History

The Great Plains Bearded Collie Club held its first meeting on September 4, 1986 and was incorporated February 16, 1988. We began as a body of Beardy owners and lovers who wanted to share experiences and assist others with the dogs. It didn't take long for the group to discover how much fun they and their dogs had doing what the breed does naturally - herding.

The Club sponsored its first Instinct Tests on October 25 & 26, 1986 at Ann & Harry Witte's Gaelyn Glen Farm southwest of Papillion, Nebraska. Little did the members know then what grand adventures this would lead to. The Club's first AKC Licensed Herding Tests and Trials were held on March 23 & 24, 1990. The Club offers two weekends of All-Breed Herding Trials each year; one in June and another in October. In addition, we host our "Beardie Clan Ceilidh" annually; three days of AKC Tests and Trials for Beardies only; events which we started in 1998.

These herding events have been extremely beneficial to the Bearded Collie breed; they have shown the natural instinct and talent our modern Beardies have doing what they were originally bred to do.

The Club has come a long way since our first herding events. At our Silver (25th) Anniversary Trial in March of 1996, a Beardie bred by one of our members was High In Trial. Members of the Club, and their dogs, have earned the most herding titles within the breed nation wide, including 4 AKC Herding Champions, 2 ASCA WTCHs, and many HX titles. To date, our Club has hosted more AKC Licensed herding events than any other Club in the United States.

In addition, Cindy Mendonca's HC "Faith" and Carol Sirrine & Brian Wistrom's Ch. "Lauren" HIAs have each won High In Trial at BCCA's National Specialty Herding Trials; and Harry & Ann Witte's Ch. HC "Robin" was Reserve High In Trial at a BCCA National.

In the interest of assisting novices in training their Beardies for herding competition, the GPBCC has produced two professional videos: "Getting To Know Ewe II" (1997) and "Dancing Sheep To Sheep; Ewesful Tips For Herding" (2002) which it has available for purchase. We have brought our years of experience training Beardies (and our sense of humor) to the production of these videos. We have an Auction at our Ceilidh and donate 25% of the proceeds to Beardie Rescue. We have also been able to make other donations to this important endeavor from time to time.

In 2005, we hosted the BCCA National Specialty Events in Omaha, to the delight of all who attended. We had a special dinner honoring the Pioneers of the breed and held 3 full days of herding.

Our members are involved in a variety of activities with their Beardies, including Agility, Pet Therapy, Conformation, and Obedience.

Our foremost intention is the preservation of true herding ability in purebred, AKC registered Beardies which fit the Breed Standard; our success is proven in the numbers; over half of the Beardies which have AKC Trial titles are also show Champions.