The Coltriever is a hybrid/designer dog resulting from the combination of quality adults. A Coltriever comes from crossing a Border Collie with a Golden Retriever. It is also acceptable to have English Shepherd in the blood line (In recent years, DNA for English Shepherd and Border Collie came back as so kindred to Border Collies that results would come back as B. Collie/ E. Shepherd in origin). 

 

When you get to know this breed and talk to the families who know and love them, you will be struck with their versatility, brains, stamina, beauty and compassion. They also have an uncanny ability to think and problem solve independently making them a valuable companion, competitor, therapy, or service dog.

 

The Coltriever will have a Golden Retriever shaped head and muzzle.  They are usually black with white points but occasionally we have other colored pups. They have a double coat that can stand harsher climates and water. They can be a muddy mess and when they dry off and shake the dried dirt off, they look slick and shiny again. Coltrievers will blow their coats in the spring and in the fall. The rest of the year they shed about the same amount that a Border Collie does. 

 

These adorable little balls of joy have been gently home-raised in a clean environment. All our pups are born in our home and graduate to our nursery when old enough and then to a bigger area with plenty of room romp and wrestle and have time with older pack members for socialization. From birth we do Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) and age appropriate desensitizing to get them ready for service and therapy work as well as being a stable family companion.

 

 

What Makes up a Crooked Rooster Farm Coltriever

From the name Coltriever, you may assume that a Coltriever is equal percentages of Golden Retriever and Border Collie - and/or English Shepherd. But that is actually not the case for a Crooked Rooster Coltriever. Instead, we’ve found that as we breed for health, temperament, longevity, confirmation (structure and appearance), coat, and size, the percentage of your puppy will vary. To maintain the integrity of the breed we have worked with geneticists as well.

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We have carefully and intentionally honed our lines over the last 36 years to create consistent and reliable offspring. Each breeding pair is chosen specifically to produce puppies that will have a good combination of strengths from each parent. As a result, our intentionality produces an even temperament mix throughout the litter. We continue to learn in this journey but we have seen remarkable positive results over 12+ generations of Coltrievers.

 

All About our Golden Retrievers

The best way to describe our Golden Retrievers is that that are beautiful, easy-going, loving, happy all the time marshmallows that come from long living champion lines dating back to the 70’s and 80’s.

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They are very biddable (easy to train), gentle with children, quiet, with not over the top energy. The Golden Retrievers are usually the first to greet those that come to the farm and will often come and lay down next to visiting children to get a belly rub and give some hugs and love.

 

All About our Border Collies

Like our Goldens, Crooked Rooster Farm Border Collies come from long-established lines. Our Border Collie’s are old style working ABCA lines in origin. This means that they can be couch potatoes in the house and then focus and pay attention when outside. They love to cuddle and are not crazy headed with idiosyncrasies that cause them to be obsessive.

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They have both the ability to entertain themselves or choose to come and hang out with you. Our Border Collies are medium sized, which means that females tend to weigh between 30 and 40 pounds, and males 50 to 55 pounds.
 

All About our English Shepherds
Bringing English Shepherd into the lines has been planned for a long time and we are very happy about what our English Shepherds have brought into the Coltriever mix. Our families are totally in love with these sweet, loving, kind, intelligent pups. Our lines with English Shepherd in them have quickly become farm favorites with all the staff, volunteers and their new adoptive families.

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Don't let the word "shepherd" throw you. Unrelated to German Shepherds, English Shepherds were brought over from England by colonists and come from the same original lines as border collies BUT were bred over the years to be more golden retriever-like in temperament. The colonists needed dogs for their farms that were more easy-going, more versatile and more all-around guardians who didn't need a herding job all the time like border collies. Hence, the English Shepherd lines developed. Here is a great overview of their history - https://englishshepherd.org/es-breed-history/

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Our English Shepherds are slightly larger boned than our border collies but are similar in size.