Wellsmere Collies

Our first collie was a female sable named Lassie. When our daughter was 4 years old she loved to swim and would spend hours playing in our in-ground pool. Although Lassie did not like the water and would avoid going in the water at all costs she would always run around the perimeter of the pool while Lauren was in the pool keeping a watchful eye. In the beginning of one summer our daughter had not yet learned how to swim under water but while we were on vacation later that summer (without Lassie) she learned to swim under water. When we returned home later that summer our daughter was showing off to everyone that she had learned how to swim under water, everyone was impressed except Lassie. Never having seen our daughter swim under the water before Lassie thought she was in trouble and immediately dove in the pool and swam over to "save" our daughter. Our daughter popped up out of the water and asked "what is Lassie doing in the pool?" Everyone was in awe of Lassie's protective and heroic character. That's a Collie!

When I was a little girl of three we lived next door to the only family in town with a swimming pool. Despite my parents’ vociferous warnings NEVER to go into the neighbor’s pool alone, one hot summer afternoon I did precisely that. I remember thinking, “I’ll just walk around the shallow end and be home really soon” as I trod across back and forth. Before I knew it, my little feet gave way and I found myself floundering in the deep end, my feet unsupported and my arms furiously flapping trying to stay afloat. I will never forget feeling and thinking at that moment that I was going to die. I couldn’t swim and I couldn’t maneuver myself back to the shallow end. My head was going under and suddenly out of the blue I saw the face of beautiful Misty, the neighbor family’s beautiful, gentle rough collie dog. Misty looked me straight in the eye and barked then dashed off to the house and continued her alarm to Mrs Kelly, our neighbor and Misty’s mother. Mrs Kelly retorted, “What’s wring, Misty?” and then followed her out to the pool where I was desperately trying to stay afloat. Mrs. Kelly jumped in the pool and fished me out.
I can affirm as I write this that I owe my very life to that noble, brilliant, compassionate collie Misty.
I thank you, dearest girl for your bravery and love. Without you I would not be here to tell your story! Xxxx

I was home alone during a heat wave. It was so hot I put the air conditioner on in the bedroom and my collie Eros and I went to bed. About 1:30AM I woke to Eros's barking which was unusual. It took me a while to come awake from a deep sleep and go downstairs to find Eros barking at the dining room window. I was tired and faced a 4AM wake up for work so I was quite stern with him, told him I was not amused and I would appreciate it if he wouldn't bark like a lunatic in the middle of the night. I brought him back upstairs and went back to sleep. Upon rising the next morning, I found a piece of the broken window in the dining room. I never thought that Eros would know the difference between wanted and unwanted guests because he is just so sweet and loving, but this evening he protected me, thwarted a home invasion and scared away the intruder. That's a collie!

Our seven month old, rough, sable collie Titus blended in as a family member from the day we brought him home. I'm a Realtor, my office building that I work from includes an apartment where my mother lives. Titus spends as much time in mom's apartment as he does in the office with me. Mom's 87 and a little unstable on her feet. Titus just seems to know to not run past Mom when she's walking as he does with everyone else. One day when I returned from a showing Mom told me she was walking into the kitchen without her walker, began to feel tipsy so she reached out hoping to catch the back of a chair before she fell. She immediately felt Titus brush into her leg, she put her hand onto his back, regained her balance and walked on with him walking beside her. That's a Collie!!

My collies sleep on the floor of my bedroom and one or two are invited to cuddle on the bed. We have a bit of routine that often happens. Let's say that this evening Spike and Tootsie are invited up on the bed. Rocky will go to the side and then the foot of the bed to see if there is a spot for him. If there is not, he will run down the hallway barking as if to say "INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT". The pack will jump to the rescue and follow down the hallway to support their pack member and protect the family while Rocky does a quick u-turn and jumps up on the now vacant spot on the bed! The interesting thing is that tomorrow night Rocky might be the one on the bed who gets "suckered" into losing his spot and they fall for it every time!!! That's a collie!!!

Our Sable rough boy, Scottie was a truly amazing dog to say the least. He was always very in tune with his family. If we were sad or sick, Scottie was thereby our sides. My mother was sick quite often, as she was diagnosed with Crohns Disease and battled the disease her whole life. Having Crohns was difficult for my mother and when she was bed ridden, she could always count on Scottie being at her side. There was one week where I had to be away at college, and my father was away on business. My mom was beginning to fall ill again, so we had my grandpa come to stay with her while we were gone. Well, one night my mom woke up and couldn't get out of bed. She needed to go to the hospital and was in excruciating pain. She tried to yell for her father, who was sleeping in the guest room down the hallway, but she couldn't get her voice up loud enough for him to hear her. She then turned to Scottie, and said "Go get Grandpa". Scottie ran from the room and pushed Grandpa's bedroom door open barking to wake him up. Scottie led Grandpa to my mom, where he was able to assist her to the car, and get her to the hospital. When my mom told me this story, I couldn't stop smiling. He was such an incredible boy. This is a true testament to the loyalty and love Scottie had. Now that's a Collie! Sadly, since this story has taken place, my mother has passed on a few years back, and just 5 months ago, my baby Scottie has joined her over the Rainbow Bridge. I do, however, have plans of bringing home another Collie soon. Our home is just not the same without a Collie in our lives. We will forever be Collie family.

Our Tri, male, rough collie Molson was amazing even at a young age. Molson was about 7 months old and was inside our fenced back yard playing with my 6 year old daughter and several of her friends. I went inside the house to get the kids some drinks and for the first time I heard Molson barking with a purpose. I ran outside, and saw that the kids had tried to go out the gate into the driveway. Molson had run in front of them and wouldn't let them out! I was amazed and very happy. He did a lot of great things in his lifetime but sadly he passed away at 11 years old. RIP MOLSON That's a collie!

My grandfather used to have a collie kennel. One of his dogs that were kenneled was a male, sable, rough named Laddie. Nearby in the neighborhood there was a sheep factory where they shaved the sheep for wool and to keep count of all the sheep they spray painted all of the sheep with orange numbers. At the time my grandparents were out and when they returned home they found quite a surprise. Inside Laddie's kennel locked up was a sheep with orange spray painted numbers on the side of it and Laddie was sitting outside waiting. He some how figured out how to unlatch the kennel and then herd the sheep into the kennel and then latch it again. My grandfather called the sheep factory and they told him one of their sheep escaped. So they came and got their sheep back. Now that's a collie!

This collie story was related to me by Marian Goodrich (who gave me my first collie 35 years ago). Chile, a tri, smooth, collie was vacationing in the Adirondacks with his best bud, a corgie pup. As everyone was walking along the top of a dam the corgie lost his footing and fell in. Before anyone could get to him, Chile reached down, grabbed the corgie by the collar and pulled him back to the walkway. That's a collie!

My collie and shetland sheepdog were in the yard playing when I heard my collie barking and getting between the shetland sheepdog and a tree. When I investigated, I found a baby squirrel was trying to go up the tree. While I restrained the shetland sheepdog, the collie walked over to the tree and used his nose to assist the squirrel up the tree. All were safe, Thats a collie.