Breeders/Fanciers are invited to submit information to qualify for Collie Club of America Breeder of the Year.
The award recognizes achievements of breeders of healthy, beautiful collies by providing information about the champions, titles and health testing.
The individual CCA Breeders of the Year Rough and Smooth will be selected from those who submit information with the most "points" accumulated reflecting a combination of champions produced, performance, service work and health testing for the calendar year.
The names of the breeders are added to a permanent CCA plaque and each Breeder of the Year receives their own medallion designed by Rick Lingenfelter. Winners are honored at the CCA National Specialty following the calendar year for which they win.
The criteria, a Frequently Asked Questions, and submission spreadsheet template may be downloaded from this page. Your submission need not have points in all categories.
Deadline for submission to the committee is February 1. Please send to collieclub.president@gmail.com.
Breeders/Fanciers are invited to submit information to qualify for Collie Club of America Breeder of the Year.
The award recognizes achievements of breeders of healthy, beautiful collies by providing information about the champions, titles and health testing.
The individual CCA Breeders of the Year Rough and Smooth will be selected from those who submit information with the most "points" accumulated reflecting a combination of champions produced, performance, service work and health testing for the calendar year.
The names of the breeders are added to a permanent CCA plaque and each Breeder of the Year receives their own medallion designed by Rick Lingenfelter. Winners are honored at the CCA National Specialty following the calendar year for which they win.
The criteria, a Frequently Asked Questions, and submission spreadsheet template may be downloaded from this page. Your submission need not have points in all categories.
Deadline for submission to the committee is February 1. Please send to collieclub.president@gmail.com.
1. Do I have to own all of the dogs to submit titles or tests?
No. The award goes to the breeder/co-breeder of the championship and performance/service titled collies for the breeder of each collie for the year whether or not they are that collie’s owner or co-owner. Any health checks done on any collies with titles for the year of the award count for the breeder.
2. What do I have to submit?
There are three categories in which you can submit information. Only one is required.
Category 1: Conformation (required and must designate Rough or Smooth application)
What to submit:
a. Registered Names and AKC numbers of champions and grandchampions completing titles in 2021. Designate rough or smooth.
b. Numbers of live puppies (puppies who live to be adults) produced in last three years (2019, 2020, 2021). Just the raw number of pups added together for the three years. The total will be used to get a mean average calculation. No registration or other information needed.
Category 2: Performance (optional but extra points)
What to submit:
Registered Names of Newly-titled dogs - titles achieved in 2021. Please include highest AKC or CCA title for each collie in whichever venue(s) apply (rally-o, obedience, agility, herding, tracking). Note: Erin Gorney is a WCC member and is on the new committee. If you have specific questions on performance titles, please contact Erin.
See provided criteria for qualifying titles/designations
Category 3: Health Testing (optional but extra points)
What to submit:
Health tests performed on dogs titled in either of the above categories. Results not required. Keep in mind that Collie Eye exams are mandatory per our Code of Ethics, which all members sign.
See previously provided criteria for which tests count towards the award.
3. Does the Health testing have to have been done in 2021?
No. The testing is on the dogs titled in 2021 but the tests could have been done previously.
4. When will the award be presented?
As with the previous Breeder of the Year award, the award will be presented at General Membership meeting at the National. The names of the Breeders of the Year (Rough and Smooth) as well as top contenders will be announced during the week at the National, via Constant Contact and published in the Bulletin.
5. Are the criteria being verified?
We are asking breeders to submit honest information in accordance with our code of ethics in dealings between breeders. The committee can perform audits of the required basic, easily-accessible information as needed. We as a committee always choose to respect and trust our members first. If additional information is needed to ensure close results are verified, the committee will contact applicants.
6. How will a challenge be handled?
The committee will handle any suspicious information and will ask for, or search out, verification from AKC. Other parent clubs ask for health information and proof of titles. We investigated and could use their methods in future if need be. However, we prefer to first think that CCA members will be honest until proven otherwise.
7. Where will the results be kept and who has access to these records? How will the CCA ensure its applicants that the information given to them will be secure?
Once awards are given, the committee’s resulting calculations in each category will be secured electronically with CCA official records and not maintained by any one individual. For example, the committee will not retain a list of each title that led to points or the number of puppies used to calculate the conformation percentage.
There is currently no reason to retain the detailed listing since the required information can easily be recreated if needed with the assistance of AKC records. The only exception is the optional health testing and no results of tests are asked for or retained. We have seen no issue at this time with retaining the list of health tests performed with no results.
8. Why do we have separate awards for Rough and Smooth Breeder of the Year when so many are breeding and finishing both?
Following two surveys of CCA membership, a 2/3 majority supported separate awards at this time. As always, continued feedback as people go through the process will feed into updates in the future.
9. What if a breeder finishes 6 rough champions and has 6 smooths win performance titles? How will the scoring system handle the diversity of varieties? There’s nothing in the criteria to establish the particulars concerning this scenario.
We would presume that they are applying for rough BOY. The smooth collies would count for any performance title points they receive toward the breeder’s 15%. The members who took our surveys wanted separate variety awards for champions, so that’s what we did. However, for performance and health purposes, a collie is a collie.
Will input on the award criteria be taken and applied in future?
Absolutely. Putting a new process into place is always a challenge and there is always room to make a good process even better.
All input received to date is being logged and kept.
In addition, there will be follow-up surveys for those who apply as well as the general membership as both will have different perspectives of the process we will want to capture. All input will be analyzed and if the committee finds a need for adjustments, those recommendations will be taken to the full board for approval.
1. Do I have to own all of the dogs to submit titles or tests?
No. The award goes to the breeder/co-breeder of the championship and performance/service titled collies for the breeder of each collie for the year whether or not they are that collie’s owner or co-owner. Any health checks done on any collies with titles for the year of the award count for the breeder.
2. What do I have to submit?
There are three categories in which you can submit information. Only one is required.
Category 1: Conformation (required and must designate Rough or Smooth application)
What to submit:
a. Registered Names and AKC numbers of champions and grandchampions completing titles in 2021. Designate rough or smooth.
b. Numbers of live puppies (puppies who live to be adults) produced in last three years (2019, 2020, 2021). Just the raw number of pups added together for the three years. The total will be used to get a mean average calculation. No registration or other information needed.
Category 2: Performance (optional but extra points)
What to submit:
Registered Names of Newly-titled dogs - titles achieved in 2021. Please include highest AKC or CCA title for each collie in whichever venue(s) apply (rally-o, obedience, agility, herding, tracking). Note: Erin Gorney is a WCC member and is on the new committee. If you have specific questions on performance titles, please contact Erin.
See provided criteria for qualifying titles/designations
Category 3: Health Testing (optional but extra points)
What to submit:
Health tests performed on dogs titled in either of the above categories. Results not required. Keep in mind that Collie Eye exams are mandatory per our Code of Ethics, which all members sign.
See previously provided criteria for which tests count towards the award.
3. Does the Health testing have to have been done in 2021?
No. The testing is on the dogs titled in 2021 but the tests could have been done previously.
4. When will the award be presented?
As with the previous Breeder of the Year award, the award will be presented at General Membership meeting at the National. The names of the Breeders of the Year (Rough and Smooth) as well as top contenders will be announced during the week at the National, via Constant Contact and published in the Bulletin.
5. Are the criteria being verified?
We are asking breeders to submit honest information in accordance with our code of ethics in dealings between breeders. The committee can perform audits of the required basic, easily-accessible information as needed. We as a committee always choose to respect and trust our members first. If additional information is needed to ensure close results are verified, the committee will contact applicants.
6. How will a challenge be handled?
The committee will handle any suspicious information and will ask for, or search out, verification from AKC. Other parent clubs ask for health information and proof of titles. We investigated and could use their methods in future if need be. However, we prefer to first think that CCA members will be honest until proven otherwise.
7. Where will the results be kept and who has access to these records? How will the CCA ensure its applicants that the information given to them will be secure?
Once awards are given, the committee’s resulting calculations in each category will be secured electronically with CCA official records and not maintained by any one individual. For example, the committee will not retain a list of each title that led to points or the number of puppies used to calculate the conformation percentage.
There is currently no reason to retain the detailed listing since the required information can easily be recreated if needed with the assistance of AKC records. The only exception is the optional health testing and no results of tests are asked for or retained. We have seen no issue at this time with retaining the list of health tests performed with no results.
8. Why do we have separate awards for Rough and Smooth Breeder of the Year when so many are breeding and finishing both?
Following two surveys of CCA membership, a 2/3 majority supported separate awards at this time. As always, continued feedback as people go through the process will feed into updates in the future.
9. What if a breeder finishes 6 rough champions and has 6 smooths win performance titles? How will the scoring system handle the diversity of varieties? There’s nothing in the criteria to establish the particulars concerning this scenario.
We would presume that they are applying for rough BOY. The smooth collies would count for any performance title points they receive toward the breeder’s 15%. The members who took our surveys wanted separate variety awards for champions, so that’s what we did. However, for performance and health purposes, a collie is a collie.
Will input on the award criteria be taken and applied in future?
Absolutely. Putting a new process into place is always a challenge and there is always room to make a good process even better.
All input received to date is being logged and kept.
In addition, there will be follow-up surveys for those who apply as well as the general membership as both will have different perspectives of the process we will want to capture. All input will be analyzed and if the committee finds a need for adjustments, those recommendations will be taken to the full board for approval.
Annette Rawlings, chair
Send all applications to collieclub.president@gmail.com
An Excel spreadsheet format for your submission has been added. Sample information in red is included in the spreadsheet. Please replace this information with your own data. This will make it easier to record and submit achievements and help the committee ensure that all names, titles and testing are recorded correctly. This format is not required but we hope it helps organize and list your dogs' achievements and ensure we have correct information. Remember: there is no need for you to count the points or make calculations. The committee will do that.
The DM-S test is now listed under health testing. Other minor updates were also made with the review of Dave Hansen of the CCA Health Policy Committee. Don't forget that if you are a Collie Health Foundation member, there are significant rebates for many health tests.
The titles achieved section of the criteria has been updated to reflect the changing nature of what is available.
> Point Scale Information (PDF)
> Excel Application (XLS)
(Free file viewers: PDF :: MS Office Apps)
Annette Rawlings, chair
Send all applications to collieclub.president@gmail.com
An Excel spreadsheet format for your submission has been added. Sample information in red is included in the spreadsheet. Please replace this information with your own data. This will make it easier to record and submit achievements and help the committee ensure that all names, titles and testing are recorded correctly. This format is not required but we hope it helps organize and list your dogs' achievements and ensure we have correct information. Remember: there is no need for you to count the points or make calculations. The committee will do that.
The DM-S test is now listed under health testing. Other minor updates were also made with the review of Dave Hansen of the CCA Health Policy Committee. Don't forget that if you are a Collie Health Foundation member, there are significant rebates for many health tests.
The titles achieved section of the criteria has been updated to reflect the changing nature of what is available.
> Point Scale Information (PDF)
> Excel Application (XLS)
(Free file viewers: PDF :: MS Office Apps)