Do to higher costs of traveling and showing dogs, the poor economy, and new interests in our lives, we are no longer breeding collies. If we aren't going to show dogs anymore, then I see no point in breeding anymore. We will leave this web page up for awhile longer for folks to reference if needed, but it will probably come down sometime in 2009. Layla, our first home bred smooth and champion, has died at the age of 14 years and 7 months. She was the best of the best, had the greatest personality, and was very dependable. Wherever she went, everyone loved her. She lived a long and wonderful life. We want to thank everyone who has visited our web page over the many years and mostly thank those that have purchased puppies from us.
We bought our first collie in 1985, a tri-colored, white factored, normal eye dog. Soon after, our first bitch arrived. She was a tri-factored sable with normal eyes. Our first litter was born in 1987. We then purchased our second foundation bitch, a blue merle, who too, was normal eye. Although a dog from our breeding was being shown, we hadn't gotten the show bug yet. Our debut in the ring came in 1992. We entered our white rough dog with sable markings, "Lad". He was terribly out of coat, but it was July. He went best of winners for two points. We now had the show bug. Lad never finished. He did seven shows that summer, winning four of them, and then had an accident resulting in the loss of a couple of teeth and another broken. Lad is a proven noncarrier for CEA and was one of the soundest rough collies around at that time.
We bought our first smooth in 1992. She was a tri-factored sable with normal eyes. Showing wasn't her favorite thing to do. Her tail usually remained tucked under her belly. Lacking one major to finish, she is retired. But, in the one litter that she produced, there was one champion, "Ace". He finished with a third major. We have other home bred champions, "Layla", a white with tri markings and "Trixie", a tricolor, both smooth bitches. They both finished with back to back four point majors. Since then, Layla has had several championed kids and Trixie's had a few too. In 1997 we acquired a beautiful tricolor dog, Buddy, who can be seen on our past collies page, from Bob and Betty Abbott of Abbeyhill Collies. He was a great attribute to our kennel, helping out the head qualities of our dogs. He has mixed extremely well with our line. We continue breeding his progeny and so on.
We aren't out there showing every weekend. Through the year our average trips to shows is about twice a month. Normally we breed two litters a year. But, on occasion, we have had three. As you've probably guessed, in the past, we only bred normal eyes. That's still important to us. Occasionally, we do breed out to a stud with mildly affected eyes because that stud has a lot to offer, but we try to use a noncarrier bitch if possible. Buddy isn't normal eye, but is one of those studs with a whole lot to offer, that's why he was here. He has been proven to produce only very mild CRC in any affected pups. We currently have three noncarrier stud dogs, Renny, You, and Solo. We're hoping to keep that trend going. Although we'd like to produce all normal eye pups, we do get some affected with collie eye anomaly. 
Our goal is to produce collies that are capable of winning in the conformation ring as well as being capable of doing the job they were originally bred for even if they never have to do it. In order to be capable, we believe they have to be extremely sound and have no genetic health problems, so that's what we breed for in our collies. We believe for a collie to be sound in mind and body, they need space to run and play. That's why we have pens that range from 1 to 1 1/2 acres in size. They are out in these areas all day. In the evening they come in the house to socialize with us and know how to be good "pets". A few of the young ones sleep in the kennel at night and the rest sleep in the house with us. We have increased our guarantee from one year to five years on hereditary health problems, this makes us most careful in our breeding program as giving back money is hard to do. This doesn't mean problems can't happen. It does mean that buyers are covered if it does. We breed for the whole dog. Below is the lineup of some of our collies. Any questions? Drop us a line by phone (423-887-5996) or E-mail. Our address is: Spruce Meadow Collies, 172 County Rd 477, Englewood, TN 37329 if you prefer snail mail.
Also check out:
PLANNED BREEDINGS FOR 2007
Fauna is expecting a litter due about 7/29/07.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bertie's pups were born 4/28/07. See them here.
WHO'S AVAILABLE NOW
Skye
A FEW MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS IN COLLIES
FLEAS: HOW TO GET RID OF THEM SAFELY
I hope that we helped in some way. Our commitment at Spruce Meadow is to breed the healthiest and soundest collies possible through what's available. Perfect heads are not our first priority. That comes third on the list. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us by phone at 423-887-5996. Or, you certainly can E-mail us. We will respond as quickly as possible.
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