2024 Scottish Collie Puppies
We are excited to announce a special pairing with
Hycottage Farm’s Lincoln (Watson) - OTSC/SCPS
and
Royal’s Kiltie Sweetpea OTSC/SCPS/ASDR
Watson and Kiltie are a dynamic pair of Collies that complement each other in both temperament and conformation. They are both dual registered with the Scottish Collie Preservation Society and the Old Time Scotch Collie Association. Additionally, Kiltie is registered with the American Stock Dog Registry. Both dogs have been health tested for a variety of Collie genetic diseases, as well as hip and elbow tested. You can find their test results below.
Kiltie belongs to Rosellen Bucy, and as a team they have accomplished a long list of titles for Scent work, Barn Hunt, Trick Dog, Obedience, as well as certifications in Canine Citizenship, Reading Education Assistance Dog, and other Therapy Dog work. Kiltie has also successfully tested her paws at herding sheep and ducks. Kiltie will be whelping and raising this litter at Hycottage Farm and the puppies will go through our Puppy Culture program. This will be Watson’s 3rd litter and Kiltie’s first litter.
Watson and Kiltie each have excellent temperaments in a wide variety of environments and have accomplished impressive skills in the area of scent work.
Watson’s temperament can best be described as a desire to please. From the time I began working with him on scent detection for low glucose levels at 6 weeks old he has displayed a strong desire to work together and accomplish a task. He was accomplishing static alerts by 8 weeks old. He loves problem solving and is eager to gain our attention and approval. He is goofy and loves to play games. Watson is very athletic and has a body built for speed and work. He enjoys exploring and has a great off-switch when the activities are over. Cuddling is one of his favorite pastimes. He is very gentle with children and small animals. When a visitor (animal or human) arrives he will announce their presence with a bark and then wiggle and beg for attention. We love his playful personality and he is a favorite with guests.
You can see video of Watson’s early low glucose scent training on this page. He was still being called by the litter name of Lincoln at the time. You can find his health information here, and his puppy pages here listed with his litter name of Lincoln.
Rosellen describes Kiltie this way: ‘She is such a wonderful addition to my life, not only with her deep affection, her faithfulness, her uncanny intelligence, but all the countless ways she’s tried to please me. I’ve never asked her to do anything that she hasn’t given her all to accomplish.’
The pairing of Watson and Kiltie will also produce puppies that offer a unique opportunity for the Farm-type Collie gene pool. Through testing with Better Bred, in collaboration with UC Davis, we have found that both Watson and Kiltie carry unique genetics that can lend to the prevention of genetic drift due to a human influenced Founder Effect within the breed. (See more about this below) To state it very simply, they have valuable genetics.
Royal’s Kiltie Sweet Pea: RATS, TDA, FDC, CGC, CGCA, CGCU, TD, DSA, LIO-1,
R I,II,III; A I,II,III; FD, and FDO
Health Information for Kiltie
Royal’s Kiltie Sweet Pea: born June 19,2017 Coat: Tri-factored Sable
See Kiltie’s pedigree here.
Height: 23 inches Weight: 46 pounds
Kiltie is Normal/Clear for ALL of the following mutations: Health Documents Available upon request.
MDR1 - Normal/Normal
Cyclic Neutropenia (Normal/Clear)
Degenerative Myelopathy (Normal/Clear)
Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Rod-Cone Disease 2 (Normal/Clear)
Von Willebrand Disease II (Normal/Clear)
Kiltie is a carrier (which means non-affected) for CEA.
CEA - Collie Eye Anomaly (Normal/Carrier)
Hips & Elbows:
OFA Elbows: Normal/ Negative for elbow dysplasia
OFA Hips: Good
Other health issues: None
Hycottage Farm’s Lincoln - Watson : Farm Guardian and companion dog
HEALTH INFORMATION FOR WATSON
Hycottage Farm's Lincoln (Watson): born February 7, 2019 Coat: Tri-factored Sable
Height: 24 inches Weight: 65 pounds
Watson is Normal/Clear for ALL of the following mutations:
MDR1 - Normal/Normal
Cyclic Neutropenia (Normal/Clear)
Degenerative Myelopathy (Normal/Clear)
Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Rod-Cone Disease 2 (Normal/Clear)
Von Willebrand Disease II (Normal/Clear)
CEA - Collie Eye Anomaly (Normal/Clear)
Hips & Elbows:
OFA Elbows: Good / Negative for elbow dysplasia
OFA Hips: Good
PennHIP: Distraction Index R/DI .48 L/DI .45
No radiographic evidence for Osteoarthritis of either hip. No cavitation present.
Why is Better Bred’s genetic panel important for the future of the Scottish Collie gene pool?
In modern breeding populations, humans make most of the decisions regarding mating pairs and over time this focused selection can cause a loss of genetic material. Due to humans’ selection of breeding dogs for phenotype, temperament, and working abilities, the population of breeding dogs in the OTSC and SCPS is focused on a smaller number of dogs than the larger population of all rough Collie types. When you have a smaller group of dogs you are working with a limited combination of alleles, a limited gene pool. If, over time, various alleles are eliminated simply because they did not get passed on to the next generation that gene pool could face increased health issues and undesirable mutation issues. This is why biodiversity is so important to the future of any breed. For a more in-depth look at the importance of preserving rare genes in a breed, check out this article about Biodiversity at Better Bred.
You can find Watson and Kiltie’s Better Bred results on the Scottish Collie Page of Better Bred here. If you click on the tab in the middle of the page that says most Recent Dogs you will find Watson (Hycottage Farm’s Lincoln) listed near the top. If you click on the tab that says Public Dog’s and scroll down you can find Watson (Hycottage Farm’s Lincoln) and Kiltie (Royal’s Kiltie Sweet Pea) to compare their results. Or read them with a brief description below.
Outlier Index : Watson .58 OI (breed average .27-OI) Kiltie .35 OI (Both Watson and Kiltie have above average OI. That is a good thing.)
Outlier Index, or OI, is a measure developed in consultation with conservation geneticists and based on thorough review of current scientific research as well as extended pedigrees, and by testing different metrics. The Outlier Index is a calculation that tells you how important a dog’s overall genetics are to preserve in the population. Those with a low Outlier Index carry genes that are very well represented in a population and not at risk of being lost – therefore one may judge them with very strict criteria for structure and temperament when selecting which ones to breed. A dog with a higher than breed average Outlier Index is more likely to have under-represented overall genetics in the breed and should be more carefully considered for the preservation of biodiversity of the breed. - Better Bred.com
Average Genetic Relatedness: Watson -.18 AGR (breed average -.01 AGR) Kiltie 0.00 AGR
AGR is another measurement that is meant to identify dogs whose genetics may be under-represented in a population. It is inversely related (with statistic significance) to OI. This helps support both measurements’ validity as well as show how they might complement each other when breeding for the preservation of a breed and its biodiversity. To breed to preserve biodiversity, select for a lower than breed average AGR. - Better Bred.com
Internal Relatedness: Watson -.05 IR (breed average -.01 IR) Kiltie -.18 IR (Both Watson and Kiltie’s numbers show that they are more outbred than the breed average.
UC Davis estimates the inbreeding value of a dog using a measurement called Internal Relatedness or IR. This estimates how inbred a dog is using the frequencies of the breed in a somewhat complex calculation. The higher this number (more positive), the more inbred. The lower this number (more negative) the more outbred. According to Dr. Niels Pedersen, DVM PhD, an inbreeding value of .15 or above would be considered high within a breed. - Better Bred.com
DLA Haplotypes: Watson Haplotype 1 [1045/2039] Haplotype2 [1045/2039]
Kiltie Haplotype 1 [1045/2039] Haplotype 2 [1223/2119] Kiltie has a very rare DLA Haplotype within the breed.
DLA HAPLOTYPES - Dog Leukocyte Antigen (the region of the genome that controls the immune system of the dog) Loss of biodiversity or allelic richness in a breed due to genetic bottlenecks seems to be linked to increase in immune dysfunction, which in turn speeds up further loss of diversity and increase in homozygosity breed-wide.
The DLA is found on a single canine chromosome, Chromosome 12. So, while breeding for identified DLA haplotypes is not the main factor to consider, we do still want to maintain diverse genetics in this region. We can do this by selecting for heterozygous haplotypes when possible, and for less common ones, too, as long as the dogs who have them are healthy. Breeders therefore should be aware of the DLA haplotypes that are not well represented in their breeds, so that they do not lose more biodiversity through genetic drift. What does genetic drift mean? Essentially it means a random loss of variation in genes in a breed. This happens when some of genes become less and less common due to chance – rather than because they are “bad” genes. Better Bred.com
How does all of this information affect important breeding decisions?
By pairing Watson and Kiltie we hope to preserve some of the rare genetic material within the gene pool. Both dogs display the breed type in appearance, ability, drive, and temperament while also carrying unique alleles. While considering health, temperament, and conformation first and foremost, we consider the opportunity to propagate their rare genetics to be icing on the cake.
We are considering select homes for the puppies from this litter. If you are an established SCPS or OTSC breeder and are interested in a potential breeding dog from this pairing please contact me. We will take 8 names for the primary waitlist and a few names for our backup waitlist in case the litter is larger than 8 puppies. You can find more information on the Puppy Application page.
If you are considering adding a puppy to your family, be sure to check out the
Watson has produced two beautiful litters with Renew Collies Cricket Serenade of Hycottage. You can find more information, pictures, and videos about those past litters here for the Hero Dogs Litter, and the most recent litter is on the Current Litters page.
A few photos of Watson’s First litter
