QUINCY COLLIES   naturally reared collies

Quincy Collies is located in the central New Hampshire, Pemigewasset River Valley town, of Rumney. Rumney is one of several small towns at the foot of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  We are fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful mountains such as Rattlesnake and Stinson.  Many a Quincy dog has hiked those mountains.

 My love for collies started with the purchase of my very first collie in 1984. “Taffy” was a beautiful sable and white female collie.  Taffy and I hiked mountains, swam in the Baker River that borders my Dad's farm and helped my Dad in his hayfields in the summer. She went everywhere with me. She was typical of all collies..devoted, inquisitive, smart, forgiving, determined and oh so lovable. 

  Two years later, I welcomed Coco and Di, two tri colored collies, into my life.  Coco and Di were littermates and came from a litter of puppies that my mother raised.   One of my fondest memories of them was the day they “ran away.”  At the time, I lived in a trailer on land owned by my father.  My parents lived “a field away.”  It was a pretty good sized field though.  One morning, I had let both the puppies out to go to the bathroom.  Not long after that, I looked out the door to check up on them and saw two puppies heading off to “grandma’s.”   Remember the Christmas song  “over the river and through the snow..?”  Well, this was under the fence and through the field, to Grandmother’s house we go.” Di was the obvious leader of the pack, and Coco seemed to be a bit unsure of this idea. She kept stopping and looking back and then would turn around and follow Di again.  I had, meanwhile, called the other end to let them know they had company coming.  I guess they were homesick. Moments later, I went up to Grandma's to retrieve two very happy and proud puppies. 

  During this time, I had started to become interested in possibly breeding one of these dogs.  A friend, who bred shelties at the time, told me about dog matches and shows and suggested I attend some so that I could meet breeders and learn more about collies.  That led me to the purchase of my first show quality collie-“Trixie”  Ch. Candray Callisto.  I bought Trixie as a year old bitch and she did very well in the show ring, quickly finishing her championship title.  That's my niece, Kris, in the photo on the left. We took several photos of Quincy dogs that day. When we were all done, she asked me "did you get ME in any of those pictures?"  Oops, was I THAT obvious? What was I thinking? I guess I could have raised the camera lens a tad more in this photo and included her in the picture too.

 In 1994, I purchased a tri male puppy from John Buddie of Tartanside Collies.  Ch. Tartanside Malachi is still here today and is one of our senior dogs.  His son, Quincy Dreamweaver, has produced two of our sable bitches pictured on the “our collies” page-Quincy Mountain Laurel and Quincy Calypso.

   My first homebred champion  was Ch. Quincy Shephard Moons.  Owner handled, "Kato" quickly finished his championship with three specialty majors.  Kato is another one of our senior dogs.

   While I started with the Candray line of collies, today my line is a blend of Candray, Countryview, Tartanside and Sealore.  One quality I really appreciate and look for in a collie is “the face.”  I cannot pass up a sweet melting expression.   Quincy Strawberry Wine "Leena" is a good example
of the expression I love. 

    During the past 22 years of being “in collies,” my focus has gradually changed.  I love raising the litters and I enjoy the show ring.  But, for the past 5 years or so, I have become very interested in dog health issues.    I have been reading all the latest information about vaccinations, heartworm preventatives and commercial dog foods.   Many of the articles I have read have convinced me that the way we are rearing our dogs today is not the best we can do.  It appears that american consumerism has replaced good old fashioned common sense when it comes to rearing dogs.  I am also finding that I am driving myself crazy with the need to know WHY so many dogs today are dying of cancer, autoimmune problems, seizures and other diseases that were never known in dogs before we started using commercial dog food and vaccinating on a yearly basis.  To me, the time and money I spend on naturally rearing my dogs is time and money very well spent.  The change to naturally rearing the dogs was not an easy one to make.  Going against the norm is never easy and I had my moments when I wondered if I was doing the right thing.  But, deep down, I always believed that REAL FOOD HAD to be better than what came in a pretty bag.   I have always believed that “mother nature knows best.”  Mother nature would not agree with our modern day dog rearing practices.  She would strongly suggest we build strong immune systems, hope for the best, and accept that which we cannot change. Every time I am feeding my dogs or just looking at them, I marvel knowing that their immune systems are not being taxed with excessive vaccination, preventatives, and commercial dog foods.  

  Raising dogs is not for everyone and surely not for the faint hearted.  There are many sleepless nights waiting for the arrival of a new litter, nursing a sick puppy or adult or hand raising a litter of puppies.  There are disappointments both in the show ring and in the whelping box.   It is not uncommon to have bred a bitch and get no puppies, or end up having a c-section instead of a natural delivery.  You, the owner of these dogs, are on call 24/7 and your life and time is completely devoted to the care of the dogs.  You have to love it to be "in dogs."  There are days I question my sanity, but I have never, ever, considered NOT being a breeder.  For me, my favorite times are those spent at home just  puttering in the yard and being with the dogs.