THE AUREALIS TEAM:
DEBORAH
MARET
LAUREN
JULIANNA
OUR STORY:
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:
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.
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.
As a young exhibitor, Deborah owner handled MBISS Ch. Rio Bravo Achilles to Best of Breed at the 1979 Collie Club of America, whom she co-owned with Michelle Altier of Bravo Collies. Mariposa was bred to Achilles and Ch. Tamarack Eclipse for her only litters, producing the next generation of Aurealis Collies. Also at the 1979 CCA, Deborah was the breeder/owner/handler of the CCA Reserve Winners Dog, MBISS Ch. Aurealis Skylarking. Sky was a Gladiator grandson and was heavily Tartanside/Hi Vu. Sky 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. Rio Bravo Achilles - CCA BOB
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, Deborah would owner/handle Ch. Aurealis Silverscreen to 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 his owner 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.
MBISS Ch. Aurealis Silverscreen - CCA BOB
MBISS Ch. Aurealis Silverscreen on the East Coast with Tom Coen after winning the CCA.
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.
MBIS MBISS Ch. Aurealis Charidan Regina - CCA BOS/2x AOM
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.
The next very important litter consisted of an outcross to the prolific producer at that time, Ch. Gambit's Trick Of Light, ROM to the in-bred Aurealis Ambience (3x double up on Silverscreen). This pairing resulted in two destined males, MBISS Ch. Aurealis Blueprint and MBISS Ch. Aurealis Bronze Glory. This brother duo accounted for over 20+ BISS wins and multiple herding group placement wins. Though Bronze Glory did not contribute to our breeding program, litter brother Blueprint can be found in the majority of our dogs pedigrees.
Ch. Aurealis Bronze Legend
By Preview, ROM
Aurealis Always Treasured
By Preview, ROM
MBISS Ch. Aurealis Blueprint
By Trick of Light, ROM
MBISS Ch. Aurealis Bronze Glory
By Trick of Light, ROM
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 assist us to create our mental image of the ideal Collie as she was the product of two of the breeds most prominent producers, Ch. Southland's Bowen Island, ROM - CCA Best of Breed and Ch. Tartanside Foolproof, ROM - Dam of 17 Champions and daughter of the top sire in the history of the breed, Ch. Fantasy's Bronze Talisman, ROM. Emma was a turning point in our breeding program and her producing ability speaks for itself. When searching for the right stud dog and in need of a judicious outcross, we had admired the impressive Milas Collies for many years. We had the opportunity to bring Ch. Milas Aurealis Latin Samba home to Aurealis. Alex was the daughter of CCA WB/BOW Ch. Milas Latin Dancer, ROM. He brought exquisite length of head, neck, coat and substance to the table while Emma was a dominant type-setter, producing beautiful expressions, sweeping body lines and elegance.
Emma (far left) and her littermates.
Ch. Tartanside Brocade, ROM
By Bowen Island, ROM x Foolproof, ROM
Ch. Milas Aurealis Latin Samba
By Absolute Latin x Latin Dancer, ROM
Brocade was bred to Latin Samba, this once in a lifetime pairing was never to be duplicated with such a favorable outcome. From the two repeat breedings, accomplishments include, 2016 CCA BOS Rough/2016 #4 Hawkins System – MBISS Multiple Group Placing GCHB. Aurealis I Am Whimsical, 2019 CCA BOS to BOB/2013 CCA AOM/#5 Hawkins System – MBISS Multiple Group Placing GCHS. Aurealis Coldplay, ROM, sire of 21 American Champions, and 2019, 2016 CCA AOM/2012 #10 Hawkins/2015 #3 Hawkins/2018 #10 Hawkins – MBISS, Multiple Group Winning GCHG. Aurealis Endeavour, ROM, sire of 25 American 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.
MBISS GCHB. Aurealis I Am
Whimsical - CCA BOS
MBISS GCHS. Aurealis Coldplay,
ROM - CCA BOS, AOM
MBISS GCHG. Aurealis Endeavour,
ROM - 2x CCA AOM
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 66 Champions and 3x CCA Stud Dog Class winner. Like the pleasing Ch. Tartanside Brocade, ROM, Island Nights is also sired by the prolific Ch. Southland's Bowen Island, ROM. Acquired from Mike Cheatham of Southland Collies, Kasen is proving to be a monumental show dog and producer like his sire Bowen and grandsire Endeavour.
MBISS GCHG. Southland Aurealis Island Nights, ROM - 2023 CCA Best of Breed
By Bowen Island, 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.
