In the mid '70s, I had the pleasure of metting and forming a lasting friendship with Bobbie Fairbanks, the mistress of Azalea Hill Collies. I lived in Charleston, South Carolina and Bobbie lives in Greenville, up in the Piedmont, where there actually is somewhat of a winter. In fact, I clearly remember going up to the Greenville shows one February and getting snowed in at Bobbie's place. A lot of judges didn't make it in, but we got to the show site!

Bobbie and her husband, Richmond, always make visitors feel at home. If you are lucky enough to stop by Azalea Hill anytime from March through June, you will be overwhelmed with the beauty of Richmond's azaleas and the delicious food that Bobbie whips up on short notice. The dogs are part of the household, and each will be introduced by Bobbie. They all want their share of the visitor's attention and are happy to demonstrate their skills.

The front yard is all fenced off from the street. There Bobbie has some of her training equipment. The backyard, which stretches way down into the woods, is fenced off in two separate sections. Puppies can be kept close to the house on a lovely patio right off the glassed-in sunroom. The air-conditioned garage is converted into a kennel and grooming area, where the dogs can be penned individually or in small groups to rest in the afternoons and keep cool in the summer.

Beau takes the bar jump		Love working sheep
Dreamer at the lift		Aladar goes over the wing jump

When Bobbie decided she wanted to get started in showing dogs, she researched Collies for about two years before she got her first dog. He became Ch Shadow Hill Stormy Sea CDX. Bobbie really enjoyed showing him and training him, and he was her first learning experience in the world of show dogs. Shadow went on to become a multiple specialty and Group 1 winner (in the time when Collies were still in the Working Group) and was ranked #3 the year he was primarily campaigned.

Legacy and Love on the patio at Azalea Hill

Most of Bobbie's efforts over the next several years were on conformation showing. She purchased Hanover's Love Song, a lovely Hanover Collie as her foundation bitch and produced several champions by breeding her to Ch Two Jay's Hanover Enterprise ROM. Ch Azalea Hill's Mr Christopher was a "Prise" son who was ranked consistently and also produced well for Bobbie. By combining what she liked from the Hanover line with Tartanside, Bobbie developed the Azalea Hill look and wonderful outgoing temperament. She has bred or woned over 50 Rough champions, many of whom she put CD titles on as well.

Bobbie bred her Love Song daughter, Ch Azalea Hill's Marianne to Ch Tartanside the Gladiator ROM to produce Ch Azalea Hill's Top Man, probably one of her top-winning dogs. Top Man went Best of Breed at the CC of A in 1980. In addition to Top Man, Bobbie also bred another #1 ranked Collie, Ch Azalea Hill's Canebrake Cameo, as well as several all-breed Best in Show winners.

Ch Azalea Hill's Top Man

Though she had always admired people who trained their collies in performance, she didn't think about it as a regular activity until after Top Man won the CC of A. Then she rushed out and got his CD in a few months so that it would show up on his title and "would indicate that he was smart as well as handsome." Bobbie feels the complete Collie is a combination of intelligence, personality , and appearance.

Bobbie and Richmond have always made their Collies members of the family, not just kennel dogs. EAch dog gets to come in the house on a rotating basis. They love to greet visitors, and participate in the family activities. Bobbie has always felt that just because they finished their championships, that did not mean that they were set aside.

During the mid '90s, Bobbie started hearing a lot about the newly recognized sport of agility, and also some of her friends suggested herding might be fun. She says she became more interested in performance events because "(1) I admired the people who worked with their dogs and (2) the dogs seemed to love it and thrived on the attention and having a task to do." She also made the comment that it seemed to her at the time that a lot of breed people sort of looked down on the working Collies. As if saying "Oh, that's an obedience dog, etc".

Beau on the A-frame

Even though the Azalea Hill breeding program had always been very limited, no more than a litter every few years, Bobbie decided to limit breeding even further and see what she could do in performance with the dogs she had. She started working with Ch Azalea Hill's Aladar, and put his CD on him in 1998.

At the same time she was delving into agility. Agility was just starting to take off and it looked like a lot of fun. Several poeple she know had equipment and she could get Aladar to do the various things such as the dog walk and the A-frame, but they couldn't seem to put a good run together. Finally, Nancy Parker introduced Bobbie to Maureen Robinson in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Maureen was a top competitor and she started shwoing Bobbie how to put runs together. Bobbie says she wasted a lot of time not going to a qualified instructor in the first place. She recommends that someone who is interested in competing in agility should take instructions from someone who competes. Her analogy was that you should get a show dog from someone who is successful at showing in the breed ring. Aladar earned his Novice Agility title in 1998.

Ch Azalea Hill's Alycin HT and Ch Azalea Hill's Angela HT Best Brace at the 2001 CCA National

By now Bobbie had heard about the CC of A Versatility Program, and she htought it would be really wonderful to have a dogs qualify for the Versatility Award at the National. Although she had watched the instinct tests at previous CC of A Nationals, she knew nothing about herding. Bobbie contacted Donna Rothenberger in North Carolina, and Donna put her on the right track, introduced her to herding and let her come up to her place (a four-hour drive) to work Donna's sheep. Bobbie feels that she cannot thank Donna enough for getting her started in herding. At the CC of A in Springfield in 1999, Aladar and Bobbie, with much encouragement from their fans, qualified in both runs to earn the HT and Bobbie's first Versatility Award. Aladar was 7 1/2 years old at the time, proving it's never too late to start.

Meanwhile, Ch Azalea Hill's Barksdale Beau was also working on obedience and agility, having earned his CD, NA and NAJ. Bobbie got going with Beau and Ch Azalea Hill's Orion CD so that both of these boys earned their HT titles. So, in 2003 she was awarded two more VA certificates.

Bobbie and Orion

Bobbie feels that all the work Judy and Jim Smotrel have put into the Versitility program has really encouraged Collie exhibitors to do more things with their dogs. The push to earn the VA or VX certificates gets more and more poeple involved with their Collies in performance events, and provides tangible evidence that these dogs have accomplished many different activities.

At the CC of A in Louisville in 2001, Ch Azalea Hill's Barksdale Beau CD HT NA NAJ qualified 3rd in agility. His two tri daughters won the Shotwell trophy for best brace in a very competitive brace class of nine entries. One of these tri girls, Ch Azalea Hill's Alycin, qualified in herding and another tri sister, Ch Azalea Hill's Dark Dreamer also qualified in herding. Since then, the other half of the brace, Ch Azalea Hill's Angela, also earned her HT. Thus both she and Alycin were awarded the VA this year in Springfield. Bobbie says it is a tremendous thrill for her to have these CCA brace class winners show that they can also be performance award winners.

Bobbie summed up her experience at present with her versitile Collies by saying that she plans on continuing to work with her dogs in all these activities as long as she is able. Ch Azalea Hill's Chubasco already has his PT, and brother, Ch Azalea Hill's Bradford has one leg towards his HT. Aladar's young daughter, Azalea HIll's All My Love is working on her HT along with obedience and some agility. Bobbie says "It keeps me moving and the dogs love it!"

I hope I can keep up with Bobbie and keep going with herding and start agility. There is so much more i want to do with my dogs in the years ahead.