The Background: I was attending a show in 1976 as a novice and had the privilege of meeting my future mentor, Carol Watt of Delamantha for the first time. She was showing Sheba, BIS BISS Am./Can. Ch. Delamantha's Desiderata, a Ch. Halstor's Peter Pumpkin ROM daughter, in one of her last shows. I was totally impressed and awestruck by this wonderful sheltie. Although I didn't fully appreciate at the time why this bitch was so special, I did recognize that here was depth of quality. Over the next few months Carol and I became good friends. She became the teacher and I an avid pupil. Finally she said that I would never learn what a good sheltie is until I lived with one. Carol was completing a university degree and was in the process of reducing the numbers of dogs she had at the time. She leased me a Sheba daughter, Shasta, Delamantha's Dear Born, for a limited time. An inbreeding was planned and Shasta was bred to Ch. Delamantha's Daybreak, a Sheba son, and the long wait for my very own show dog began. Finally, in the darkest wee hours of the night of June 12, 1978, a litter of two puppies was born. One was a tri-colour male who was obviously heading for over-size, and the other was a beautiful moderate tri-factored sable bitch puppy who was to become my foundation, Ch. Rowanglen's Dearest Welcome CD ROMC.

The Beginning: As Dusty grew up I did learn all about excellent structure and superior movement by just observing her day in and day out and absorbing the subliminal lessons. She had a very clean headpiece, good neck, excellent dentition, excellent front alignment, superior reach, lovely sloped croup with a long low tail set, and very good bone. From her I learned that those hard-to-get superior fronts depend on excellent chest development, another of her strong points. Since Dusty was my first show sheltie I felt that special thrill when I, still an unpolished handler, finished her Championship, my first. And so, the long difficult hunt for quality mates began.

The Building Process: Since Ch. Delamantha's Desiderata became a visible standard to build toward, when I now talk of various types of breeding, I refer to how much concentration of her genes resulted.
a) Outcrossing: I did one outcrossed breeding that resulted in a Champion. I bred to Ch. Macdega Mainstay that resulted in a litter of six puppies. One female finished and became Ch. Rowanglen's Little Duster CD. There were other quality pups in the litter, but being still a novice made it difficult to find appropriate show homes for all candidates. This bitch also had great showmanship that facilitated her finishing quickly. However, because of a uterine infection, this bitch was spayed and the Rowanglen legacy would not continue with her.
b) Linebreeding: I did two linebreedings. When bred to Ch. Delamantha's Desiderata Dance, a cousin of sorts, the breeding resulted in Ch. Rowanglen's Miranda. From this bitch, Rowanglen gained exquisite eyes and expression. This bitch is still found in pedigrees of breedings done today. At another time Dusty was bred to her grandson, Rowanglen's Mirandason who produced Ch. Rowanglen's Welcome Lyric CD. This little 13½" bitch and multiple Puppy Group winner was one of the few Rowanglen puppies to finish her title as a puppy.
c) Inbreeding: The greatest influence to the Rowanglen line resulted from inbreeding Dusty, who herself is inbred on "Desiderata", to another of the latter's sons, Delamantha's Desideratason. This combination resulted in Dusty's only male champion, Ch. Rowanglen's Welcome To Destiny CD, as well as two other bitches that are still found in current Rowanglen pedigrees. These are Ch. Rowanglen's Cassandra, who contributed the most to current Rowanglen dogs, and Ch. Rowanglen's Gentility CD ROMC. These bitches were very prepotent to produce quality.

The Legacy: Dusty died at the age of 12 of cancer. Her legacy continues today in one of Rowanglen's most perfect shelties, Ch. Rowanglen Sir Lancelot. His pedigree boasts 7 times Ch. Rowanglen's Dearest Welcome CD ROMC, and 45 times BIS BISS Am./Can. Ch. Delamantha's Desiderata. He is prepotent to influence the sheltie breed in a positive way and to give the breed back those qualities which are almost lost, namely superior front alignments with exceptional shoulder layback and deep chest, and superior rear assemblies with real croups and long low tail sets. All you need to do now is to make it part of your heritage, too.

View Dusty's Champion Offspring:
1) Ch. Rowanglen's Little Duster CD (bitch)
2) Ch. Rowanglen's Welcome To Destiny CD (dog)
3) Ch. Rowanglen's Gentility CD ROMC (bitch)
4) Ch. Rowanglen's Casandra (bitch)
5) Ch. Rowanglen's Miranda (bitch)
6) Ch. Rowanglen's Welcome Lyric CD (bitch)

View Dusty's Pedigree