All puppies should be microchipped by their breeder ensuring full traceability back to them, afterall, it is the breeder who has decided to bring the pup into the world and for that reason the Puppy Breeder should be responsible for providing back up to the new owner throughout the dogs life.
Please DO NOT purchase a Border Collie
Puppy that has not been microchipped by the breeder.
Microchipping is a highly reccommended requirement for Border Collie breeders registering their puppies with the International Sheepdog Society; also known as the I.S.D.S.
Breeding for Working Ability in the Border Collie
Our dogs and bitches work for their living: they are not just breeding dogs.
Each bitch must show us her natural herding instinct, character, temperament, trainability before she is mated, read more
Each Stud dog must prove himself at work before he is used, read more.
Read on...
Only the very best stay with us for Trials and Full Farm duties. Unfortunately we do not have enough work nor time to keep all our breeding bitches for any length of time, in fact; we believe it would be CRUEL to do so. Therefore, these dogs may well be available, at any time, to the right homes as partly trained or fully trained sheepdogs.
Please register your interest with us if you wish to be considered to provide a forever home to one of our bitches. read more
Breeding a Performance Sports Dog
We have specialized in producing ISDS registered border collie puppies
with strong sheep herding instincts and have placed a great deal
of emphasis on wonderful temperaments and biddable.
As a border collie breeder we have achieved recognition for
breeding border collie "sheepdogs" with power, agility, stamina and biddability.
Read on...
The "Astra" lines of Border Collies have excelled in
Sheepdog
Trials at National level.
Dog Agility at Crufts and Olympia
Fly ball
with several Dogs now qualified for World competition in all of the above performance sports.
Other disciplines Astra Dogs enjoy are
Obedience
Working Trials
Search and Rescue
Running partner
anything you can think of
Breeding for Healthy Border Collies
We were one of the first ISDS Border Collie breeders to
eye test all litters of puppies at six weeks of age for CEA
microchip all puppies bred by us.
screen test all breeding stock for their CEA genetic status.
hip score for Hip Dysplasia,
Read on...
encourage feedback from our owners as to the health status of their "Astra" prefixed dogs as they mature and grow older
COMING SOON = Owners can have their own page on our site. Please get together all your photo's and news - it won't be long now.
Breeding for Temperament in the Border Collie
Historically, the Border Collie temperament was not specifically selected for; in fact it is possible that the best dogs had/still have sensitive and "One Man Dog" characters simply because they never meet many persons on the farm and rarely even leave the farms.
Read on...
It is also generally accepted by farmers that the Border Collie is a great even if sneaky watch dog, wary of strangers. In my view it was and may still be an advantage; to retain this quality in the working Border Collie to help prevent theft of your best dog.
Because of this many Border Collies are still produced with a similar temperament.
However, we are selecting for Temperament and already are consistently producing ISDS registered border collie puppies with wonderful temperaments and biddability.
As the female provides more than 60% influence on the puppies temperament we believe that a female must have a very sweet nature. All females used for breeding have undergone extensive handling and testing to ensure that their basic temperament is excellent.
Breeding for Colour in the Border Collies
Without loosing the working ability that the ISDS registered working sheepdog is renowned for, breeding for colour alone must not be done.
This makes our task extreemly difficult, as many factors must be taken into account before a mating is decided upon.
Read on...
Since 2000 we have been re-introducing the rarer, very stunning colours back into the standard classic Black/White
and Tricolour Border Collie lines, these colours include:-
Red and whites also called chocolate or brown,
Lilac, a dilute form of red and white, chocolate or brown
Slate, a dilute form of Black
Red or Brown Merles, also called chocolate merles,
Blue Merles
the dilute (slate/lilac) version
of each merle,
Sable
All of the above colours often come with Tan cheeks, eyebrows and legs (tricolour)
Breeding for Conformation in the Border Collie
We believe that the breeding for conformation goes hand in hand with all of the above but especially so with the working ability. A dog which is bred to work must also be capable of working all day in any condition to which it has already been acclimatized.
We look for the following:-
Read on...
neither too tall or small
neither too heavy or light
i.e. a balanced dog with
excellent easy flowing movement
extreme agility i.e. can jump/climb/turn etc with ease.
good average sized head for good brain space
good feet preferably shaped like a cats'.
easy care coat
We also believe that if the breeder starts to get too critical about structure, angulation, colour pattern, ear shape or tail carriage, the dogs shape (conformation) and other important aspects, such as temperament and working ability, start to change and you end up with something you did not expect and most probable do not want.
For example: the structural and temperament differences between the modern Kennel Club show/breed border collie and the working ISDS border collie.
