The five foundation dogs of Besslin Border Collies
All currently residing at the Rainbow Bridge
Besslin Border Collies was born of a love of red border collies. My first border collie, Murphy, was a red dog and in those days red border collies were hard to come by. I decided that if I wanted anymore red border collies, I would have to develop my own line. I was fortunate to come upon a red/white female puppy from very good working bloodlines, and so it was that Besslin Border Collies came to be. The kennel name Besslin comes from the names of my first two border collies, Bess & Murphy. Murphy's nickname was Smurfslin so we took Bess and the slin from Smurfslin to create Besslin.
The first puppy born in the Besslin line was Besslin Kep, a beautiful red/white male. We kept Kep and he entered the breeding program when he turned 3yrs of age. Next I purchased a three year old black/white border collie from Ted Bell. Bells Bonnie Blue. And she carried the red gene. And then came another female dog from Ted Bell. A beautiful black tri-colour puppy that I named Bells Tri Dathuil Aisling (Bell's Tri Colour Dream). Aisling also carried the red gene. And those five dogs formed the foundation of Besslin Border Collies.
All five of those dogs have passed now, all having lived to ripe old ages. But I have their progeny. The two matriarchs of Besslin Border Collies, Bonnie and Bess, along with Aisling, have left behind a lineage of beautiful dogs.
From Bess's side of the family we had Bess's daughter Ceilidgh, and Ceilidgh's daughter Aoife. At one time we also had Shep, Casey, and Scout who are the sons of Ceilidgh's brother, Pip, who sadly and suddenly passed away in 2005. Scout passed away in 2017, and Shep passed away in 2019. Casey is still with us at the ripe old age of 14 and a half years.
From Bonnie's side of the family we had her sons Dermot and Buddy. Buddy's daughters Maeve and; Caora. And Dermots kids, Fleet, Hope, and Biddy. Maeve and Caora were Aisling's daughters. And Ceilidgh and Pip were sired by Aisling's brother Kyle. Aisling formed the third branch in the Besslin line. Of this bunch we only have Biddy still living. She is now 14yrs old.
In addition to the progeny from the Besslin line we also brought in outside blood from time to time. Most often from Ted Bells lines. Ted Bell is now retired and no longer breeding border collies. The last two of Ted Bells dogs in our breeding program were Bell's Hannah , who was a beautiful black/white rough coated female. And Bell's Clancy who was a handsome red-tri rough coated male. Ceilidgh's daughter, Aoife, was sired by Margaret Lambkins dog Java (who is from Jeanne Weavers lines). Hannah, Clancy, and Aoife all have their angel wings now.
I still have 3 of Hannah's kids. Niamh, Synergy, and Devor. They are littermates and are now 8yrs of age.
I still have 3 of Hannah's kids. Niamh, Synergy, and Devor. They are littermates and are now 8yrs of age.
Many of our border collie pups went to dog sport homes where they exceled in whatever sports they participated in. And those puppies that went to pet homes were reported to be wonderful companion dogs. Our own dogs competed mostly in flyball and disc sports; and did agility recreationally. I used to do sheep herding with them years ago.
At Besslin Border Collies we strived to produce a dog that was of stable temperament and good health. Our puppies were raised in an enriched environment with novel stimuli to help them develop positive associations with new things and sounds in their environment. Puppies were handled daily and by the time they went to their new homes they had been introduced to a variety of toys, floor surfaces, vet visit, grooming, and nail trims. They had also been dewormed and received their first set of vaccines.
To see photo's and profiles of our border collies, please go the blog topic .... Meet Our Border Collies
