Do your research before buying a puppy!
Please check with the Department of Agriculture - Kansas & ask for a copy of Inspection Reports before buying from this (or any) breeder! NSB breeding between 73 - 115 adult dogs w/ up to 68 puppies at a time.
We were sold a very, very sick puppy. First of all, she had fleas (we didn't notice it when we picked her up but we noticed it that evening. She was constantly scratching...she scratched the entire 4 hour car ride home). Secondly, she had Giardia & Roundworm which took two different vets to diagnose & almost 4 months to treat. It also took us about 4 months to potty train her & I'm certain it was because she had constant diarrhea that entire time. (We know how to potty train dogs-our last two (from shelters - not a breeder), took us two weeks to potty train...they were healthy & did NOT have any parasites or worms. Anyway, because of the Giardia & Roundworm, she had non-stop diarrhea & she coughed for approx. 3 1/2 months. She was so sick, every day I thought she was going to die. I read that roundworm gets into their lungs and tissues & you can never get rid of it completely once they've had it & they can be passed on to puppies.
This was the first time I had ever purchased a dog from a breeder & I didn't know what to look for. She had a very dry, dull coat, a very large potbelly & her eyes were gray (I did think that was strange because I had never seen a dog with gray eyes). Her eyes are now a golden yellow so I am guessing that gray eyes are a sign of a very sick dog. She was also very itchy & scratched all of the time...24/7...for about six months...long after the fleas were treated. Maybe it was the parasites / worms, maybe it was due to something else...I don't know & I never got an answer from a vet nor could we find anything to relieve her itchiness during that time. It got better after treating the Roundworm & Giardia but to this day, she still has itchiness & allergy issues. I think at this point, it's going to be a lifelong problem. We felt so bad for her, she was absolutely miserable & it's sad to see that this breeder did not take better care of her & was willing to sell someone a sick puppy for a large amount of money. I guess that's more important than the health of the puppy..very sad & disgusting.
We spent over $1,000 on vet bills, medications, etc. The breeder refused to reimburse us for any part of it! Clearly, they do not stand by the health or quality of the dogs they sell..that says a lot. They did offer us a refund of the purchase price if we brought her back but we could not in good conscience take her back to them.
I have done quite a bit of investigating this breeder (which should have been the first thing I did) & I found quite a bit of complaints about this breeder on the internet. One place was - Companion Animal Protection Society of Kansas - facebook. If you scroll down their page, you will periodically find a complaint about Nightshade Border Collies including the following: BUTLER COUNTY, KANSAS PUPPY MILL! On 1/5/22, NIGHTSHADES Border Collies (owned by Amy G. and Merry Lou G.) was inspected by Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) as the result of a complaint.
I then contacted the Kansas Department of Ag. & they sent me 31 pages of Inspection Reports from 02/2020 - 11/08/2023...I could only go back to February of 2020 (I don't know how many there are prior to or after that). They did an Animal Inventory each time & some of the counts are as follows: 112 Adult Dogs / 45 Puppies * 115 Adult Dogs / 21 Puppies * 96 Adult Dogs / 49 Puppies * 71 Adult Dogs / 68 Puppies, etc.. How can you be a quality breeder with that many dogs?
This also appears to be a family business & between at least three people, they operate under several different names in Douglass and Rock Kansas? I have found Nightshades Border Collies * Amy's Puppy Barn * Feel the Force Border Collies * Merry Lou's Puppy House * Dennis G. Other possible names - Firestorm (there is something on Facebook that said that Firestorm was shut down by the dept. of Agriculture...just google Firestorm and Nightshades or their real names) * Rising Phoenix Border Collies (google this as well...something comes up from the Chamber of Commerce w/ their address in Douglass KS) * Prairie Wind Border Collies (this is either them or another family member also located in Douglass KS).
The complaint stated, "there is sick & skinny dogs at the property, dogs are living in feces, have frozen water, no food & overcrowding in pens". The KDA inspector indicated the complaint was founded & NIGHTSHADES received an "unsatisfactory" inspection result. The inspector listed a dog, Molly who was very thin, had green matter in both eyes & was coughing. Inspector instructed G. to provide vet care within 24 hours.
Other violations included buildup of feces in whelping area & outside pens, expired vet care form & frozen water. # - 73 Adults / 5 Puppies