Stay far far away! Inbreeding, deformity, disease, no socialization, and unethical breeding. To start off its a well run puppy mill. If one person is producing hundreds of puppies in a year its a puppy mill. She's had over 150 puppies at one time. She has over 30 adult collies listed as breeders on her site and also breeds shollies which she doesn't list but regularly has litters available all from different parents including shepherds and shollies. The woman has over 30 AKC collies, unknown numbers of shepherds and shollies all breeding. All living outside. You don't own 40 dogs that live outside and say they're pets. They're for breeding and money making not loving. The puppies grow up outside on wood chips. Not in a home and not properly socialized at all. Anyone can buy a dog for breeding if they are willing to pay. She's produced eyeless double merles because either she doesn't care or is so ignorant to correct breeding that she created deformed doomed to death puppies by doing this and then tried to sell the deformed offspring. (search if thy collie eye offends -border wars to learn about this) She constantly has puppies returned because they have aggression and have fear issues from poor breeding or no socialization. Her latest offense was trying to re-home a puppy returned by a family after a week or so who said he's fearful and aggressive. (Named Shiloh who was listed in her adult collie rescue tab on her website with his situation) She herself listed that he was going to need someone willing to work with him and his issues. No one wanted the puppy and after having him for too long she decided that he should become a breeder! He's now listed on her breeding page. (A smooth tricolor male under the name Shiloh) Who wouldn't put a dog displaying this temperament in a breeding program! This is just another example of the poor breeding Stirling Collies practices. There are countless reviews about people buying unsocialized puppies from them, puppies with health issues, and puppies that didn't live long. The list goes on and on. She's hurting the breed, hurting families, and hurting dogs. The greatest thing for the breed would be if she got out of breeding. There are so many reputable breeders out there who do right by the dog and don't charge thousands of dollars a puppy. Do the kind thing and get a pet from them not this horrible place. read more

We adopted Dylan (parents, Willow & Mama), our Collie/Shepherd mix in June of 2004. As of today, he is 15 years, 9 months old and has been the most wonderful dog we could ever have asked for! We are sadly in our waning days with Dylan, which breaks our heart, so I decided to look up Stirling Collies to see if they were still raising Collies in the event that we choose to adopt another dog one day. I'm surprised at some of the reviews because they don't match our experience with Stirling Collies or our experience with our Dylan at all. We felt the process of adoption was extremely organized and smooth and that the Stirlings were very knowledgeable and cared very much about their puppies. We learned a great deal about Collies, as we'd never had the pleasure of having a dog of this breed before, and we credit the very thoughtful information sent home with us about Dylan after his adoption. Dylan has been extremely gentle and loving. We became parents about three years after adopting Dylan, and he has always been gentle, loving and protective of our son. We have never, not once, had any occasion to worry about the two of them spending time together. Even when our son was a toddler and not as gentle as he should have been, Dylan was calm and gentle. When Dylan was a puppy, he was rather high-strung, as we expected, but a few weeks of puppy school and neutering was all it took for his behavior to become managed easily. He did extremely well in puppy school and was referred to by the instructor as one of the smartest pups in the class. We're heartbroken that we're nearing the end of our days with our sweet boy. We decided to research Stirling Collies nearly 16 years later, so that we might consider adopting one of Dylan's nephews down the road. Being able to be pet parents again to a dog as sweet, wonderful and kind as our dear old boy would be a privilege. I just wanted to leave our long-overdue review of our experience as an adoptive family. read more

These days, it seems people tend to focus, or look at the negative side of things. Not today. I would like to share my feelings about Stirling Collies, from Clearwater, MN. The Stirling's are a great family, great family values and a strong Christian faith. If you look at the Stirling's website, you will see that it has bible verses on every page. I love that!! I truly appreciate how they are not hiding their faith or their love for the Lord! The Stirling's recently lost their special needs daughter. She was beautiful, and had a smile that could melt the coldest heart. The Stirling's cared for their daughter in their own home, rather than putting her in an institution somewhere. I commend them for that!! The animals at Stirling's are quality animals, and Stirling's stand by their animals. They keep in contact, making sure things are going well, and that you're happy with your dog, or pup. If something happens, and you can no longer care for or want your dog or pup, Stirling's will take the animal back, and if needed, find another home for your animal. Stirling's NEVER recommend taking your animal to a shelter, or having it put down. They believe every dog deserves a good, loving home! Even when it comes to a special needs animal. Stirling's DO NOT euthanize any animal because it may have special needs. The animals are treated as family, and, Stirling's believe in the value of life, be it human or animal !!! If more breeders cared for their animals like they do at Stirling's, I think there would be a lot less dogs at the shelters, looking for a home, because their humans didn't think they were good enough, or, the animal just isn't quite right!! I have gotten a few animals from Stirling's over the past 20 years. Puppy as well as dog. I love them all, and will not own another collie unless it comes from Stirling's. I like that they breed to improve the breed, not just breed for puppies!! read more

In response to Lilly S.: I don't know who Lilly S. is, but... FYI, I posted the reviews on my collie website that weren't showing up on Yelp, only after they were posted on Yelp and then removed as valid. Those reviews were from some of my puppy families that took the time to write a review and they were not accepted, only after I decided to not advertise with them each month. They adopted puppies from me and wrote a TRUE review - any of them could be contacted, if interested. Since Yelp is biased unless I pay about $450. a month to advertise on them, they didn't post them (these "good reviews" were showing until I said I didn't want to advertise through Yelp - (call it a coincidence?), they were then hidden from the normal page of reviews, so you have to find the link to look for the ones that were "not accepted", which takes time to find. After this happened, I decided to post them on my own website for other families to see the truth. I NEVER asked anyone to increase their star rating of me, nor wrote reviews from my computer pretending to be a puppy family, what a joke. I can't believe that people write such garbage and some actually believe it without ever visiting our facility, talking with me, or with my puppy families. I'm always available, just call, or email. I have been raising collies for over 20 years, and strive for healthy collies, with akc conformation guidelines in both smooth and rough coats. read more

Two and a half years ago I purchased an 8 week old collie puppy, Allie, from Diane Stirling owner of Stirling Collies. Allie is by far the most beautiful, most well behaved, most loving dog that I have ever owned, and I am almost 70 years old and have had dogs my whole life, including several other collies. Two months ago we took her to a 950 acre dog friendly nature preserve/ resort in central Texas where we hiked about 10 miles a day for three days. Allie had a blast and the staff at the resort went crazy over her. Several of the staff members told me that she was the prettiest and most well behaved dog to visit the resort since they had been working there. Our veterinarian has told me that of all his collie patients she is the most perfect example both in looks and temperament of what a collie should be. Allie goes with me almost everywhere I go, when it is not to hot, and strangers are always coming up to me remarking about what a beautiful dog she is and wanting to pet her. Allie is certainly a testament to the wonderful breeding program at Stirling Collies. Some people think I am crazy to have driven all the way from South Texas to Minnesota just to by a puppy, but I tell them that for a dog like this I wouldn't hesitate to drive twice that far. read more

Our families experience with STIRLING COLLIES was outstanding. We searched for a smooth coat collie for almost a year and had almost given up, then we found a puppy (4 monthes) that foot the bill to a tee. Merlin is a blue merle which was my wife color choice. .He won our family over and settled in as a loved member. We had rescue collies before when our children were small and new when grandchildren started coming that only a collie would do. He is very protective and a real nanny. Merlin alerts us to everything related to the grandchildren and is better than a monitor. I can only say that the quality and nature of the puppy we got almost a year ago we see daily. Merlin's loving nature, trainability and natural herding instincts continues to amaze my family. Our youngest son got two bassett hounds a couple of years ago and was having a very hard time teaching them basic commands and walking them was a chore, He asked if he could attach each then both to merlin as we walked him. First separatly- then together they began walking with merlin and both became a pleasure to lead. Merlin is 26 inches tall and 70 lbs at 15 months and truly a remarkable member of our family.Merlin is the product of breeding and care- I recommend STIRLING COLLIES read more

My cousin and his wife bought their first dog from stirling collies. He is now a five year old rough coated collie and is very healthy. They bought their second dog from them who is a shollie (german shepherd collie mix) and she is now three. She is also very healthy, and neither of them show any signs of illness. They have been incredible companions to everyone in the family and get along with the other four dogs we have. I got my first dog in march from stirling collie and she has been a dream. Other than the vets concerns about her teeth (which she grew into and there was no real issue) she has been very healthy as well. Diane was incredible to work with as well. She was very understanding about me being concerned with how expensive things got and she worked with me to make me feel more comfortable. She was also very flexible about me coming down to pick up my pup, making sure it lined up with my break from school. I will forever recommend stirling collies to anyone who asks. They're dogs are amazing and the breeders really care about what they are doing. read more

This set of reviews seems odd to me. No one would buy a dog without a nose. No one would offer one. Diane has many fans and many beautiful dogs. Dogs like people are individuals and owners also need to be aware of what they give to dogs that can cause brain damage . .like flea meds, and heart guard, collies and shepherds are more sensitive to these products. Also Dogs like children need a lot of time with the owner to become good citizens. If you check below all the complaints, you will see many happy owners write in and defend Diane on all sites. You will also note that Diane offers to take dogs back if you are unhappy. She wants the dog to have a happy home and the owner to have a happy dog. Since dogs and people are individual and can come with types of temperaments I wonder why the individuals did not take Diane up on her offer to take back the dog? I will be buying from Diane read more

As you can see I gave 5 stars to Diane at Stirling Collies... The reason being is I adopted/purchased Jacob from Diane at Stirling Collies from her litter of 1/28/11 and Jacob is the best dog ever. Jacob is a big boy, but a gentle giant. Diane helped me pick Jacob out based on my needs and wants. Jacob is such a good loving boy. He is always full of love. He never leaves my side and he gives kisses all the time. You can tell she spends time with her puppies because he was so social and well adjusted even as a puppy. Jacob gets along well with my Akitas and my cats. He loves to eat! My profile photo is me and Jacob. He is a healthy boy as you can see. He is neutered and a very happy doggie. I am always told by others that they love and want to have a dog like Jacob because he is so sweet and well mannered. Thank you Diane for approving me to give Jacob a loving home... read more

We got a sweet Sholly (Collie/Shepard mix) from Stirling Collies and couldn't be happier! I appreciate Diane's care and patience with my many questions and concerns. I read some negative reviews (which look to me from a very disgruntled individual posting several negative views). This I find very sad as I have nothing but good things to say about our wonderful new puppy! I also appreciate all the education and natural products for our new dog. We will actually be saving by going with the Life's Abundance Dog Food and NuVet supplement. We also purchased the Pet Protector tag and will post later our review on this item as it takes time to kick in. Overall, we are very blessed and happy with our new puppy and would HIGHLY recommend anyone to get their new family member from this breeder. read more

We have been so pleased with every interaction with Diane and Rick Stirling. They care for their dogs and for their customers. The finest dog we have ever owned in thirty years came to our family because of Diane and Rick - and only recently, we learned that a close friend (whose collie we adore) also found their collie from Diane. While our dog was delivered to our home by Rick and Diane personally (A MAZ ING), our friend had visited them in MN and toured their site . She could not say enough about the way the grounds were kept and the clear evidence of how the dogs were cared for. If you are looking for a collie to join your family, I encourage you to trust Stirling Collies! read more

We adopted one of Stella and Willow's pups from a rescue (because she was deaf, they dumped the pups at a rescue) . She's a sweet dog to humans but has so much fear and aggression in her. She started the fights with our other dogs a week after we adopted her. She got no socialization in her first 15 weeks. None! She can't go out in public without shaking out of her own skin. This place plays mad scientist with their collies so they can get as much money as they can. And I'm guessing they get no attention. Beware. read more

Stirling Collies is an awesome breeder and Pet adoption business. We drove 2000 miles round trip to pick our collie, visit the farm and Diane Stirling. Diane is one of the most loving, caring people you could ever be lucky enough to meet. We purchased a female rough collie from Diane and Pepper is a wonderful family member now. She loves our granddaughter and can't get enough love from visitor's to our home. We couldn't be more happy with our collie and Diane Stirling. read more

Lacey came to live with us in Nov.2020. She's great with other dogs, kids , people. She & I have been thru puppy class, beyond puppy, advanced and therapy. Currently Lacey is is a ITD registered therapy and tail-waggin tutor reading program in our community at 2 yrs.old. She is a beautiful gentle collie advocate. Once she trusts she is all loving affection, if not she is submissive watchful & more reserved. Thankyou Diane for our wonderful working collie! read more

What a fun experience I had at Stirling Collies. Diane was a wonderful person to talk too. She was very knowledgeable about her collies/shollies. Every question I asked, she answered in great detail. Diane believes in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and I can tell He helps her raise these beautiful dogs. She really puts the Lords work into raising these amazing, wonderful dogs. Overall, it was an amazing experience, something i'll never forget. Thank you, Diane! read more

I got a puppy from diane stirling and he is the best puppy ever. He's extremely intelligent and sweet. It is a huge blessing to our family. She was very kind and helpful. She was personable and easy going. This dog knocks my socks off with how much he learned and how easy to train he was from the moment we brought him home. I would definitely buy another collie from the Stirlings. I love my lassie hes amazing read more

We purchased a female tricolor rough collie from Stirling Collies. My son named her Bella and she has been a beautiful, loving addition to our family. I spent quite some time looking for a breeder that I felt I could trust - our experience with Diane & Stirling Collies was excellent. Diane was a warm and caring person and we are so happy with our Bella. read more

Over the last 20 years we have purchased several collies from Diane and I always go back to her when we are ready for another collie. For us it has been a great experience every time. Our dogs are sweet, beautiful, and part of our family. We have had all of them from puppy to seniors and have experienced loyalty, fun and love with all of them. read more

We had a great experience getting our rough sable collie from Stirling Collies. Diane was very professional and easy to work with. When we picked up our puppy she was fresh out of a bath, and happy and healthy. Our puppy has adjusted well, has a wonderful temperament and the vet was pleased with her at her first visit when we got her home. read more