Allen Hickenbottom lived with his family as a child throughout the western states in awe of the enormous flocks of sheep tended by only a shepherd and border collie. In 1987, nearly 20 years later, living in Illinois with his wife, Sharon, after purchasing a farm at the edge of town and a few head of sheep, he purchase and trained his first border collie  - Allen has bought and sold border collie during the past 20 years and is very competitive in the trials throughout the United States having placed in the USBCHA National finals in the most recent years. As a team, Allen and Vic won the first go-around of the 2007 Finals in Gettysburg, PA scoring the highest of the qualified dogs entered. Retiring from Verizon, after completing 30 years of service as a Service Technician, Allen has taken a more active role on the farm raising DNA tested “RR” Scrapie resistant St. Croix sheep and volunteering his services in representing handlers of District 5 as United States Border Collie Handlers’ Association District 5 Director. Allen and Sharon treasure their border collie friends and feel very fortunate to be involved in the wonderful fellowship offered by the handlers across the United States and throughout the world.