28/03/2025
The Full Story
Born and bred in the southwest of Scotland I was brought up in the county of Ayrshire. From day one, sitting in my baby buggy, I can remember mixing with animals while watching my mother feeding baby calves and my father milking cows. We also had a big flock of Suffolk and Texel sheep, so looking after animals and working with them has always been in my blood. Sheep became my true passion, lambing my first one at the early age of 5, and spending all my time in the lambing shed with my best friend Jess the farm Collie dog was my daily routine.
My Uncle Tom was a proper hill Shepherd, he had lots of Collie dogs and trained them as he was passionate about sheepdog trialling. For hours on end, I would stand by the field gate looking in awe as he trained his naturally clever and hard-working dogs. At that point, I realised I wanted to find out how these gifted animals worked and how they developed over 300 years to become one of man’s best tools.
I then became a contract Shepherd and spent the next 20 years travelling around the world and I was fortunate to gain valuable experience working with dogs in different environments and conditions. I thoroughly enjoyed how they interacted with their owners and helped them with their day-to-day jobs.
After gaining all this experience I knew I wanted to spend my life as a Shepherd, I was eager to show others how talented Collies were and what they could do. Their natural hunting instinct, ancestry, and ability to learn are in their DNA which is why today they are an incredible working tool and a great asset to man.
In my shows, I love to demonstrate their natural ability and how easily they can be controlled with training and dedication. They are eager to please and follow instructions,and their main purpose in life is to complete their task as they have always been born and bred to succeed.
