Eriphos Farm

"Where Every Animal Is Special"

Border Collies

Our Border Collies were selected to provide us with all-around family, obedience, agility, and herding dogs. While our main focus is not directly on conformation, it was not overlooked picking our dogs. Our Border Collies are sound in body and mind and are loving, working, four-footed members of our family.  They are very versatile in their ability to compete in agility, obedience, rally and herding.  Each of our dogs was at one time shown in 4-H obedience, agility, and 4-H Junior Handling. The dogs are willing workers around our farm, helping us with our goats, sheep, ducks, and occasional bucket calves.

The dogs are always up-to-date on vaccinations, heartworm preventative, de-worming, OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) hips and elbows,  and CERF (Canine Eye Registry Foundation) certifications. All dogs over 4 months old are microchipped to insure their safety.  They are re-certified with CERF yearly.

 Our Border Collies are trained using treats and praise.  We, as trainers, realize that when a dog performs an exercise incorrectly, he is usually confused. We only use correction (A strong "No!" and gently showing them what we wanted; i.e. "luring" them in on a come) when the dog knowingly does not properly perform the exercise asked of them. We find that this method of training works very well with Border Collies, as they love to please their master. Border Collies are very quick learners. While we want them to obey us, we have seen too many ruined Borders because of harsh training.

We show our Border Collies at 4-H shows, from local county shows to the Missouri State Fair 4-H Dog Show and the National 4-H Agility Show. We also trial in ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America) obedience trials and AKC Rally shows.

Our Puppies

Our puppies receive only the finest care from the minute they are born. The puppies live in the house and are considered part of our family even after their new family takes them home. They are named the day the are born and are weighed immediately. We constantly hold them as the first part of their human socialization.  The puppies are weighed weekly and a report is updated. They receive their first de-worming at two weeks old and are de-wormed weekly until they go to their new homes. At three weeks old, they are moved from the bedroom in which they were born to the living room, where they stay until they go to their new homes. We love playing with our puppies and play several times every day with each puppy. With three children (ages 20, 17, and 11) the puppies definitely get the required interaction. The youngest child is home schooled, so someone is always home with the puppies.  At age four weeks, we begin house-training the puppies, taking them out to our fenced front yard several times a day, especially after eating and waking up in the morning and after naps.  At six weeks of age, they receive their first puppy vaccination and begin very gentle obedience training. At seven weeks, they have their eyes checked for CERF certification. They are vet checked shortly before their eight week birthday. The puppies are ready to go to their new homes at eight weeks. We carefully match each family to the puppy.

Our Rescues

As owners of Border Collies, we feel a deep need to help this breed as much as possible. Besides educating the public about this breed, we also rescue abused, neglected, and/or homeless Border Collies. These dogs are purebred Border Collies that would be destroyed or forced to live in confinement their entire life. After we complete all necessary medical treatment (vaccination, spay/neuter, etc) we begin basic obedience and often, basic agility and rally training.  When we feel the dog is properly socialized, trained, and completes any medical treatment, we put it up for adoption to a forever home.