My Background
Welcome! Borderflies is a small and dedicated breeding program in Minnesota that is committed to the preservation and betterment of the border collie breed.
I grew up in a home that bred and raised miniature schnauzers. My fondest childhood memories are of helping my mom with our occasional litters of puppies, and the best of all was when I got to actively take part in the breeding and raising of "my own" litters. This set in stone my deep love for breeding dogs and raising puppies.
Borderflies was established in early 2013 when I fell madly in love with the Border Collie breed. While there are many thousands of reasons to love Border Collies, I fell in love with them primarily due to their versatility, biddability and incredible intelligence.
I have been training dogs professionally for over thirteen years now. I got my start training at a humane society where I worked as a kennel attendant, working with troubled dogs to improve their manners, solve behavior problems, and polish kennel presentation. I was invited to work with the trainer as an apprentice and the rest, as they say, is history. I have since grown as a trainer and helped train hundreds of dogs, even therapy and service dogs. I'm passionate about continuing education to maintain my credibility. My current goals for the next couple years are to become a KPA certified trainer, become Fear-Free certified, and obtain my CPDT-KA certification.
I am on a never-ending journey to learn more about carnivore nutrition and natural immunity, something I am extremely passionate about, and am a proud member of the Natural Rearing Breeders Association!
My rearing methods
Here at Borderflies, the rearing process of puppies is taken very seriously. I spend a large portion of my time with the puppies to ensure that they are raised to the highest of standards. Every puppy that is born at Borderflies is born into a safe, comfortable, and deeply loving environment inside my home. Their environment will be structured in a way that will help the puppies thrive as they age and will assist in crate training and housebreaking very early on. I rear my puppies with an emphasis on socialization, endless enrichment, and early training of necessary life skills. Check out our rearing timeline to see what our puppies experience each week from birth until their departures to their new homes!
For the health and well-being of my dogs and puppies, I utilize natural, holistic health care methods. I firmly believe that everything you put into your dog will have a profound influence on their quality of life as a whole. Everything, including their health, performance ability, and even their mood and behavior, is affected by what goes into their bodies. I am a very strong advocate for feeding a species appropriate prey model raw diet to create a solid foundation of good health and strong natural immune system. I advocate for and practice natural rearing and breeding, which excludes the use of vaccines (with exception of rabies vaccine where required by law), chemical pesticides in the home or yard, and toxic flea, tick and heartworm preventatives. I support the use of alternative modalities of healing such as traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy. These holistic methods of health care address the health of the whole body to create a strong immune system and stimulate the body's intrinsic ability to self-heal.
I utilize and recommend positive training methods that enrich the mind and nurture the relationship between a dog and it's human. Border collies are a sensitive breed and do not do well with a heavy hand or harsh training methods. No matter how amazing the diet we choose for them or how well they are raised, we are not doing the best for our pets unless we are setting them up for success and meeting or exceeding their mental and emotional needs. I believe in helping our beloved pets to not just share their day to day life with us, but to thrive physically and emotionally.
That is true holistic rearing, and that is how I rear my pups.
