American Canine Association

Breeds

Collie


History

Though it is unknown what dog breed bloodlines ultimately ended up creating the Collie dog breed, we do know that it is made up of at least two different types of herding and working dogs. This breed was used for herding, water rescue and livestock guarding. Today, this breed still has an extreme natural urge to herd and is used for companionship, obedience competitions, guide dogs, watchdog and acting.

Appearance

The Collie is a medium to large breed dog with males and females measuring 22-26 inches in height and 50-75 pounds in weight. This breed has an extreme wedge shaped head with a long, thin muzzle forming into a scissor bite. Their two almond shaped eyes are available in a light hazel to black in color; blue merle's have light blue eyes or a single light blue eye while the other remains hazel or black. Their two triangular ears are either rose shaped and folded 3/4 of the way up, or triangular and standing firm and upright on the top of their head. There are two types of Collie coats; Smooth coat : short hair coat covering body, smooth and soft to the touch, available in sable and white, tri color, blue merle, white and tan, mostly white with sable, Rough coat : a long double coat covering the body that is harsh to the touch. Available in sable and white, tri color, blue merle, white and tan, mostly white with sable, tri color or blue merle markings.

Temperament

The Collie is not a breed fit for everyone. This breed has a lot to offer and needs an intense amount of physical and mental exercise daily to remain calm and happy at the end of a day. This is not a breed that can be locked inside of a house all day or in a cage while his or her family is at work or away. The Collie requires a confident, consistent, active owner who is knowledgeable of the Collie breed and can provide the time, training and daily needs of this breed. This breed is very sweet, extremely smart and very loyal. The Collie can be stubborn at times, and needs an owner who only uses positive reinforcement methods while training. This breed can do well with children, however they are known to herd children and the family due to their natural instincts, so please be aware of this prior to adding one to your family. This breed is a wonderful listener and truly wants to accomplish all tasks you ask of them, which makes a wonderful partner for any human interested in obedience competition, training an acting dog and any other jobs that the Collie can preform daily tasks.

Grooming

Both the rough and smooth coat Collie's need to be brushed daily and bathed when needed. This breed does shed. We recommend discussing proper coat care instructions with your professional groomer to ensure the healthiest coat for your Collie.

Special Notes

This breed is generally a healthy dog breed, however they can be prone to PRA, eye issues, hip issues and arthritis. This breed requires sunblock on their nose while outdoors as it burns easily. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

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