Mrose - the Border Collie Boards (run by the US Border Collie Club) just put this up to help those trying to sift through the myriads of breeders out there. Some of it is slightly US oriented (I assume you are in Australia?) but the marks of a good breeder still apply.
http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=15117
Also, re: your dog's working parents who were two. In the working/ISDS trialing Border Collie world, those dogs were still babies.
Re: "My dog won the National Finals." The Open trialing system has several functions, which have shaped the breed since before there
was a breed.
First and foremost, it allows people to view potential breeding dogs in a way that tests them far beyond their normal farm work. Although farm work is
difficult in many ways, it does not hold the farm dog to a
standard, nor does it pit the dog against peers in a way that easily allows the casual outsider to see the dog's strengths and weaknesses on that day's situations. As a potential puppy buyer, I can go to a certain trial where I know the sheep and environment will be similar to mine, and note which dogs do well and how exactly they excel (how handled, what they did to work the sheep through the course, whether their best work was out bye or at hand).
Second, the trials maintain a high "bar" against which the level of working ability in the breed overall, can be measured. Open trials may be derided as "impractical" by those who choose to take a pass on them in favor of simply breeding what works for them. However, the ISDS style course tests abilities that DO translate to practical farm work. They reward a dog that can read the intents of stock down to a hair's breadth, has a certain very high level of natural abilities like outrunning and balance, is biddable, and has a high degree of impulse control.
Most of all, a dog that wins in trials must display the highest degree of
balance in all aspects. Trials keep the breed from extremes that are desconstructive to work. A dog cannot be too shy to travel, too prey driven to listen to fidgety commands, too sensitive to take training pressure, and of course must be incredibly sound. Health is a
huge issue for serious competitors. The dogs must not only hold up physically the three to four years it takes just to get a dog to Open or to the level they want (for the Big Hats), but they also must have the mental capacity to take a tough training schedule, travel, interaction with numerous people other than their handlers, and sometimes different trainers and even owners.
Health affects the working Border Collie in surprising ways. We had a dog that seemed to have all the "right stuff" to compete at a young age. In another venue he would have been racking up advanced titles by the time he was two. But his owner/trainer kept hitting a wall where he seemed to check out mentally, ever so slightly. On very tough sheep, in situations where he had to do a whole lot of work to do something simple - the dog seemed to be saying, "This ain't worth it!"
He knew that he wasn't going to make it and decided to sell him on. He had Doug's hips done and found out that not only did he have mild dysplasia in one hip, but he had arthritic damage in the
other hip from compensating. He also tested his eyes and although there was no genetic flaw, he had a condition where his body is less able to get rid of oxidants and they built up in his eyes and caused retinal damage.
He would have then had him put down if we hadn't offered to take him. To that guy, there was no question of making money off him, breeding, or even trying to make a pet of him. He was not up to snuff and did not need to take up space in the world. Yes, that's a harsh philosophy, but it's one that made the Border Collie what it is today. I believe he was right, today, in fact. We love Doug to death, but taking him meant that we no longer had space for a healthy, well-bred dog in our household (he was not Doug's breeder, by the way!).
Not every breeder needs to trial. But they should not belittle the trial system. And they should recognize that it offers balance to their own programs and a pool of potential outcrossing genetics. And the whole question of dogs for sheep or sheep for dogs is a moot one. Once you've got sheep, if you are honest about what you are doing, you are a shepherd and the chicken or the egg question doesn't come into it. Some people DO have sheep as dog toys. It's pretty easy to spot them. They can't tell you anything about their plans for the sheep, production goals, maintenance plans.
Farm dogs (true farm dogs, those who work for-profit livestock operations) tend to be highly reliant on natural ability, routine, and don't like their "cheese moved" in corporate parlance.
On the other hand, trialing tends to favor dogs who are more biddable, and it's tempting to choose dogs that will allow you to think for them, if you excel at reading stock (or think you do). But those are what they call "Saturday dogs" overseas. Dogs who consistently place at the top (with a few exceptions), and who will be the dogs who produce future top level workers, are the
dogs who combine farm dog abilities with a trainable temperament. They have the genetic potential to produce anything from useful farm dogs up to top trial winners. They can improve merely competant workers and their genetics ensure that the range of the next generation goes from "useful" to "outstanding" rather than dropping below that (assuming they throw no unexpected flaws).
Two things keep a breeder honest. One is farming for profit. The other is competition in trials. I believe personally that one can depend somewhat on the first only, or the two together (that's ideal for the serious breeder), but obviously never the second only. Farming is the keel of the breed, but trialing is the rudder.
On the subject of quantity of pups. There's only a couple breeders in the entire world that I'd trust to produce more than a couple litters a year, and be able to keep track of the results of what they do. One is plenty for most people, really - if you are breeding to produce working dogs for yourself. The other breeders I mentioned have such outstanding breeding programs that their pups are in extremely high demand - thus they can easily ascertain that their pups are maintaining the correct level of abilities.
Just to clarify again, in the ISDS style trial systems, there are no titles awarded other than National, International, and World Champions (and reserve, but people rarely care about that - about as much as reserve Miss America - "In the event she is unable to fulfil her duties, blah, blah"). Border Collies are a big fish in a little pond when it comes to earning titles, so just because the parents have a bunch of titles - it's really meaningless. Yawn, another MACH BC. HIT on A course sheep? - well, duh. What you want to see is what type of work the breeder needs to do with the Border Collies they breed and how they go about making sure they are producing dogs that will contribute to that. The ISDS style trials should factor into it somehow, but if they don't, make sure the breeder has a good reason (and, "i don't have time to pay attention to that stuff" isn't a good reason - that's like a Crested breeder who doesn't have time to pay attention to the breed ring). They should still understand and follow the trials, and be open to the idea of outcrossing to that gene pool. Minimally.
