth Collie that he didn't want to keep. Carson had an undescended testicle and could not be shown. This was not a problem for us because we didn't want to show him. We wanted a friend for Echo. We discovered that Smooth Collies had all the qualities of Rough Collies without all the grooming. They shed just as much but they don't need to be brushed as much. This was the beginning of our love affair with Smooth Collies.
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Michael eventually got out of the Navy and found a job with a company in Bellevue, Washington called Sea-Bird Electronics. They make oceanographic equipment for deep ocean scientific research. This meant that we were going to stay in the area. No more moving around.
Cindi was approached by a friend regarding another Smooth Collie. She said she knew someone that was looking for a home for their Smooth Collie. We checked it out and eventually got Paisley. We were starting to get more familiar with Smooth Collies and planned to show her in Conformation. That was one of the conditions placed on us by her previous owner. She was a Canadian Champion and had several points towards her American Championship.
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There were several problems with this. First, she had been locked up for so long, her back legs had atrophied. We had her examined by a vet and this was his diagnosis. During her examination, one of Paisley's teeth fell out. She had such bad teeth that 9 had to be pulled. This quashed any plans we had for showing Paisley. This was OK. We just decided to keep her as a pet. She is such a nice Collie. Always friendly and ready for petting.
One of Cindi's friends was moving. She is a breeder and needed to find a home for two of her dogs. One was Joker, a very large overactive Collie. He was not quite show quality but he was very friendly. We found him a home nearby where he is very happy. The other was Charlotte, a show quality dog except for her ears. We tried to get these to tip properly but it was too late by the time we got her. They are floppy but not tipped. So we decided to take Charlotte to Agility training. She likes it but doesn't really like to jump high.
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Eventually we decided to try breeding. We matched Paisley up with a nice male from the breeder where we got Charlotte. The male wasn't interested in Paisley so the breeder went with another male. We didn't mind this except that she picked a blue boy and Paisley is a blue girl. We ended up with 6 dead puppies and three live ones. We learned a lot about breeding form that one experience.
We kept one of the puppies, Holly. She has become a wonderful dog. She LOVES Agility and can jump 24 inch jumps to Charlotte's 16 inches. She loves to run and enjoys weave poles.
Two years later we decided to breed again. This time we used a different breeder and bred Charlotte to a Collie from a different breeder. We went with Easy from Gold Hill Collies in Oregon. This caused some hate and discontent with Charlotte's breeder. She wanted to choose the male from one of her own and we bypassed her because of our previous experience.
Charlotte had a litter of 8 puppies. They are all wonderful. We have kept one and we plan to breed again in 2008. Her name is Aurora. She will also be taken through Agility if she likes it. She will at least get obedience training and perhaps conformation.
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