The Pedigree Specialist
Roy
Goutté has owned and worked Border Collies for the past 25 years. His first
Border Collie, Boots, was trained in Obedience, but because of his unpredictable
behavior was retired early. A series of collies all trained in Obedience
followed. In all he worked 3 collies at Championship level in Obedience before
moving to Cornwall in 1994 to achieve a lifelong ambition of training a Border
Collie to work in Sheepdog trialling.
All
the while, Roy was getting more and more involved with the breeding of the
collie, and, in 1990 he wrote his first book on the bloodlines of the Border
Collie/Working Sheepdog in Obedience, “The Principal Lines”. This was
quickly followed by Volume 2 and then Volume 3 in 1994.
He
started his own pedigree business around this time as the demand for quality
pedigrees was ever growing. The collie was dominating in so many activities and
pastimes that the breed lines were beginning to become very confused.
Outcrossing dogs bred for one discipline to another was upsetting the Breeding
Programme and throwing it into disarray. As a consequence of this, people were
demanding more than just a basic pedigree with their puppies. They wanted to
know if the puppy they were purchasing was up to the task of competing in the
particular discipline they were interested in. Would it be too
strong/weak/sensitive or possibly carry inherent genetic faults? Were their
ancestor’s good types. The pedigrees compiled by Roy were displaying all the
included dogs’ main Merit awards and achievements. You could actually see what
you were getting at last.
Due
to the huge database he was building, Roy was able to cross-reference thousands
of dogs and provide his customers with most of the answers they were looking
for. It also lead to his most sought after books, “The Principal Sheepdog
Lines” vols. 1 & 2 being published in 1995 and 2000 by Working Sheepdog
News magazine. At last, books on the ‘blue bloods of the Border Collie
world’, showing, in pedigree form, the attributes behind each featured dog.
The guesswork had been taken out. No more would pedigrees need only have just
names and numbers displayed. You could actually see what the dogs behind your
own dogs had achieved. It was a major breakthrough that has now become a
benchmark. (Click here for an example)
One
thing has lead to another, but singularly the greatest demand on Roy’s time
has been the unprecedented quest for clean healthy lines to breed from. The
result of poor breeding practices has turned against the breeder and we are
witness to hereditary faults in numbers not previously seen or recorded before.
Of these, CEA, although not a life threatening disease, has nevertheless become
a blight on the breeding programmed, infiltrating something in the region of 75%
of all breeding lines. It is this eye disease in particular that takes up much
of Roy’s time. His extensive database has offered breeders hope, and working
closely with him, are now beginning to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’,
but at the same time retaining the working ability so historically associated
with the breed.
Roy’s
aim has been…and always will be…to safeguard, and if at all possible,
improve the breed that he loves. He sees this as every breeders responsibility
and has little time for others who don’t share this point of view.
His
home bred Border Collies have been exported to countries far and wide and are recognized
for their retained in-bred working abilities coupled with a temperament that is
suited to a wide range of disciplines that the Border Collie partakes and
dominates in.
Roy charges £8.00 for a five generation pedigree chart displaying dogs name, registration number, owner, main Merit awards…and on a separate sheet at no extra cost, details of any CEA present. He also compiles six generation pedigrees on the same basis for £15.00.
For
an example of a pedigree, please click here
For further details please ring
Roy Goutté on 01566 782291
Roy can also be contacted by mobile on 07818 208 274
He is located in Launceston, Cornwall