About Me and My breeding program

Below I will give a quick version of how I came to become involved with these breeds and why I decided to breed. I attempt to keep it short as I can go on! I am very passionate about my breeding program!

Border Collies:

I always wanted my own dog as a child but that dream never came true, so when I became an adult I tried to own dogs, but found sadly that I was extremely allergic to them and could never get close enough to them to bond (without sending myself into an asthmatic frenzy). Then I met my first Border Collie. I was shocked that I never would have an asthma attack around her. I started doing a bit of research and discovered that because they were bred for work, and not for a big fluffy coat, they tended to have less dander and oil glands (what can trigger asthmatic reactions). It was 2002, and I set out for a Border Collie and my young son (deeply excited) picked out a beautiful pup from a bunch of farm dogs... and we named her Dawson. Upon taking her to the vet we learned about the sport of flyball and we enrolled... and both of us got entirely hooked on the sport; that led to two rescued BC girls Darla and Skye :-) Dawson now lives with owners of one of my Aussies in her retirement, but still plays flyball. Darla was re-homed to a horse farm in her retirement as she had dog aggression issues and it was time for her to be stress free without any other dogs around... and Skye.. Skye was diagnosed with epilepsy at 18 months old and led me to a world learning about holistic care, raw feeding and minimal vaccinations... she also was my reason for developing a breeding program where much thought and research went into the crosses to avoid epilepsy. Skye lived mostly seizure free (and medication free), and outlived her prognosis (if she would have been medicated) by 4.5 years. Skye was laid to rest February 27, 2015. Rest in peace my beautiful darling girl.  

Dawson, Darla, Skye and me with Envy

Aussies and the breeding program:

It was the early summer of 2004... at the time I came about my first Aussie. I was deeply 'possessed' by flyball. I thought, walked, talked, dreamed everything flyball! I wanted to have my own flyball line-up with 4 of my own dogs. I owned 3 Border Collies which I had all trained in the sport... all that was missing was a little height dog, and I thought... maybe I can find a breed that is little, but much like a Border Collie? I found Envy and made that dream come true with my own flyball team (Extreme Envy), running my own 4 dog line-up Dawson, Darla, Skye & Envy... I fell absolutely in love with Envy, and upon researching the breed and the lineages (mostly of the mini-aussie's at that time), I discovered there didn't seem to be a lot of scientific thought going into a lot of the crosses I was looking at. Mostly it seemed that people were trying to breed for size without much care for health or anything else that I could see. This tends to happen in any breed, when people focus on only a few things, such as the fluffiest coat, blue eyes, thick bones, or even when they refuse to look beyond a few lineages in their breeding program (forcing a bottle-neck in their lines). As a scientist in the making, pursing a Biology degree at the time, and totally passionate about genetics, I thought I could make a difference in the breed. I thought I could help promote the need for better research, breeder responsibility and create a lineage that would be out of love, passion, care and dedication to the breed; making health, bid-ability, temperament, and qualities that the breed was originally created to posses, again be the focus. With that, I started Extreme Aussies in 2005. Since then I have earned my B.Sc.H degree in Biology-Physical Geography, a M.Sc degree in Earth Science and now I'm pursuing a Ph.D in Biology. My knowledge has grown in science, in dog training and health, and of course I am continuing to learn and share what I learn with my dog owners on almost a daily basis. I have not produced a single genetic disease in my history of breeding dogs to the best of my knowledge. My breeding program has grown to be even more of a possession of my heart and soul. I am certain it is my very purpose for being here on this earth.