About us
Hello, my name is Tjitse Terpstra, born on 28 march 1957
in Friesland, a province in the Netherlands.
I started with 1500 Texelaars (sheep) and a little flock of cows.
I did not work with dogs at that time.
Until my neighbour said it would be easier to do so.
So I visited Mr. Paul Andrioli and bought my first border collie.
Paul was one of the first persons who imported border collies to the Netherlands at that time.
Sita, my first border collie bitch was born on August 17th 1982.
I was impressed by this clever little bitch, and her giant will to please.
After her many border collies came into our home.
Just like everybody I had to learn a lot about how to handle a dog.
My first trial was in 1986. By looking at other handlers I saw they commanded their dogs in a different way then I did. I used only 3 commands and a lot of shouting...;-] They also used whistle commands.
But despite all of this my Sita did very well.
The breeder of Sita, supported me and taught me how to whistle and command my dog.
Well, all that effort was worth it.
Because in 1987 it was the first time I became a Dutch Trial Champion in Rheden with my Sita. O yes, I was so proud of here !!
I wanted to go to the U.K., to measure with the great ones.
But that was not possible, because of the quarantine to take a dog in the U.K.
In 1990 I changed my job for a job as a shepherd in Hijkerveld, in Drenthe, a province in the Netherlands.
Well, there where 85 candidates, so I did not have such high hopes. But I was very lucky. I was managing 800 sheep now and also a flock of Scottish Highlanders. When I was herding the cows, I used both my horse and my dog. That was great.
A lot of people came for a visit, lots of tourists and also the Media came along.
Once I even went to the U.S.A. with a Dutch celebrity, Mr. Reinout Oerlemans.
We went to a the old farm of Bonanza, the series were filmed here. It was still a working farm with lots of cattle and cowboys. What a neat experience this was. My job as a shepherd was not bringing in much money so I decided to teach people and train their dogs for them.
At 1997 I bought with my partner a sheep business in Friesland, a province in the Netherlands.
I'm an official judge approved by the ISDS and the Dutch border collie club.
I'm also give clinics in Netherlands and other countries.
And occasionally breed a litter.
This is a picture of me as Captain of the Dutch team at the European Championship in Stockholm and at the World Championships in Bala 2002.
In 2002 I was Dutch Champion with my dog Ben for the second time.