Present Day In the third decade of the Millennium I lost my tri dog to cancer and began checking Collielife for ads. One morning I rose at my normal 6.30am and for some strange reason quite uncharacteristically logged into Collielife and saw the photo of a young S/W minor puppy bitch for sale. I was completely smitten by her photo. I phoned Julie Edwards that morning and sealed the deal there and then.
Elshajo As If by Magic I am now the proud owner of Elshajo As If By Magic of Bryany - so thank you Julie for letting me have her - and I made my comeback to the ring at Scottish Collie Ch Show 2021 where I was re-acquainted with many old friends and took home some awards. And more shows were to follow. Jolene was tragically and cruelly taken suddenly at just four years of age just shortly before Xmas 2025. One of the sweetest and most gentle natured little Collies ever. Sadly missed. I can only be grateful and consider myself fortunate for the four years I had with her. We all know how addictive collie ownership can be so, despite having no particular intention to acquire another collie for the time being - another has followed in 2022! This time a male. I had judged BIS at Scottish Collie Club Ch Show back in 2016. Whilst awaiting my duties I watched the breed judging and was impressed by a young dog shown in Junior. Although he made the cards he was not highly placed. Nevertheless he made an impression on me as the most promising young dog there that I would have liked to have taken home on the day. He turned out to be Karafaye Scotch Blend at Thistlewing, owned by Brenda Welsh and bred by Lorraine Quince. Roll on to January 2022 and the East Anglian Collie of the Year results. Best Puppy and Res Best overall (and effectively Best Rough) was the young bitch Thistlewing Spell on You, owned and bred by Brenda Welsh and sired by Scotch Blend. Moreover Res Best Adult (and effectively best Rough Adult) was the bitch Thistlewing Celtic Soul at Karafaye - who it turns out was also sired by Scotch Blend. Both reminded me of Scotch Blend so a definite kennel type had been established, in my view. To my surprise the following month Collielife had a 6 month old sable and white Thistlewing bred male advertised for sale. After a quick phone call to Brenda Welsh I made the deal to take him - so many thanks to Brenda for letting me have him. As an added bonus it transpired that his sire was Scotch Blend and his dam was Spell on You! So now I have both a dog and bitch to show and Thistlewing Firedancer at Bryany certainly enjoys his outings to the shows and, along with Jolene, Kyon has already given me lots of enjoyment at them, along with some prize cards and rosettes.
Taken at 9 months., Kyon was the big Golden Dog of Greek mythology who guarded the baby Zeus, who later became ruler of the Gods
Kyon Relaxing in the ring whilst waiting to be judged.
Kyon, though already named, was quite an appropriate name for his new owner since, as young baby, I, too, was faithfully guarded by a big golden dog - a Rough Collie bitch called Glenlusset Velma!
It has not been lost on me that without Collielife I would probably never have been aware of these two new Collies - so I have much to be thankful for to both Collie life and to Julie Growcott for the work she must put in to it. Collielife is a great asset to our breed and a wealth of information. I doubt if many, or indeed any, other breeds will have such a resource. But it must surely be a labour of love and quite a demanding taskmaster for Julie, in order for her to keep it so well up to date. For me whilst showing is fun and winning even more so, the real joy of collies is ownership and companionship. Prize cards and even CC’s are all a bit ephemeral when you look back in time. It is actually having the dogs that is the most important thing. Over the years I built up to a maximum of 11 dogs. Nine in kennels and two in the house. I always kept at least one dog in the house and subscribe heavily to the maxim of ‘when is a house not a house? When there is no collie dog.’ I was fortunate to be able to attend a number of International Collie Conferences in the eighties and nineties and see shows and collies in Europe and Scandanavia. This gave me an insight into the dogs in other countries as dogs from as far as Israel could be in attendance at some of these shows. It is interesting to see how common it has now become to import collies from Europe, since the dropping of quarantine regs and the introduction of pet passports, though the implications of Brexit may make this more onerous to do in the future. In addition to owning breeding and showing I also had quite an involvement on canine affairs first serving on committee of Paisley Canine Club, Then on committee of the Bullmastiff Society of Scotland which I eventually chaired, then on Committee of the Working Breeds Association of Scotland of which I became Treasurer - which was a post I held for many years. This was a club that I been a founder member of and it was interesting to see it mature from a small open show all the way up to Ch Status. Another was Scottish Kennel Club where I served on the Executive Council for a number of years and acted as a Group Steward at their Ch Shows. At the same time I served on the committee of Perthshire Canine Club. Last but not in any way least I have been a member, Committee member, Secretary and President of the Scottish Collie Club, serving also as their RCBC rep and on my retiral from the Presidency I was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Club - and this is an honour of which I am very proud. Crawford Taylor Tel 01821 650384
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