Northern California Bearded Collie Fanciers
30-Year History

By Mary Edner

The SVBCF (NCBCF) was formed in May, 1978. Its first function was the Beardie Bounce In, the first event of its kind which became an annual event. This group held regular meetings, presented numerous fun matches and various activities where Beardies and their people got together, supported the Sacramento Council of Dog Clubs and established a Newsletter, the “Beardie Bounce”.

From 1980 the SVBCF participated in Supported Entries of the Sacramento Kennel Club shows. On very short notice this club accepted the responsibility for hosting the BCCA National Specialty Event, the first National Specialty on the west coast. It was held on July 28th and 29th, 1982 and was very successful.

On August 7th, 1983, the SVBCF sponsored the first Herding Seminar and Herding Instinct Test for Bearded Collies and was open to all Herding Breeds. Five Bearded Collies participated and earned Herding Certificates. March 17th, 1984 at the second Herding Instinct Test, 18 Beardies were entered and 10 passed. The Herding Instinct Tests have also become annual events.

Our membership continued to grow and encompass a large geographical area and since we were following procedures to be sanctioned by AKC to have Point Shows, it became necessary to change our club name to Northern California Bearded Collie Fanciers. We fulfilled the requirements and held our first Regional Specialty Show associated with the Del Valle Kennel Club All Breed Show. The Del Valle KC changed the date of its show so the following year we had our Specialty in conjunction with the Chief Solano KC All Breed Show. In 2001, we decided to have a “Stand Alone” show at the Dixon Fairgrounds and since many of our members were active in Agility, Herding, Obedience and Conformation it was decided to have all venues included in our Regional Specialty. This has been the permanent format and the NCBCF has become the Specialty “Where We Do It All”. It has been, and continues to be a fascinating journey.