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Clan-Abby Border Collies
 
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Our History


Clan-Abby Border Collies In the early 1970s we moved to Clive in the Hawkes Bay and my husband Peter and I promised our daughters that when we had a home with a good piece of land that they could have a dog.

We brought a rough-coated Collie who I began training in Obedience. 'Beauty' was so soft and gentle. She was an excellent pet for our daughters.

I was hooked on the obedience ring and eyed the Border Collies competing, knowing that nothing could beat their intelligence. We purchased Strathcarron Fern from Peg MacKenzie in the south Island of New Zealand. Cara worked very well and we progressed to test C in obedience, collecting CDX and her NZ Ch title on the way.

A girl I always admired and which we built our kennel and type upon was the great Aust. Ch. Checkmate Gay Lady - a bitch born before her time, the winner of five Melbourne Royal show CCs. The late English judge Harry Glover witnessed her while in Victoria and after Seeing her brilliance did much to instigate the recognition of the Border collie as a show dog in the UK.

We were fortunate enough to purchase her daughter 'Cheviot Joanne' from Lady's owners and later a son. These two were from the only two litters Lady produced. We import Cheviot Joanne in whelp to the top Australian stud dog Ch. Crestvale Sono Thunder.

It was from this litter that New Zealand's first All-breds In Show winner Ch. Thunderboy of Clan-Abby was born. Nearly all the top Clan-Abby dogs throughout the world would be descendants of Thunderboy.

Clan-Abby Border Collies Over the years we have exported dogs to many countries. Our major international breeding successes over the years would include providing founding Champions in Finland, Japan, Zambia, Hungary and in the United States of America. In the United Kingdon we bred the Crufts best of Breed winners in 1991 and 1993.

Our successes In Australia include CCs at the Sydney Royal, Best In Show winners at the Border Collie Club of NSW and Victorian Ch shows. Breeding the Best In Show Winner at the 1994 Adelaide Royal Show. We are proud to have helped with the recognition of the breed in the USA including Best of Breed at Westminster in 1996 and 1999. Our exports to south Africa have also achieved great success on that continent.

I was granted my Border collie breed Judging License in 1987 & have judged in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Once you have owned a Border collie you will never change, their intelligence and loyalty is superb!