History of DeHaro' Kelpies: The Story Of Ti (High Tide)

Caesar was perhaps one of the first Kelpies to gain some notoriety at that time. Ti had several crosses to Caesar in the first 4 generations, on his dam’s side. On his sire’s side he went back to the Scanlon blood, backed by some of the most outstanding dogs in Australia. These dogs were imported by Jim Faught in Texas. In the 4th generation, all eight of the dogs are Karrawarra on the dam’s side, and on the sire’s side, there are such dogs at Port Patrick Taj, Scanlon’s Butch, and Montana Flicka, all dogs mentioned as sire’s and dams of note in the literature available on the subject. Other studs are equally as well-known – Bullenbong, Kalari, and Humevale.

Later, as we became better acquainted with Tony and Jack, we focused on concentrating the Karrawarra genetic material, through linebreeding and selection of outstanding dogs within that bloodline. So, it is that today we hold perhaps the greatest concentration of that blood in the US. In the twenty-five years that we have been breeding Kelpies, we have had the opportunity to view hundreds of dogs, both here in the US and in Australia, and study many pedigrees. It is my opinion that the Karrawarra dogs exemplify the best that the breed has to offer. I’m going to make some generalizations here, and I’m absolutely positive that there are exceptions, both within the Karrawarra bloodlines and outside of them, in other bloodlines, i.e. “studs”, that have achieved success. Karrawarra dogs are the result of fifty plus years of selective breeding, and as such, they tend to produce dogs that are:

1.Well-built, attractive dogs, with solid bone and a bit more leg.
2.Intense, instinctual, natural workers, with good cast and cover.
3.Possessing a cool, calm temperament, with trainability and thinking ability.
4.Good honest character and a steady mind.

Ti proved this out in his years as a breeding stud dog. He was bred pretty consistently for about six years, from the time he was two years old, until he was eleven. We used him on the bitches we acquired or bred, and on numerous outside bitches as well. We consider his career as successful because he produced offspring that were stamped with his good qualities, not only on bitches of excellent quality, but also on bitches that were of mediocre breeding and talent. In my mind, that is the mark of a foundation sire. That he could pass on his good traits, and improve on the next generation. Our breeding program over the years has been based on carrying on the Karrawarra strain of Kelpies by trying always to reproduce that excellence we found in Ti. He has become the standard by which all other dogs are judged.

In a little book we found in 1995, that was sent to us by a gun dog breeder, called New Guide to Breeding Old Fashioned Working Dogs, by Guy G. Ormiston, in it we found the language that described what we were trying to accomplish. In a section called The King Ranch Method, is his interpretation of how the King Ranch