COLLIE DOG BOOKS and STORIES

Read about our amazing Collie dogs, and other short stories that will stir your heart. Available at AMAZON for Kindle readers. CLICK the picture below to learn more.

My Best Friend Sharon, And Her Best Friend Rose

An Inconvenient Ruth

Quaker Farm Story Collection

Our Collies also appear in some of our educational videos about farm life and homesteading. For example, Willow is followed by a newborn lamb, who, after being bottle-fed, tries to chase after the great, gentle Tricolor Collie who had found him orphaned and alone and saved his life.









The black and white picture to the left shows me in 1971 at our family farm in Maine holding one of the beautiful family rough Collies next to my grandfather. Two of his favorite dogs were Tilley and Brownie.

This website is dedicated to my Grandfather who passed away in 2003. An immigrant from Ireland, one of his favorite songs was "Danny Boy" - it's one of my favorite songs too.

Today, the tradition continues and I am greatly blessed to be able to work in partnership with several members of my family, in Michigan and around the country, all of whom respect and love the Collie breed and strive for improvement. Our Collie dogs are raised as personal companions, as well as farm collies. Our farm Collie dogs are trained on a working farm with sheep, horses, and dairy goats. Crown Thistle Collies enjoy being able to live out their natural desires to work and herd, and are faithful, loyal friends to us.

We selectively breed Collies for superior temperaments, confident intelligence, gentle personalities, and a steady willingness to learn and achieve. Collies are simply wonderful family dogs and great with children. The relationship between a well-bred Collie dog and a child is remarkable - I know because I experienced it in my own childhood, and I have witnessed it throughout the years in the lives of my children, my grandchildren, and the children in classrooms and libraries where our dogs visit.

Because of our commitment to them, it's important that our Collie puppies are placed in homes that can accommodate, responsibly train and lovingly appreciate a Collie for the wonderful dog that it is. So, we want to work closely with you to ensure that you get a Collie puppy that fits your family well!

We use carefully selected European bloodlines to enhance ideal temperament and ensure a wide gene pool, soundness, and vitally important genetic diversity. The sires we imported from Germany in 2003, and 2010, made even more significant contributions to our already diverse Euro/American bloodlines.

For information about the importance of genetic diversity in dogs, watch the 2008 BBC documentary, Pure Bred Dogs Exposed. **NOTE** - this is not a documentary which we recommend for children - parental discretion strongly advised.

During the important early psychologically formative weeks, we carefully train our Collie puppies in an extensive and effective early kindergarten puppy program, which includes teaching them how to swim by 7 weeks of age. Our unique early puppy training program helps our clients to get a good head start training a pup who is a confident and willing learner. Our daughter Hannah, shown on the left, is swimming with one of our collie pups while being filmed for Animal Planet. This pup went to a wonderful family in Massachusetts who named her Kayla.

We even cook for our dogs because we believe that after genetic diversity, excellent nutrition also plays a vital role in the health and longevity of dogs. Wholesome nutrition is best - true for people, true for dogs!

Our Collies are registered with the American Kennel Club. We follow AKC initiatives for having puppies for sale, accurate identification, DNA testing, and health screening.

The Collie is a very special breed of dog and we are committed to breeding highly intelligent, genetically sound, people-pleasing Collies for people who are looking for an excellent family dog. The Collie is a very manageable breed of dog and is quietly mannered indoors. However, they do require a regular grooming schedule (one of my favorite hobby occupations is spinning and I love to spin Collie hair into yarn!). Collie males grow to be 65 to 100 lbs, while female Collies average 55 to 75 lbs.

Collies are certainly among my very favorite breed of dogs and I feel they are one of the most dependable breeds of dogs with children. Chore time every day finds me in escort of my beautiful Collies who share my love of the farm, enjoyment of the great outdoors, and the satisfaction of meaningful work.

Autism Awareness
April is autism awareness month. During the months of April and May, we donate an especially talented, evaluated, and started Collie puppy (plus, provide training education) to two families with children affected by Autism. We have trained and placed Collie dogs as companions for children with Autism in this special way because studies have shown (and our experience has demonstrated) that dogs can help children cope with the daily fears and stress that accompany Autism, and can also improve an Autistic child's general well-being.

Assistance, Service and Therapy Dogs
Every year we are privileged to place some of our extra-talented and keenly intuitive dogs in forever homes to assist with special needs. Crown Thistle Collies successfully work as service dogs, therapy dogs, and assistance dogs in a variety of ways. Over the years, we have successfully placed our highly trained Collie service dogs with clients who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or clients who are in need of mobility support, or clients who have other needs in which a Collie service dog would be an effective canine assistant. Because of the unique temperament of our Collies, even as pups, they have specially made notable contributions to families with special needs children.

If you would like to learn more about getting one of our Collie Service Dogs, please contact us for more information.

Currently, five of our Collie dogs are available, working when needed, as therapy dogs, reading dogs, and crisis relief dogs.