My family has had dogs our entire lives, growing up with multiple dogs, cats, and random pets including horses, goats, chickens, even squirrels, and skunks. I was born into a household with 4 dogs, multiple cats, ferrets, and 3 geese that swam in the pool with us. We were just, and always have been, an animal loving family. Technically our first Border Collie was "Minnie", a BC/Sheltie mix that my mother took in as a 6 week old rescue. She grew with us through childhood and lived to the ripe old age of 18 before we had to let her cross the rainbow bridge the summer of 2009. Minnie did everything with us kids and put up with all of my make shift agility equipment and making her get into the pool to swim, but she was never a dog that would have gone somewhere to compete. She was a sissy and hated car rides or going anywhere. Finally in the spring of 1998 my sister got her first "real" Border Collie, Sierra, and I got an Australian Shepherd. Sierra was just the sweetest and best girl you could ask for. Though we did have Aussies for a few short years, they were no match for the Border Collies.
My sisters first Border Collie "Sierra" turned me on to the love of the breed. She came to us off of a working farm and we were just absolutely thrilled to have the chance to watch her parents work the sheep on the farm. We did not get our first dog with intentions to breed, but we fell in love with the breed and it bloomed from there. This is how our passion for dog sports grew as well. My parents homeschooled my siblings and I, so we always had the time to be hands on and enjoy what we were doing. They got us into Junior Showmanship, which is were my passion for conformation shows came from. We got into anything that we enjoyed doing with the dogs. We spent so much time training and showing and getting an understanding for everything, we were lucky enough to start with a GOOD dog! It also gave us responsibility, a hobby, and kept us at dogs shows on the weekend instead of getting into trouble!
Not even a year later our next Border Collies, Rusty and Ellie, joined us and in 2001 our first "show quality" Border Collie, Rio, joined our crew as well! We were having fun showing, doing agility, competing, trail riding with the dogs and horses. During the winter of 2002, when Ellie was in season, she had managed to climb over 3 different fences and got in with our boy Rio. Yes, oops breedings happen. It happens or has happened to the best of us, to almost any breeder at some point, unless they don't have male dogs living with them! This accidental breeding turned out to be the best thing to happen for us. January 2003 a beautiful litter of 1 black & white and 8 blue merle puppies were born, and that is where our Madison came from!
Without Madison there would be no Hayden or Amailee. Without Hayden there would be no River or Zane, without River there would be no Nikki, without Zane there would be no Ultra. And without Amailee there would be no Gracie or Levi. Without Levi there would be no Starr, no Nova, no Kimber, no Leah, and certainly none of their offspring. Yes, there may have still been an Ammardan, but it could have gone in a completely different direction. Just that one mistake, that one accidental breeding, turned out to be the butt of my foundation. My everything!
My mother and I co-owned and co-bred our dogs for years, showing and sharing together. This is how we got our name "Ammardan". A personal touch-- my sister, my mother, and I combining our names. Amanda Maryann and Danielle. This is why you may see things being mentioned as "we" on the website, because we've done so much together for years with the dogs and it is still a habit to write this way about them! I would have never gotten this far without my mothers help, knowledge, and support! My siblings fizzled out of showing, even though they still enjoy the dogs. My mother has her own breed and passion. I grew up and got married (and even had one of my dogs as my flower girl!) but the passion stuck with me. Though it may not even be the passion, but more of a love for each and every one of my dogs that I have. I have Border Collies not to "sell puppies", I have them because of the love of the breed and adoration for my dogs. Because it is fun, enjoyable, still and always will be a learning experience, and because I love to share these amazing dogs with people! And even if I wasn't breeding, I'd probably still have 13 dogs running around my house!
I had horses for many years as well, an avid rider and a major eventing junkie! I had a wonderful Trakehner gelding who took my through novice, and took great care of me. I re-trained & re-homed many Thoroughbreds off the track and I had my cute little Paint mare for trail riding. For quite some times I was breaking & training horses for other people as well, and for a while I though I'd actually get more into the training of the horses. But they turned out to be a more expensive hobby, and in between dogs, horses, my husband, and school I had to take my pick between dogs or horses, and the dogs were just more for me.
I attended school with a Pharmacy Tech major, but switching to EMT to graduate sooner. I enjoyed the program immensely but my heart went back to the dogs when I graduated and worked as a groomer and kennel manager for about 10 years, as well as some private boarding & basic training on an individual basis. I currently work as a receptionist at a vet clinic that also offers boarding, grooming, and daycare so my dogs can come to work with me and puppies can socialize!
I feel I have a wonderful established bloodline with excellent temperament and great health. We started with exceptional dogs that have only gotten better and continue to improve over time and with the help of many other breeders as well! I strive to breed good quality dogs with good, well rounded temperaments. I breed health tested dogs; tested through OFA for hips (you must key in the dogs full registered name to find them on the database), tested clear for CEA, TNS, and CL along with CERF/OFA eye exams. This allows us to have good breeding stock and ensure healthy puppies.
My sisters first Border Collie "Sierra" turned me on to the love of the breed. She came to us off of a working farm and we were just absolutely thrilled to have the chance to watch her parents work the sheep on the farm. We did not get our first dog with intentions to breed, but we fell in love with the breed and it bloomed from there. This is how our passion for dog sports grew as well. My parents homeschooled my siblings and I, so we always had the time to be hands on and enjoy what we were doing. They got us into Junior Showmanship, which is were my passion for conformation shows came from. We got into anything that we enjoyed doing with the dogs. We spent so much time training and showing and getting an understanding for everything, we were lucky enough to start with a GOOD dog! It also gave us responsibility, a hobby, and kept us at dogs shows on the weekend instead of getting into trouble!
Not even a year later our next Border Collies, Rusty and Ellie, joined us and in 2001 our first "show quality" Border Collie, Rio, joined our crew as well! We were having fun showing, doing agility, competing, trail riding with the dogs and horses. During the winter of 2002, when Ellie was in season, she had managed to climb over 3 different fences and got in with our boy Rio. Yes, oops breedings happen. It happens or has happened to the best of us, to almost any breeder at some point, unless they don't have male dogs living with them! This accidental breeding turned out to be the best thing to happen for us. January 2003 a beautiful litter of 1 black & white and 8 blue merle puppies were born, and that is where our Madison came from!
Without Madison there would be no Hayden or Amailee. Without Hayden there would be no River or Zane, without River there would be no Nikki, without Zane there would be no Ultra. And without Amailee there would be no Gracie or Levi. Without Levi there would be no Starr, no Nova, no Kimber, no Leah, and certainly none of their offspring. Yes, there may have still been an Ammardan, but it could have gone in a completely different direction. Just that one mistake, that one accidental breeding, turned out to be the butt of my foundation. My everything!
My mother and I co-owned and co-bred our dogs for years, showing and sharing together. This is how we got our name "Ammardan". A personal touch-- my sister, my mother, and I combining our names. Amanda Maryann and Danielle. This is why you may see things being mentioned as "we" on the website, because we've done so much together for years with the dogs and it is still a habit to write this way about them! I would have never gotten this far without my mothers help, knowledge, and support! My siblings fizzled out of showing, even though they still enjoy the dogs. My mother has her own breed and passion. I grew up and got married (and even had one of my dogs as my flower girl!) but the passion stuck with me. Though it may not even be the passion, but more of a love for each and every one of my dogs that I have. I have Border Collies not to "sell puppies", I have them because of the love of the breed and adoration for my dogs. Because it is fun, enjoyable, still and always will be a learning experience, and because I love to share these amazing dogs with people! And even if I wasn't breeding, I'd probably still have 13 dogs running around my house!
I had horses for many years as well, an avid rider and a major eventing junkie! I had a wonderful Trakehner gelding who took my through novice, and took great care of me. I re-trained & re-homed many Thoroughbreds off the track and I had my cute little Paint mare for trail riding. For quite some times I was breaking & training horses for other people as well, and for a while I though I'd actually get more into the training of the horses. But they turned out to be a more expensive hobby, and in between dogs, horses, my husband, and school I had to take my pick between dogs or horses, and the dogs were just more for me.
I attended school with a Pharmacy Tech major, but switching to EMT to graduate sooner. I enjoyed the program immensely but my heart went back to the dogs when I graduated and worked as a groomer and kennel manager for about 10 years, as well as some private boarding & basic training on an individual basis. I currently work as a receptionist at a vet clinic that also offers boarding, grooming, and daycare so my dogs can come to work with me and puppies can socialize!
I feel I have a wonderful established bloodline with excellent temperament and great health. We started with exceptional dogs that have only gotten better and continue to improve over time and with the help of many other breeders as well! I strive to breed good quality dogs with good, well rounded temperaments. I breed health tested dogs; tested through OFA for hips (you must key in the dogs full registered name to find them on the database), tested clear for CEA, TNS, and CL along with CERF/OFA eye exams. This allows us to have good breeding stock and ensure healthy puppies.