The story of CH. Wyndlair's Thunder Heart CD ROMX - the start of
"Highlandblue" Collies
"Highlandblue" Collies
Even when he was a young kid, Chris Watts always had a love of dogs, and in particular, the Collie. He knew even then that some day that would be the breed he would want to be involved with. Breeding and showing these magnificent, elegant dogs was a dream he'd always secretly fostered. Many years later, now married with 3 daughters, the timing was right to start off his long thought about endeavor; to begin the search for some good quality Collies to begin his kennel with, and also to serve as playmates for his kids to enjoy as well. After much searching, Chris managed to purchase a couple of really nice quality female Collies with which to begin his own kennel. The picture was starting to come together, but was not fully complete without that much sought after stud dog. That's when Chris made a fatefull phonecall to a then teenage Matt Stelter of Wyndlair Collies. Chris explained to Matt what he was looking for in a stud dog, and Matt just happened to have a new litter of pups in which there was a blue merle male fitting the exact description of what Chris wanted. Matt flew this blue puppy (whom was referred to by Matt as "Tank" because he was built like one) to Chris at 8 weeks of age. The first time Chris laid eyes on this blue ball of fur, he new he had something truly special. Chris dubbed this pup "Thunder Heart" and started off his show career at the tender age of 6 months. Thunder pretty much flew to his championship, mostly owner-handled except for a couple of wins. Thunder began entertaining the ladies after finishing his championship, and thus began a lifelong career for this blue dog in the breeding world. At the end of that career, Thunder ended up producing 18 champion offspring. Also along the way, Thunder gave Chris a thrilling ride as a show dog; amassing many Best Of Breed wins along the way; the best BOB win was over 46 Collies at the Skydome; he was also Best Of Opposite at the DCSSA specialty in 2002, plus attained a Group 1st during limited campaigning that same year.
Thunder was everything any breeder could want in a stud dog; he far surpassed Chris's hope of a top champion producer. To date, Thunder has 18 conformation champion offspring, with a few more yet to finish. His last litter was born August 14 2006, just a few short weeks after his death.
To Chris, there will never be another dog like Thunder; we all have those special dogs, and Thunder was one of the most special.
To date many Collie kennels started out with Highlandblue dogs that are Thunder progeny, or have added important breeding stock to their lines from either Thunder or Highlandblue, such as the following:
Brookdale Collies, Crimsonhill Collies, Thistlebrae Collies, HarvestHil Collies, Lochstarr Collies, LadsanLassess Collies...the list continues!
