Early in 2026, we saw an ad for scotch collie puppies on an Amish farm about an hour from us. Jack was getting pretty old and we were wanting to have puppies out of Annie, so we decided to check out the ad.
Four rolly polly darling puppies were there to greet us! The mother was very friendly and seemed to have no problem with us handling her babies, except that she wanted attention too! The owners were very helpful, and we got to meet the sire of the puppies, who lived just down the road. What a gorgeous boy! The puppy I was interested in was a male with a full white ruff around his neck, which I loved. He was also super sweet and cuddly. We didn’t commit to buying a puppy for sure just then, but it’s hard to say no to a sweet bundle of fur that snuggles up to you. Less than a week later we decided to buy him and bring him home!
I named him Kipton, Kip for short. He acclimated very well to his new home and got along good with our dogs right from the start. Annie especially, played mother to him and snuggled him alot during those first few weeks. We loved to watch him following her around the yard with toddling steps.
As a puppy, Kip was obviously too young for working on the farm but I would take him with me when I was working with our animals and let him watch. He was interested in all the animals, especially the chickens, but aside from a few incidents (as expected) he was good about leaving them alone when they weren’t causing any problems.
Kip also loved people and was always watching us work and trying to help. When he was about four months old, I taught him how to track the kids around the farm. He loved finding them in their hiding places! I wanted to wait till he was a little older before teaching him to do too much herding of the animals, but made sure to let him watch Annie working. Scotch Collies learn an incredible amount of things just by observing people and dogs working around them and Kip was no exception.
Kip is currently one year old now and though still having a somewhat puppy-ish personality at times, he has become a great help around the farm. He loves to catch mice around the barn and has been one of our most consistent dogs at keeping the chickens out of the yard. He still keeps an eye on everything we’re doing and lets us know if he thinks it dangerous. He likes to tease the cats occasionally and cuddles with them in the sun too. We are really excited to have puppies between Kip and Annie and are looking forward to seeing the crossing of their personalities in their offspring!
