Wyndham Collies existed in my imagination years before I ever put a title on a collie. I grew up with a collie mix then my parents gave into my pleading and bought a "real" collie for $50 when I was about 10. I still remember the drive to pick up this puppy, a cute sable and white male with a big white collar. Sir Lancelot became my match champion! My mom would take me to the local all-breed matches, drop me off then pick me up later. It was at the matches that I met a collie breeder from my town who gave me a box of old Collie Cues and I was in heaven. This is when my Collie education really began. I later met another breeder, Lilah Williamson, who took me to some breed shows. As I developed my vision of the ideal collie I fell in love with the look of CH Shamont Sabrina. Living in Southern California at the time meant this family of dogs was not local. By the time I was in high school I started looking for a collie that I could show. After looking at so many puppies I found a litter by CH Bandors Credit Due -- a CH Shamont Top Billings son.

I bought a sable bitch from that litter but life got in the way of my dog dream. My father had been diagnosed with brain cancer when I was younger but had survived several surgeries. After I bought Cricket my dad died, so spending money on a dog was the last thing my mom was going to do as she had four children to raise, alone. She did let me breed Cricket once to CH Japada's Top Contender and I kept a male from that litter. Now I was in college and working full time. I did have him shown some and he had 12 points, including both majors, but once again, life just put the dog thing on hold. I graduated from college, got married and started a family. Topper was our family dog until we lost him at 12 years of age -- I never thought there could be a better dog than Topper. With a young family to raise, we went dogless for over three years. I knew I did not want to get another dog until I had the time and money to pursue my dream. We did foster collies for the Southern California Collie Rescue during this time and I thought if I fell in love with one, I would keep it. I could never get past wanting a certain look -- wanting to love the face -- so we never kept a rescue. When the time came to start looking for a dog, we looked at everything from golden retrievers to dachshunds, but then fate played a big role in Wyndham Collies.

In the fall of 1994, my husband and I took a trip to Massachusetts to go "leaf peeping." I had continued to get Collie Cues and Collie Review even though I did not have a dog and had saved my most recent issue to read on the plane. In that magazine was a business card for Mariner Collies -- the home of CH Shamont Stormalong. After we landed I pulled out the map and asked if we could take a side trip just to drive by where Stormalong lived. The next day we took the detour and drove by the Vohr's home, and as we slowly drove by, several collies ran to the gate, including a sable puppy! That was it -- we stopped the car -- I just had to see these dogs. Jim invited us to come back when Peg returned from horseback riding. We returned a few hours later and spent the afternoon with them and the dogs. The puppy I saw was a singleton bitch, sired by her 1998 National Specialty Best of Breed winner, CH Fantasy Mariner Anchorman. out of her BISS winning, CH Alfenloch Mariner Amazing. Peg was planning to repeat the breeding so I waited 9 months for my dream puppy. I flew back to Massachusetts and picked up a sable bitch, who changed my life.

Jasmine became my first Conformation Champion and the first dog on which I put a performance title. Soon after I bought Jasmine, we moved to Virginia, where I met the most incredible Collie people in the Central Virginia Collie Club. They taught me so much about grooming, showing and our responsibility to the breed. David Sombach and Terry Jennings let me tag along with them to shows on weekends to learn and help. I also met Pete Denbow who was so kind to a novice. I put Jasmine's first point on her from the puppy class, then, between David and Pete, we finished her championship. Once her championship was finished, I wanted something else to do with her and we came upon an Agility demonstration at a park. We started Agility lessons then moved again -- this time back to California. I went to class once a week then went to a trial about once a month. In Southern California, most trials were held outside at a park so the kids and I would spend the day there and I would run Jasmine in Agility. Once we finished her novice title I thought about working towards her Versatility Award, which meant we had to get a Herding title. Since I had no Idea about herding, I found a local guy for lessons, but...we didn't fit. I then heard about Sherry Moss, who lived about two hours away, but I committed and made the drive for lessons. Sherry was invaluable in teaching me the basics in Herding and we put her HT and PT titles on her. Jasmine became CH Mariner's A Treasure Shared, CD, MX, AXJ, PT, VX. Once again we moved across country -- this time to Massachusetts. I sent Jasmine to Debbie Holland in Indiana to breed her to CH Fantasy's Solid Bronze and was blessed with six healthy puppies. I kept a male from that litter -- the first dog to carry the Wyndham prefix.

Gordon was a big, beautiful mahogany sable dog with a heart of gold. I put his first major on him from the bred-by class -- what a trill that was. Moving to Massachusetts was great because I had a dog family there since Peg lived in Massachusetts and several of Jasmine's littermates lived and competed in performance in New England. Gordon became the first male breed Champion to earn an Agility Champion title. I also tried my hand at Obedience and he earned his CDX, his HT in Herding and his Versatility Excellent Award from the Collie Club of America. Gordon became CH/MACH Wyndham’s Valedictorian, CDX, HT, VX.