about us

Crystal Rose is my pride and joy. It's the spiritual successor to the very first Petz site (or, rather, a blog) that I ever had - Kryształowa Róża. The first version of Crystal Rose was also the very first website I made myself using HTML, though it's hard to say when exactly that was. Regardless, I can safely say that Crystal Rose as a CK Border Collie kennel dates back to early 2010.

Here at Crystal Rose we raise the dogz naturally until they're fully grown. I use Petz as a way to escape from reality - even if for only a moment. Playing with my virtual friends really helps me to calm down, so I want to share that joy with others, too.

We also show our dogz. The goal is for all of our Border Collies to have at least the Supreme Grand Champion title. We also participate in the Petz Citizen Scheme - it's a really fun way to learn a little something about your pet and play with them while being able to add a title to their name. We want to enter other show types, too, so stay tuned!

The CK Border Collie breedfile has been my long-time favourite, and I'm just really happy to be able to share them with the world. Lots of the petz you can see on this website are very special to me - they've been with me for a while, after all. So, once again, thank you for your visit and enjoy your stay.

about me

I'm V-T! I also go by Sandy (since that is my IRL name) and that's the name you can sometimes see in the family tree of the petz I adopt out. I'm a 26 year old Polish guy (he/him and they/them are both fine). Autistic. Former IT and linguistics student. I work as a junior librarian at my alma mater.

My main interests are history of malicious software, world religions and bookbinding. I also love playing video games! RPGs are my favourite but I also love simulation games (duh), puzzle games, brawlers and strategy games. In my free time, I like to practice watercolours, listen to music and work on my constructed language (because I am, in fact, a huge nerd in all ways possible). Recently got into birdwatching and making plushies.

My favourite colour is green. I'm an avid tea drinker, though recently I started liking coffee again, too.

story

In 2008, in a little lakeside house, I met my best friend.

It's been quite a few years ago now. However, summer of 2008 is still fresh in my memory. We ran around, swam, played in the forest. We acted out larger than life scenarios with our toys, we told each other stories and acted silly on the hammock in the back.

We were just kids and neither of us knew at the time that we would become friends for life.

Now, as much as I love my best friend, this story isn't entirely about them. However, their part in it cannot be understated. For you see, when we met again in spring of 2009, they showed me something amazing.

Back in the summer, I shared with them my latest obsession: The Sims 2. I adored the game, and I still play it regularly to this day. This time, it was their turn. A computer was a completely new thing in their house. Still, they already had their favourite video game, too.

When they showed me Petz 5, I fell in love immediately. I remember that I adopted a dachshund and named him after my grandparents' dog. Dachshunds were my favourite dog breed back then - and, in a way, they still are to this day.

While I lost those very early petz soon after in a (deeply mourned) hard drive failure, the game became a constant presence on my computer. I played it regularly. I installed it on my grandparents' computer so I could play it there, too. I talked about it to my friends at school, even though they didn't really get it. I was truly and deeply hooked on it.

It sure was a shame nobody quite got it, you know?

In early 2010, I got internet access on my laptop. In all honesty, I didn't have much use for it at the time - the main purpose of that machine was to play The Sims 2, Petz 5, maybe mess around with Paint. Still, I soon realised I could just Google things - and one of the first things I Google'd was Petz 5.

At the time, the Polish Petz community - which, whether I liked it or not, I was pretty much constricted to due to barely speaking any other language at the time - consisted primarily of various blogs hosting adopts and occasional shows. Soon enough I decided to make a blog of my own: Kryształowa Róża. My very limited knowledge of English allowed me to download many amazing breedfiles made by the wonderful Petz Community, and so I was all set for breeding litterz and adopting out puppies and kittens like there was no tomorrow.

One of the breedfiles I found back then was the CK Border Collie breedfile, which I quickly fell in love with. Soon enough, I would post more and more purebred puppies of that file. I was, frankly, obsessed. I loved how adorable they were! I loved their silly expressions and big ears. I loved the little pawpads. I loved how fluffy and friendly they looked. Soon enough, I made a decision: I didn't really want to breed anything else. I wanted everyone to see just how cute that particular breedfile was.

It was around that time that I completely rebranded my blog. I was only posting about my CK Border Collies and adopting out puppies of that file. I also changed the name of the kennel; from that day on, it was called Crystal Rose, which was just the English translation of the original name.

Things just sounded cooler and more serious when they were in a foreign language.