The affix ” Larcarea” is formed by the combination of my name and the Castilian word ” Carea” which means sheepdog. The kennel was originally founded in 2007 when I bred my first Border Collie litter.
I have always been passionated about dogs, and as a kid I wanted above all to have one. I read everything dog-related I could get my hands on, I knew every dog from neighbourhood and even tried to rescue some dogs! We used to visit the Madrid Spring & Autumn shows and attend dog activities with my family. One day my mother showed up at home with a lovely Dalmatian puppy, with whom the family learnt how to care for a dog!
There was a certain breed, often featured in English language movies, that powerfully drew my attention. But I couldn´t find them anywhere because back then the breed was unknown in Spain even for most of dog people. It was the first time I had chance to use the internet when I finally found the Border Collies!.. and once I knew the name, it was possible to find them at Madrid autumn show 1998, where a Belgian breeder was showing a beautiful brace. Shortly after I knew about Lord ( Ch. Beagold Douglas ) through the magazines, I though he was the most amazing dog ever. Lord was conformation champion and very well known in the agility world, imported from the UK by Nicolás Garrido, my first mentor in the breed.
The breed was really scarce and finding puppies was not easy, there was a working line breeder, and a couple of Collie breeders who had recenty imported show line Borders, one of whom announced a litter with a Lord´s half brother. I called to request information and pictures from the only female of the litter. When the pictures arrived by snail post, me and my family thought she was the cuttest puppy ever! Nicolás was on vacations nearby and offered to pick up the puppy and bring her to Madrid, so we finally met him and his dogs. I remember that day as one of the happiest in my life. After a few months I started training obedience with Fly at his agility club.. and it turned out it was not that far from our home!
Fly was a once-in-a-lifetime-dog, she got the true breed temperament and herding instinct, she was a quick learner and would have done an earstand if such thing were possible. When she wasn´t training obedience or agility, she entertained herself herding my friends and our cats. We had some success at the agility competitions, but at some point we decided to limit her physical activity since she was diagnosed with a renal disease. This is also the reason why she never had offspring. Nevertheless she lived a long and healthy life and left when I was in my middle 20´s, Fly taught me a lot about the breed. We also attended conformation shows when later I became interested in the show rings.
During those years I kept learning more about the breed, doing research of dogs all over the world. I managed to visit some shows in UK during the summers and the European dog show in Barcelona 2004. The internet was a very useful tool to find breeders websites, databases and forums. Once I found the type of Border Collies that in my opinion represented the standard in the best possible way, with sound character and health tests, I decided to contact those breeders. It was not easy for a teenager of no breeder family background to be sold dogs, but between 2004 and 2007 I imported one male and two females from Germany, Portugal and Mexico as foundation stock, you can read their individual stories at their own pages. They were quite successful in the shows, always handled by me, with limited showing, and without marketing. They were the first Border Collies of Australasian line in Spain, and first ones of their breed to win group placements in the country.
My dogs were mostly known in the show rings, but they were also obedience/ agility trained (although not prepared for competitive level). Star and Geo volunteered as theraphy dogs for obesity and neurodiversity associations too. Border Collies need to be mentally stimulated and that is why the breed is not suitable for everyone.
** Larcarea ** 