Basin Border Collies evolved from 30+ years of sheep production, sometimes with a working stock dog, mostly border collies, and unfortunately sometimes without one.

I got my first border collie, a grade red female, from a working ranch in 1987.  It quickly became apparent that a good working border collie was a blessing.  When I needed to replace one, it also became clear that it took a long time and a lot of searching to find good working dogs of any breed and I'd come to prefer border collies.  Later when I was once again in need of a working stock dog and couldn't find what I wanted, I decided that to ensure that I would be able to have one when I needed it, I would start raising my own working ranch border collies.  I spent almost two years looking for my ideal dog, an American Border Collie Association registered female with good instincts, great balance, respectful of her stock but with enough power, presence and eye to control uncooperative stock with minimal force as needed.  She needed to have a good temperament and disposition, we were going to be spending a considerable amount of time together, on and off the ranch, and I wanted it to be enjoyable for both of us.  I wanted all of those things and if they could come wrapped in a red fur coat, which I prefer, I'd be thrilled. 

I talked to border collie people all over the west coast with no success until I contacted Brian Abingdon.  I found a border collie breeder that owned a working cattle ranch and used his border collies on a daily basis to work the ranch.  His border collies had years of top working ranch and trial dogs behind the bloodlines. I bought a 4 month old ABCA red female, Spice, that was already showing good work ethic, instincts and balance.  As a bonus I also found a breeder that was more than willing to share his knowledge, time and facilities to try to teach a beginner handler how to effectively utilize the tool that a well trained stock dog is. Brian is still sharing his knowledge with me and others at the Abingdon Beginning Stock Dog Clinics  held here at Basin Border Collies several times each year.  I returned to Abingdon Border Collies to purchase Cinnamon Cindy, a littermate to Abingdon Border Collies' trio of stars Reika, Molly and Kit and was priviledged to purchase a Tip X Lonerider Nan son, Autumn Nip as a stud.

Spice produces working border collie pups like those below, as do the other Basin Border Collie dams. These are the type of border collies that Basin Border Collies is looking to produce.  Working ranch border collies that can help get the job done with minimal stress to all involved in a timely manner.  These border collies are also great members of the family, smart, loyal, loving and thrilled to please their people. 

Please take a few minutes, check out the rest of the site and meet some of the fine working border collies represented in the bloodline of Basin Border Collies' pups.