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THE AUREALIS TEAM:

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DEBORAH

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MARET

Jesse Best of Breed

LAUREN

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JULIANNA

OUR STORY:

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Aurealis Collies is a small breeding program founded in 1976, located in Washington State, USA. Withholding Collies of high quality, Aurealis has been breeding and exhibiting Collies at the National level for over 40 years - consistently producing CCA winners and top-producers. Truly a family affair of devotion to the breed, the members of Aurealis consists of Deborah Falk (Founder) and her three daughters: Maret, Lauren and Julianna. All three daughters quickly shared the same passion, involvement, appreciation  and detailed eye for breeding and exhibiting Collies and will carry on  the Aurealis name for years to come. This dedication to the breed, development of  presenting our timeless line of dogs, emphasis on genetic soundness, temperament, and beauty has paved the way for Aurealis to be one of the most successful kennels of today. Aurealis can be found in the pedigrees of collies in the United States of America, Canada, Germany, Argentina, Mexico and Denmark, to name a few. We are longtime members of the Collie Club of America and the Collie Health Foundation. Deborah Falk is a licensed AKC Judge of Collies & Junior Showmanship and a Breed Mentor for the CCA and is always inclined to share her knowledge and experience with relatively new breeders and exhibitors. 

 

Aurealis has always kept it small with an emphasis being quality not quantity.  With a passion for  expression and elegance plus soundness, Aurealis has engineered a line of dogs that have pleased  the eye of even the most discerning of Collie Critics.  We capitalize on temperament and feel that all Collies should be able to perform the duty of what they were bred for along with striving for beautiful, correct conformation according to the AKC standard. Many of our Collies have been successful not only in conformation but agility, herding, obedience, therapy and tracking.  We are proud to have accomplished this with limited breedings and careful selection. Aurealis Collies are excellent examples of breed type and we believe that continual study of improvement and excellence is what makes Aurealis Collies pass the test of time among every spectrum. 

THE BEGINNING:

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Deborah Blundell-Falk's love affair with Collies began as a child.  Though a native of California, her siblings spent many summers in South Dakota on the Blundell farm.  A very special female Rough Collie watched over the large group of cousins and herd of sheep.  Deborah fell in love with her and subsequently began reading the Albert Payson Terhune novels and learning about the adventures of his beloved Collies.

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Deborah was finally able to purchase her foundation bitch at the young age of 19 years old.  She was from  Al and Helene Forthal of the famous Shoreham Collies in Southern California. This foundation bitch is known as Can/Am Ch. Aurealis Mariposa O' Shoreham. Her dam was the beautiful Ch. Shoreham Desdemona and her sire was the renowned 3x CCA BOB winner – Ch. Tartanside The Gladiator, a dog of tremendous virtue. Shortly after acquiring this promising bitch, Deborah moved to Washington State to attend Nursing School in Seattle.  With the encouragement and mentorship of Al and Helene Forthal of Shoreham Collies, Deborah began showing Mariposa and never looked back. Deborah continually attended numerous shows and Collie Club of America National Specialties watching and studying the beautiful Collies and learning as much as she could about true Collie breed type while being surrounded by the breeds historic breeders, owners, handlers and of course, timeless Collies. The Aurealis breeding program was built upon the greatest Tartanside dogs.

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As a young exhibitor, Deborah engineered the breeding that produced MBISS Ch. Rio Bravo Achilles and would owner-handle him to Best of Breed at the 1979 Collie Club of America. At that same 1979 CCA, Deborah was the breeder/owner/handler of the CCA Reserve Winners Dog, MBISS Ch. Aurealis Skylarking, the first Aurealis-bred dog. Sky was a Gladiator grandson and was heavily Tartanside, sired by Ch. Tartanside The Inheritor and bred to a leased bitch, Hi Vu Life Of The Party. Skylarking would become a Best In The West winner for multiple years, multiple specialty winner in enormous entries and a regular Herding Group placement winner. Skylarking was a pivotal dog in our breeding program.

MBISS Ch. Tartanside The Gladiator - 3x CCA BOB

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MBISS Ch. Rio Bravo Achilles - CCA BOB

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MBISS Ch. Aurealis Skylarking - CCA RWD

In 1988, the Skylarking daughter Aurealis Affectionately would be bred to Ch. Countryview Motion Picture, who would sire only 2 litters before being sold to Japan. As a result from this breeding, MBISS Ch. Aurealis Silverscreen would go on to win Best of Breed at the Collie Club of America National Specialty under Judge Pat Starkweather of the renowned Glen Hill Collies. Though an young 2 year old at the time, Blake owned the ground he walked on that day and deservingly won the CCA's top honor under one of the icons in Collies. Blake would become the sire of 19 Champions and can be found in many of the pedigrees of top bloodlines in the East and West, especially through his son Ch. Countryview Admission. Excelling in expression, body balance and movement, Blake consistently produced those qualities, along with his beautiful crystal blue color. Later on, Blake made his way to the East Coast with Tom Coen winning Breed after Breed in dominant competition. At the 2000 CCA National, Silverscreen was shown one last time and won the 11+ Veteran Class handled by Deborah Falk. Blake was a cherished member of the young Falk family and was there every step of the way during the Falk girls' childhood. 

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MBISS Ch. Aurealis Silverscreen - CCA BOB

MBISS Ch. Aurealis Silverscreen on the East Coast with Tom Coen after winning the CCA.

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Blake as a puppy winning a major under the legendary Billy Aschenbrenner.

Blake's most famous offspring made her reign in 1996, later becoming one of the most top winning bitches in CCA history, MBIS MBISS Ch. Aurealis Charidan Regina – 1997 #1 Hawkins, #1 Collie All-Systems, #4 Herding Dog, 1997 CCA BOS Rough, 2x CCA AOM, a winner of 6 BIS, several BISS and 150+ BOV's. Gina made Group and Best In Show winning a trend for Collies, not just an occasion. Gina is still to this day one of the top winning bitches in breed history. Gina opened the door for Collies to dominate in the All-Breed ring, while also being a regular standout in the CCA National Specialty ring, a combination that has been a difficult feat for many Collies. Gina was always handled by the incredible Janine Walker-Keith of Incandescent Collies.

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MBIS MBISS Ch. Aurealis Charidan Regina - CCA BOS/2x AOM 

By Silverscreen

Though Deborah greatly slowed down the breeding and exhibiting of dogs in the late 90's to raise her three daughters, a few very important breedings still took place. One was MBISS Ch. Lochlaren Lyric Of Aurealis, a double Silverscreen daughter bred to the sensational Tartanside Preview, ROM. This breeding gave us Ch. Aurealis Bronze Legend and Aurealis Always Treasured. Bronze Legend placed 2nd in the Bred By Exhibitor class at the 1996 CCA National Specialty, right behind the eventual Winners Dog - Ch. Twin City The Great Divide, ROM. Always Treasured won the Open Sable Bitch Class at the 2000 CCA handled by Tom Coen. After 8 Major Reserves, she unfortunately never finished as time slipped away. Tiara is still one of our favorite Aurealis bitches and is the epitome of true Collie breed type.

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Ch. Aurealis Bronze Legend
By Preview, ROM

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Aurealis Always Treasured
By Preview, ROM

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Tartanside Preview, ROM

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MBISS Ch. Lochlaren Lyric Of Aurealis 
By Silverscreen

Looking to continue to line-breed on Tartanside, Aurealis acquired Emma, Ch. Tartanside Brocade, ROM bred by John Buddie of Tartanside Collies. While our kennel was greatly based off of Tartanside Collies to begin with, we knew that Brocade would continue assist us to create our mental image of the ideal Collie and be a turning point in our breeding program with her unmatched pedigree that features several of the breeds most historic dogs. Emma was sired by Ch. Southland's Bowen Island, ROM - CCA Best of Breed, a virtuous sable dog that was line-bred on Ch. Tartanside Th' Critics Choice, ROM. Her exquisite dam was the classic sable bitch, Ch. Tartanside Foolproof, ROM - Dam of 17 Champions. Foolproof was the daughter of the Top Sire in the history of the breed, Ch. Fantasy's Bronze Talisman, ROM - Sire of 173 Champions. 

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Ch. Southland's Bowen Island - CCA BOB
Sire of 82 Champions

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Ch. Tartanside Brocade, ROM
By Bowen Island, ROM x Foolproof, ROM

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Bowen x Foolproof Litter
Ch. Tartanside Brocade, ROM
Ch. Tartanside Southland Brigade
Ch. Tartanside Birthright
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Ch. Tartanside Foolproof, ROM - Dam of 17 Champions

Ch. Milas Aurealis Latin Samba
By Absolute Latin x Latin Dancer, ROM

When searching for the right stud dog and in need of a judicious outcross for Brocade, we had admired the impressive Milas Collies for many years. We specifically chose a pure for sable puppy dog to bring home to Aurealis. Alex was the son of the beautiful CCA WB/BOW, Ch. Milas Latin Dancer, ROM and he obtained several of his dams virtues packed into a masculine male. 

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Eventually, Brocade was bred to Latin Samba and this once in a lifetime pairing was never to be duplicated with such a favorable outcome. From the two breedings, these illustrious dogs were produced: MBISS GCHB. Aurealis I Am Whimsical, MBISS GCHS. Aurealis Coldplay, ROM - Sire of 21 American Champions, and MBISS GCHG. Aurealis Endeavour, ROM - Sire of 26 American Champions. Together, these siblings can account for CCA BOS/BOB, CCA BOS/BOV, 3 CCA Award of Merits, ranked in the prestigious Hawkins Top Ten 5x, and 47 combined Champions. Coldplay is the only Rough pure for sable ROM in breed history. Furthermore, Coldplay and Endeavour are the only full brother duo to achieve ROM status. Endeavour was the first Rough Collie in breed history to be a ROM and also be a Gold GCH, proving that top producers can also have triumphant show careers. Most recently, his grandson became the second to do so. Descendents of Coldplay and Endeavour continue to carry on their legacy at Aurealis and several other kennels and will for years to come. 

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MBISS GCHB. Aurealis I Am
Whimsical - CCA BOS

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MBISS GCHS. Aurealis Coldplay,
ROM - CCA BOS, AOM

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MBISS GCHG. Aurealis Endeavour,
ROM - 2x CCA AOM

Our second collaboration of Alex was the breeding to the top Endeavour daughter, Ch. Aurealis Rumor Has It, ROM. This breeding produced our top producing bitch, Ch. Aurealis Incandescence, ROM - Dam of 11 Champions and the Top-Producing White Bitch in Breed History. Kendall has been instrumental in our breeding program producing consistent virtues identical to her sire, Alex. When contemplating where to breed Incandescence, we bred to a fairly unknown blue dog who happened to be her dams full littermate, BISS GCHB. Aurealis Zandria's Winning Colors. This matchup would become one of the most influential breedings for our program, producing our top producing mother-daughter duo, Ch. Aurealis Reminiscence, ROM. 

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Ch. Aurealis Rumor Has It, ROM
By Endeavour, ROM

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Ch. Aurealis Incandescence, ROM
By Latin Samba x Rumor Has It, ROM

Ch. Aurealis Reminiscence, ROM
By Winning Colors x Incandescence ROM

Again through the top producing Endeavour daughter, Ch. Aurealis Rumor Has It, ROM brings our dominant special and Top Sire, 2023 CCA BOB - GCHG. Southland Aurealis Island Nights, ROM, Sire of 72 Champions. Just like our Ch. Tartanside Brocade, ROM, Island Nights is also sired by the prolific Ch. Southland's Bowen Island, ROM by his last frozen semen. Kasen could not have been born at a perfect time for the breed as a whole and our breeding program especially. He brings back a multitude of virtues that have since been lost through his top producing sire Bowen, dam Rumor Has It and grandsire Endeavour. Kasen's resume speaks volumes as a show dog and producer and is one of the very few dogs that have been able to achieve many accolades as both. Kasen's progeny hold his legacy, with several making a name for themselves as top producers and supreme show dogs. 

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MBISS GCHG. Southland Aurealis Island Nights, ROM 
2023 CCA Best of Breed - 2023 #1 Hawkins System, 4x Stud Dog Class Winner, 2x CCA Select Dog, Winner of 45 BISS

By Bowen Island, ROM x Rumor Has It, ROM

THE FUTURE:

 

The future of Aurealis Collies will remain instilled with Deborah's three daughters: Maret, Lauren and Julianna. All three of whom have attained numerous accomplishments on their own accord including prestigious CCA Wins,, Multiple Best In Specialty Wins, Herding Group wins and placements. Each have campaigned dogs to Top Ten in the Hawkins System. All three share the same passion and devotion of breeding and exhibiting top caliber Collies and developing an eye to advance the Aurealis breeding program on every level. All hope to carry on the Aurealis legacy for years to come.

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