Welcome! My name is Andrea Turner and I am 55 years old, have been living in France for 25 years now ,am married to Paul and have a daughter, Danielle and have been breeding and working my Border Collies in all that time. Brought up in the North of England I always had a passion for all animals especially dogs and horses and for walking on the moors where I saw my first sheepdog trial and was hooked on Border Collies and the work they do. Now Border Collies and the research of their pedigrees are a passion .
In 1976 I went to work on an Arabian Horse Stud in Hebden Bridge which was just a short walk from the moors where I spent many a day off talking to the local shepherd and watching his collies work quietly and with such patience to move a ewe and new born lamb. I still have my love of horses particularly Arabians but my collies are my life.
We moved to France in 1983 bringing with us a short coated black and white female pup called Meg and a friend then gave me a red and white dog - both came from ISDS parents but were not ISDS registered themselves. Back then I didn't realise the importance of ISDS registration until I spoke to Phillip Hendry who was the then Secretary of the ISDS but found out that it was impossible to register them on merit as it meant at that time taking them back to the UK and of course there was no petspassport in those days. Meg and Pepper - the red and white dog - had a litter of 9 puppies in May 1984 and all but 3 went to farm working homes. Pepper was to prove a good working dog but Meg turned out to be frightened of sheep!!!
In September 1984 just after I had also had a baby and still hadn't made an effort to sell all the pups as had thought to keep one or two my husband, Paul was made redundant and the only work he could find was back in England. With a heavy heart we had to rehome our collies - Pepper went to live in Uruguay witrh a French women who is now a very good friend. With Annie , Pepper won the South American Sheepdog Championships in 1986 and competed in brace with another red and white dog, Jim. Meg went down to the Avreyon to live on a farm as a pet and the pup we really didn't want to sell went to work on a sheep farm not too far from Challons sur Marne.
We returned to England dogless but soon had another pup- a tricoloured Border Collie called Mist. Mist proved to BE that one and only dog you have in a live time. When Danielle was only 7 months old and Mist 3 months old Danielle went over to Mist opened her mouth and took out the bone she was chewing. I stood with abated breath but Mist just gave up her bone without a problem!! After that Mist would alert us if Danielle was crying if we couldn't hear her however Mist was quick to learn that a small child often misses her mouth with food and she would be there ready to catch anything that fell!!
Having no sheep to get Mist started on we decided to train in obedience and she proved herself an excellent pupil - very quick to learn.
Paul got another job back in France as having to live near London wasn't really for us so we went back to France in the Summer of 1986.
Before that I had moved with Danielle back to live with my parents near Manchester and found a very experienced sheepdog handler willing to take us on as beginner pupils. Mist was a very quick learner and he was very hopefull we'd soon be competing in sheepdog trials. I also acquired another Border Collie called Kate - she was ISDS registered and I traced her pedigree right back to the foundation dogs of the ISDS - Owd Hemp 9 & Old Maid 1 in the ISDS stud books.
I had also competed in a few obedience competitions with both Mist and Kate - Mist was placed a few times but her wanting to work sheep meant that if the obedience competition was outside and sheep were in the distance she would look at them rather than me so were down pointed. Kate won her one and only obedience class - under 12 months old - that she competed in.
Before I could compete in any trials in England or start Kate on sheep we moved back to France. We couldn't find any land to rent to start with so started going to the Dog Club at Beauvais - just a short drive from where we lived -. Mist at that time was the only dog there that could do obedience off lead and the people there were very impressed. We also started doing agility for fun in 1987 and competed that year in our first competition where she came 3rd after just a few weeks training. At the time there were only 2 Border Collies competing in agility as the popular breed at the time was the German Shepherd dog.
We restarted on sheep the following year and Mist had lost none of her abilities it was just that I got very stressed when we started competing in sheepdog trials. There were not very many held in France at that time and we had to travel 100's of km to compete. Kate we found had too much eye and so was no good for competing in sheepdog trials but was a great worker at home and could move 5 or 300 sheep with no problems . One day whilst at a friends - he farmed around 300 sheep plus milking cows - we had gone inside for a coffee leaving the dogs outside. Next minute we saw the cows coming towards the gate 1 hour too early for milking Kate and their dog, Floss together had brought all the cows down through 5 fields. Couldn't tell her off as we should never have left her loose.
In 1990 I bred a litter from Kate to an ISDS dog called Garry owned by very good friends, Bernard and Josette Delgove. They had inherited Garry when they had bought their farm in the Sologne area of France. They then moved to Brittany. Kate & Garry produced some very good pups and we kept a female called Flax. Sadly later on we found that Flax had CEA so therefore both Kate and Garry were carriers as both had tested clear in the UK.
I then had given by a very good friend in Cornwall an ISDS dog called Moss. Kate had a litter to Moss producing a litter of 6 puppies. We kept a female Jess. Jess was my working dog for quite a few years but during her training I made far too many mistakes and used her for driving the sheep away whilst I fed them but did this to the point that I ruined her outrun. We did compete in trials together and to start with didn't do too bad but we gave up after 1 season. Jess and her siblings as puppies tested clear for CEA though as DNA testing wasn't in place then there was no telling if there were any carriers among the litter.
I imported another female called Annie - registered in France as Borderline Annie - she was ISDS registered. She had been abused by the shepherd who owned her so we did work together but it was hard to get her to have real confidence in me. Annie and Moss had a litter of pups in 1997. We kept a pup called Megan and she was a decent working dog and also competed in a few trails but her brother Nap/Lad was the star as he became French Champion on Cattle in 2002 and finished in the top 6 for the next couple of years.
Sadly I had to sell her in 1998 and she went to work sheep and goats in Austria.
We sadly lost Mist in 1999 to a series of strokes at the age of 14, Kate in 2000 to a massive stroke also at the age of 14 and nearly to the date that Mist died, Flax in 2001 at the age of 10 to cancer and then in 2002 we had to make that hard decision once again so lost both Glen ( a son of Kate and Garry) at the age of 10 and Jess at the age of 8 as both developed the equivelent to alzheimers disease.
By this time we had moved frrom La Fresnais to Plerguer with some land behind the house for my small flock of sheep and I had imported another female called Rose - Witheridge Rose - and in time I mated her to Nap/Lad in 2000 and she produced a litter of 5 pups - all proved without exception very strong working dogs too strong for most French handlers to handle sadly.However one did turn out to be an exccellent cattle dog and now they have another pup from me though from a very different line. We had to have Rose put to sleep in 2006 as we found that she had a bleed on the brain due to a Jacob ram I had back in 2000 attacking her and hitting her on the side of her head with his horns. The bleed had got worse so she became a totally different dog temperamnet wise.
Megan had her first litter in 2002 to Derek Scrimgeour's Ben - Thyme & Tessa. Tessa went to work cattle and sheep and I kept Thyme. We went away to Australia to visit familly that winter when Thyme was just 4 & 1/2 months old and she was abused by the dog sitters we had looking after our dogs and sheep this meant that it took me nearly 2 years to regain her confidence and also they had let her get into the sheep field and chase my sheep and inturn she started to grip as too young to keep up with them. I have never been able to stop her gripping 100% but she does grip less now and can work very well with a nice pace and distance from her sheep.
Thyme had her first litter in 2007 to Philippe Hientz's Moel Glynn - the litter were mostly tricolours and as youngsters well socialised and not over sensitive but the 2 females turned out to be quite sensitive as adults but the 2 males turned into very good working dogs with lots of guts and presence whilst working.
Thyme is now in-whelp to an excellent ISDS dog called Balt ( Robert Rivalain) of course ISDS registered as well as LOF here in France. Balt works essentially on cattle and has great presence when working and has a great temperament. His father is Derek Scrimgeour's Killibrae Laddie who was the 2008 English National Champion and his sire was also Ben so line breeding back to Ben on the paternal side of the pedigree. We are eagerly looking forward to these pups around the 7th February.
Megan's second litter was by a dog in Holland called Don owned then by Serge Van Der Zweep - Don after only being with Serge 6 months came 5th in the International Dutch Open - a sheepdog trial held over 2 days. Don was sold to America in 2005 and was handled in trials there by Alisdaire MacRae with some success.
We kept a female pup Vale - we had decided not to keep a ,pup this time but after going to the Vets as an emergency as a pup was stuck which had sadly died - on our way home another pup was born and I tried to get Meg comfortable with her pups. When we got home Paul took the pups as I handed them to him and put them in the whelping box however I found one female pup had been crushed behind Megan and wasn't breathing. I tried everything to get her to breath but with no success or so I thought so I wrapped her in kitchen roll put her in plastic bag and put her on top of the bin outside ready to bury next day as it was 11.30pm at night. About 30mins later I took Thyme out for the last time that night and heard a puppy crying and yes it was this pup and it was still alive!!!!! I rushed it back in and put her with the rest where she soon settled in and was suckling well. Of course we decided that this was fate so she was named Vale and of course stayed with us. By this time I had got my affix so she became Bye and Away Vale like her siblings.
Vale has been invaluable work wise here and I couldn't do anything with the sheep without her help. I made one very big mistake with her when training and that was not to insist on an immediate down and still have problems with this today on the trials field. We started competing in sheepdog trials at the end of 2006 in class I but she became frightened of the person holding the sheep at the post so we didn't have a very good start.
This problem persisted at the start of 2007 but after doing a training course with Patrick Le Roux ( the only handler to have won the Coupe de France 6 times and 5 times with the same female- Iolita) we improved and at our next trial we gained 80pts, second place and the first part of our entry into class II. Our success continued and at our next trial we gained 76pts which gave us our second part to qualify for class II. We competed in class I just to the end of the season gaining confidence all the timer. 2008 saw us starting our first class II trail which was a total disaster as she once again would not approche the person holding the sheep and would get very stressed so not listening to me. We only completed one class II course in that year. Now we are looking forward to the 2009 trials season though due to losing the land loaned to us from September last year until the hunting season is over I do not know how we will do. However Vale has matured well at home and now we are a true partnership working together.
In January 2008 Vale had a litter of pups by Barnaby owned by Chris and Mike Hall who orginally come from Wales but sold their farm and retired to France. Barnaby has put a real stamp on the pups and all are starting to work very well. We kept a female and called her Dream. She declared on the sheep just before she was 3 months old and I took her with me a few times a week when going to the sheep just to let her get some experience but have not started her formal training until now. We have found she has a little too much eye but after a training course at Philippe Heintz's with the Welshman John Griffith I now have lots to work on and will as soon as the sheep are back on the 1 & 1/2 hectare field at the end of January.
I have a small flock of sheep - did have 30 at one time but decided to change my flock in 2000 and reduced just to the orginal 4 and started to build the flock back up but with a new ram - a charolaise - but my ewes only produced male lambs for the next 3 years. Then I changed to a Scottish Black Face as my sheep live out all the year round and the cross charolaises were born with too little wool to stand the cold weather. The resulting ewe lambs were more rustic with better wool. I changed the ram for a texel in September 2007 as needed to get more meaty lambs and only had male lambs yet again. It was a bad year for lambing in 2008 as it was very wet and even though my ewes are vacinated I lost a couple of lambs to dysentry. After that the lambs seemed to be growing well and one was earmarked for our annual méchoui and another was to be swapped for a ewe lamb. I then bought in a new ram - a young suffolk cross thinking of the meat angle again -but he brought with him disease and even though all were well wormed under the guidance of the Vet this young lamb died and shortly after my 2 remaining ram lambs. My worst ever year for lambing and I also lost a ewe to liver fluke despite treating her and sold the ram and another ewe who had for the 3rd year running lost her lamb - to the butcher.
Now have a new ram - a Hebridean - not my first choice but the season was getting on and now am hoping that the 7 ewes I have left are safely in lamb for around April time.
Will try to keep this site upto date and hopefully soon have it both in English and French