I lived in New Zealand shortly after getting married in 1964 and had a German Shepherd bitch as my first dog. As I'd always been interested in obedience I trained her up to CDX level which she passed easily as she excelled at agility and scent work. Our dog training club held demonstrations at schools and fetes so she really enjoyed this. I had one litter from her [my first] - fourteen puppies, unfortunately the last one was born dead - she had them without any help from me and no trouble at all and from one mating.

She was left in the care of a security guard dog handler and his family when we returned to the UK and she lived to a good age. On returning to England with my husband and two daughters and having loved the Rough Collie breed, I attended a few shows and purchased Chancellorville Je Reviens from Alan Holahan in 1979. She lived to 15 years and gave me a lot of fun at Open and Championship shows qualifying every year for Crufts so - that was it - I was hooked!