North Star BC’s Border Collie story began way back in 2004 when my parents bought our first family dog - an ABCA Border collie pup - and presented him to us for Christmas. I was quite young at the time, but I thoroughly enjoyed playing with and attempting to train “Davy.” Sadly, he was stolen in 2005, and though we looked for him for months, and I hoped to find him for years, we never heard of him again. But in spite of the heartbreak of losing our dog, we had experienced the joy a Border Collie can bring to a family, and we knew we wanted another someday. Fast forward to 2016, when I bought Cleone, my first personal dog, a blue merle female Border pup. Of course, I was older, more responsible, and had learned a bit more about training from our other family dogs, particularly Kep, our Border Collie /Springer Spaniel. Cleone taught me more about Border Collies than any book or training series could have done. She has a wonderful natural herding instinct and balance, as well as a sweet, outgoing personality, and everyone who meets her loves her. From then on, I knew I wanted to continue raising Border Collies and share these wonderful dogs with others. Luke and I got married in 2020, then in 2022 we moved from Florida to Alaska, and in spite of the raised eyebrows and cautions of some of our friends and family, we brought the dogs along with us. We were a bit concerned whether they would adapt well to life in Alaska, considering how different it is from Florida, but they acclimated extremely well and seemed to enjoy the snow. Luke and I both enjoy the dogs and like bringing them with us on outings whenever we reasonably can, or riding the four wheeler down to the river to give them a good run and a chance to swim, or simply playing fetch with them in the yard. They interact well with our children and others, and are a valued part of our family.
1: Good temperament is our first and foremost goal for each of our pups. Border Collies generally have friendly, highly intelligent, teachable dispositions, and it is our goal to produce pups that exemplify this temperament. They should have enough drive to do their job - whether that's to be an active family pet, herding sheep, or excelling at sports, but they should also have a decent off switch so they can relax when the job is done. (Much of this is the owner's responsibility in training, but we want to give them the right start.)
2: Good health is almost equally important as good temperament. We select our breeding dogs from healthy bloodlines, screen them for common disorders and strive to avoid all known health issues so their puppies can live long, healthy lives.
3: Beauty is important too. We like our dogs to have good conformation and pretty colors, so we select parents with a strong, active build and good looks.
How we Raise our Pups
We begin working for our puppies long before a litter is born. Each of our breeding dogs is carefully selected from healthy, friendly parents that exemplify the goals listed above. In some cases we will use an outside male if he is a good addition to our breeding program. We feed good quality, basic dog food year round, as well as occasional scraps of meat or bones, and supplements if they are needed. Once the breeding takes place, we continue the mama's usual diet and activity for awhile, then gradually change her over to a quality puppy food and allow her to slow down her activity as needed. We carefully monitor her throughout the pregnancy, especially the last week or so leading up to the birth of the litter, and we are usually present and ready to help if needed when the pups are born.
The puppies are raised by their mother outside in our cozy, insulated dog shed, but we handle them extensively from day one and watch them carefully to prevent injuries or illness. They grow up friendly and excited to see people, and usually my greatest difficulty in raising them is to get good pictures, since they always want to be in my lap instead of posing for the camera. We post weekly updates with new pictures of the puppies and any temperament or personality info as they grow. They will be dewormed and receive their first round of shots, and usually are ready to go home around 6-8 weeks of age. This is an ideal age for them to bond to their owners and adjust easily to a new environment. We always love hearing updates on our pups and are happy to help with training tips or advice when needed.
Health testing is EXTREMELY important to us and all our dogs are tested for at least CEA, IGS, TNS, SN, MDR1, NCL, and Glaucoma. We will not sell our puppies to just anyone because we don't want the puppy or owner ending up in a bad situation, so we try to get to know people a little bit before taking a deposit on a puppy. We provide lifetime support for all of our pups and sell all of them with a contract. While puppies are in our care, we post weekly updates with individual pictures and/or videos of the puppies, detailing the care they receive, and including some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of raising them. We believe it is important that owners understand as fully as possible the environment in which their puppies are raised and that anyone who buys a puppy from us has a right to know how it is being treated.
The result? Healthy puppies, happy owners, and a successful and always learning breeder. We have made mistakes, and lots of them, but mistakes are an opportunity to learn, not a reason to sit down on the ground, throw up one's hands, and give up the whole idea. We believe that responsible breeders are the best friends dogs have, and that if the general public would commit to buy only from responsible breeders, those who do not breed responsibly would eventually have to stop because they would have no market.
We are constantly striving to produce dogs that are a good example of the breed and an asset to their owners. That means that our dogs must be healthy, temperamentally sound, and talented. If this sounds like what you are looking for, please contact us. We would love to hear from you!
This is Maverick, owned by Brittany B. in Florida. (He is a Percy x Flora son.) He is a loved, active family pet and companion dog, and is also excelling in dock diving. This is the type of situation we love to see our dogs in!,