History

Stoneridge Collies is located in Auburn, California. We have 5 acres, nestled in the beautiful foothills of California's Gold Country.

We were living in Portland, Oregon when we purchased our first Collie, Chelsea Rose O'Shadaglen. We immediately fell in love with the Collie breed. On a walk in the park with Chelsea one day, we met some people who were members of the Pacific Northwest Collie Club. We were invited to come to a club meeting, where I met my future mentors, Bob and Glenda Kelly (Glenesk Collies).

Bob and Glenda invited me to go to a few dog shows, and it was then that my interest in showing was sparked. I took handling classes weekly, using Chelsea, and learned to groom by helping Bob and Glenda at the shows. After a year of the Kelly's tutoring, I went in search of my first show prospect.

In February of 1993, We purchased a beautiful blue merle puppy dog, who would become Ch. Rosslane Lochlaren's Iceman HCT, HIC, or "Rio". Rio finished his championship at the age of 15 months, with wins under both specialty and all breed judges. Rio went on to many Best of Breed wins, and has placed in the group, always owner handled. In 1995 Rio was listed #8 in the Collie Expressions rankings. Rio was semi retired from showing in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, Rio was entered at the Collie Club of America National Specialty Show, where he won Best Veteran Dog Rough-8-11 years.

During the time Rio was actively being shown, I was introduced to another longtime Collie breeder, Helga Kane (Kanebriar Collies) who also became a mentor, along with the Kellys. Helga's Kanebriar line was to become the foundation line for Stoneridge Collies.

Our second show Collie was a gorgeous sable bitch, purchased from Helga Kane, who was to become Ch. Kanebriar Stoneridge Sierra HIC. "Sierra" was a half-sister to our Rio, and quickly became the love of my life. Sierra and I enjoyed an extremely special relationship, which comes along once in a lifetime. Tragically, Sierra was taken from us way too soon, in October of 2002. She will live forever in our hearts, and will always be my special love.

In 1997, a cute little tri bitch joined us. She became Ch. Ballyhara Stoneridge Splash HIC. "Brooke" quickly won our hearts with her delightful temperament. Brooke has done well in the show ring, finishing with two four point specialty majors in one weekend, and winning an all breed Group placement. In 1999 Brooke produced a lovely sable daughter, "April". April is now known as Ch. Stoneridge Calendar Girl HIC, and is our first homebred champion. April is now retired from the show ring, and has produced a beautiful sable son, Hunter, who is on his way to becoming our next homebred champion.

In 1998 we moved to our new home in Northern California, and have continued to be active in showing our Collies, along with adding three Arabian horses to our family.

Our goal is to produce healthy, beautiful Collies who can be competitive in the show and performance rings, and be loyal, loving family members. Because we are small breeders, and we believe in quality, not quantity, we do not breed litters often. It may be two years or more between litters for us, but when we do breed a litter, it is done with great care, and after thorough research.

We are members of the Collie Club of America, The Sacramento Valley Collie Club and The Collie Health Foundation.

We hope you enjoy your visit!

Update 2-12-05 We are extremely sad to have lost one of our beloved family members. Jezebel, our little rescued barn kitty, died from ingesting a very small amount of antifreeze. During the night one of our vehicles sprung a leak and dripped antifreeze on the ground. We are devastated at her loss.

We have now discovered that there is one manufacturer of antifreeze that has developed an antifreeze which is much less toxic to animals. We will be flushing out all the old antifreeze from all of our vehicles, and replacing it with this less toxic formula. The name of the less toxic antifreeze is "Sierra". We urge everyone who has animals to please seriously consider replacing the antifreeze in all your vehicles with this "Sierra" brand. It may save the life of an animal in the event of an antifreeze leak from your vehicle. We certainly wish we had known about this brand sooner. http://www.sierraantifreeze.com/benefit.html