World Breeders - Tiakina - 2002

From left to right: Aus Ch Tiakina Dyed Tuxedo 'Kirby' (11). Again after a multiple best in show winning carreer, Kirby has certainly proved his worth as a sire and he still lives with Carol. Int Swiss Lux & Aus Ch Tiakina Tri Bfor Ya Buy 'Jordan', son of 'Kirby' and 'Rachel', now living in France with Veronique Hubert (Of Blue Tails). Ch Tiakina Tri Daddy's Style 'Rachel'.

Their first self bred sheltie of the type they aimed for was Ch. Tiakina Tia Maria. She was still winning Best in Shows at 11 years of age. She was what a Tiakina sheltie should look like: with sweetness of expression, with very good temperament and movement. Abundance of coat may not have been as good as it could have in the early days. At that moment Carol and Les could never suspect that 6 generations later a GGG grandson of this bitch (‘Jordan’, Tiakina Tri B’fore Ya Buy, now living in France with Veronique Hubert) would become multi-champion and would produce champion progeny all over the world.

Carol, looking back, in what way shelties have changed in those 30 years?

Carol: “Compared to then shelties now have a lot more bone and coat and temperaments are much better. Movement has not improved as there are no longer breeders who have a reasonable number of dogs to carry on a breeding programme.”   

After her husband Les died (in 2000) Carol concentrated on tri colours and blues. Keeping all colours on her own meant keeping more dogs than she could look after. Having met the challenge of breeding many sable and white champions, she decided to continue to do this with the much harder challenge of the blues. She’s the only breeder in West Australia breeding blues. Many years ago blue merles in West Australia had big heavy ears and were not of a good type. Carol and Les decided that to improve the general type of the blues it was necessary to introduce sable lines, especially those which had the better ears and ear carriage. As there were no tricolours available to them, they used tri-factored sables. 

Carol: “Also thanks to those matings my lines carry clear silver blue. With the clear silver colour you do mostly get a lighter shade of tan, especially on the face. It gives the very soft expression that I love so much. Of course those matings can result into sable merles too. I think it’s silly to prevent them. I never kept or bred with the sable merles but in all the years I’ve been breeding I never got one sable merle having health problems.

Many of the old time breeders maintained that to keep good colour you needed to put in a sable every fifth generation. Sable merles are not allowed to be shown here, but I do know of several Rough Collie champions who are sable merles. They have brown eyes, and once they have their adult coats they just look like sables. They can be very useful for breeding as there are times that they are the pick of the litter. Then you can put them to a tricolour dog and get blue merles – excellent coloured blue merles - once again. I have always selected the blue merles if they had the other qualities I was looking for. When I mate tricolours with blue merles I prefer to use tricolours from sable lines and not from blue lines.“

Knowing how hard it is for beginning breeders to find good combinations, Carol advises them:
“Ask many questions of established breeders, listen to them all and then try to make up your own mind. If you make a mistake, you can learn from it, then after a while you can start to make some decisions yourself. Take your ideas to a mentor and ask her or his opinion of it. Watch respected judges in the ring and try to see the same virtues in the dogs they put up.”

Breeding in Australia is much more liberal than in Holland, although there are rules too with respect to matings. Bitches may not be mated before they are 12 months old and they can only have 6 litters. After that one have to get a certificate from the vet to say the bitch is healthy enough to have another litter. There are no restrictions on what age a male has to be and he can sire as many litters as you like. Breeders however have the freedom to make their own choices regarding their dogs. Carol: “I like it that way. We learn from our mistakes and we develop our knowledge from the things we do. To have someone else be able to approve or disapprove does now allow new breeders to learn from their mistakes.

Shelties are not that well known in West Australia, but people who have one say they would never have any other breed. Supply and demand are evenly balanced. Sables are the most popular, then tri colours, with blue merles being unheard by a lot of pet people. So it can be sometimes hard to place a blue puppy.  

Carol prefers to sell puppies she is not running on for herself as pets. It is her greatest concern that those puppies go to caring, loving homes, where they will not worry that he is good enough to win a ribbon. They must be loved for themselves, not their ability to win in the ring.

Puppies are much cheaper in Australia than in Holland. The average price is $A 450 (€ 306) for a pet and $A 550 (€ 335) for a puppy with show potential. This puppy has full registration papers. A pet puppy is either on the limited register or only has a copy of the pedigree from the breeder. A stud service is about $A 500 (€ 278).

Carol never sells on breeders terms. Puppies are mostly sold at the age of 8 weeks. Normally the breeders grades the puppies at 8 weeks and decides whether they have show potential or not. If a person is interested in a show puppy they buy that puppy outright. If it does not grow into a show dog then it’s the decision of the owner what they do with the dog.

Carol, could you really see whether a puppy of 8 weeks old has got show potential? And how about sizes? Carol: “Many years ago I read an article by Alvin Grossman* in which he said that at 8 weeks a puppy is the closest to what it is going to be as an adult. I can assent to this. After 30 years breeding I can tell what my babies are going to turn out like. So ever since then I have made my decision at that age. Eye tests are done and testicles can be easily felt on a dog puppy."

(* Alvin Grossman currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Senior Conformation Judges Association. He also is the publisher of Doral Publishing, a leading publisher of Dog Books (a.o. ‘Born to Win’ from Patricia Craige). He is licensed by the American Kennel Club to judge all of the breeds in the Sporting (Gun Dog) Group.)

"The pup I want to keep for breeding and showing is the one with the most positive aspects. Size is such a complicated issue and it’s no good having dogs whose only attribute is that they conform to the ideal size. There is quite a variation allowable, and I find once again that if my puppy is within a certain size range at 8 weeks I know that he/she will finish up within the acceptable range. After a few years the lines you are working with are more consistent and very few puppies turn out to be too small or too big.”

At the moment the oldest sheltie is Kirby (11). Sometimes Carol thinks it's best to rehome an adult that has finished their show- and breeding carreer: "For some of them it's the best to be the only spoilt one than having to share with others at my place. I find this very hard to do because I love them all, but otherwise I finish up with too many and they would not get the attention they deserve. I am very fussy where mine go and ask lots of questions first. I keep in contact with the owners for as long as they want, and often when he/she dies they call me for another one. Most of mine live until 17 or 18 years old. 

In Australia the title of Champion is awarded to a dog or bitch which wins a total of 100 challenge points under a minimum of four judges. Carol and Les have been attending shows for more than 30 years (they bred 60 champions!).

Shelties have changed in those 30 years. Has judging too?

Carol: "Yes, definitely. I think nowadays there is much more emphasis put on grooming and presentation and not so much on the dog itself. Quite a few judges seem to be influenced by certain breeders telling them how good their dogs are, and do not use their intelligence to be true to their own interpretation of the standard. I have seen some truly terrible dogs win high awards, ones which I would not even have in my home."

The majority of shelties are of the English type but recently there have been several dogs imported from America. These are owned by high profile breeders who campaign them strenuously and so they have done very well in the ring, despite being so different and in Carols' opinion not complying to the English standard.

Carol: "The first generation from these dogs is quite young, so it's too early to judge how they are blending with the English lines. As we have mostly all breeds judges of which quite a few are from America, younger breeders are turning more towards this type of dogs."

In Holland we read about the poisoning of two shelties during a show. Fortunately one survived. It was quite exceptional, but it brought me to the question how breeders get along with each other. Not only during shows, but also with respect to matters that are in the interest of the breed. 
Carol: “This very nasty episode of poisoning is something I never heard of again, but some people do make enemies amongst other breeders. Not everybody is nice to each other and the younger exhibitors seem to be so competitive that they ‘rubbish’ other peoples dogs. Of course we all think our dogs are the best and should win, but competition brings out the worst in some people."

In general there is very little conversation between breeders regarding problems in the breed of their lines, unless they are working together. In fact, most things are kept secret or denied. The most common comment is ‘I have never had that in my line’ when you know very well that they have."  

CEA-
In Holland they advise people not to breed with CEA-affected dogs, unless it's in the interest of the breed (such as saving a line). In those cases it is permitted to breed with a mildly affected dog, if the other one is CEA-clear. In Australia seventy-five percent of the shelties is affected with CEA, with the others almost all carriers. Carol doesn’t think it wise to exclude shelties from the breed because they have got CEA.

Carol: “First of all I must say that I do not understand why this is considered to be of such importance to the breed, that in some cases a dog is not considered suitable for breeding, when the rest of him is superb. And that, only because he has a small defect in his eye which causes no loss of vision. CEA is almost endemic in the breed here. I would not give priority to breeding only for clear eyes, as I think there are much more important genetic problems to deal with first. I would not breed with a dog with distichiasis (ingrown eyelashes) as these cause so much pain and discomfort to the dog, whereas mild CEA causes no vision problems and will not get worse. It has been found that in some lines the pigment migrates very early and that by 8 weeks they show clear, whereas if they were done at 6 weeks they would show affected. I myself have a blue at the moment that the vet wanted to give a clear certificate too, but as both his parents are mildly affected I said this was impossible. Very few breeders here seem to be concerned with producing CEA clear stock, but most check their puppies so that they can choose which one they will keep for breeding and/or showing. Some do not care at all and never get eyes checked. I have only done so for 10 years and have found that each one who is clear has either an affected parent or has produced an affected puppy. As long as these dogs have only mild CEA I am happy. I have not found any escalation of the degree it is appearing.” 

Thank you Carol, for having enabled me to make this lovely world breeders' portrait. Ineke.