Collie

by Amy Tokic

Published: February 10th, 2013

About Collie

Weight

50-75 lb

Lifespan

14-16 years

Group

AKC Herding

Best Suited For

Families with children, active singles and seniors, houses with yards, farms/rural areas

Temperament

Sensitive, intelligent, stubborn, active

Comparable Breeds

Border Collie, Shetland Sheepdog

Height

22-26 inches

Collie Basics

Thanks to TV-superstar Lassie, the Collie is a family favorite. After saving Timmy from the well countless times (you would think that kid would have learned his lesson eventually), dog lovers worldwide have brought this dedicated and loyal pet home. And it’s no wonder – Collies love kids.

Devoted and gentle, Collies make wonderful companions. Your Collie will prove to be an excellent watch and guard dog, and it tends to be eager to please and very intelligent. You may notice that your dog has a tendency to be a bit stubborn and bark, but these issues can be corrected with training. Read on to see if the Collie is the right kind of dog for your family.

Devoted and gentle, the Collie makes a wonderful companion.

Origin

The Collie was used in Scotland where the breed was used as sheepdogs on farms. There are two types of Collies – the smooth-coated and the rough-coated – and the smooth-coated Collie was used to drive and guard sheep to market.

Because the Collie is so loyal, its popularity soon grew, and the breed made its way around the world as working dogs and as domestic pets. In the 1860s, Queen Victoria visited the Scottish Highlands and fell in love with the breed. The Rough Collie is especially popular, thanks to Lassie.

Part of the Herding Dog group, this breed has been used to herd and drove cattle and reindeer as well as sheep. Collies have worked at police and tracking dogs, have been employed as sentries and couriers for the Armed Forces and have provided services for the physically disabled.

Pedigree

The exact origin of the Collie is unknown, but this breed has been used for centuries as herding dogs in Scotland and England. Also known as the Scottish Collie, the Collie’s name probably comes from the Scottish Colley sheep.

The Collie was recognized by the AKC in 1885.

Food / Diet

From premium dry dog foods down to home cooked meals, the Collie does well on a variety of foods. Feed your dog a high quality dry dog food in combination with meats and nutritious home cooking. Since these dogs are meat-eaters, the first ingredient listed on the dog food packaging should be a type of meat and not a meal or by-product.

Your Collie will prove to be an excellent watch and guard dog, and it tends to be eager to please and very intelligent.

Training

Since this breed is intelligent and agile, Collies are easy dogs to train and respond well to a variety of training methods. You’ll need to challenge your dog with training full of activity and challenges, as well as a physical workout of about 60 to 80 minutes per day. Collies enjoy working, so use its herding instincts and give your dog interesting tasks to perform. As long as you vary your training sessions with a range of activities, tricks and rewards, you’ll be able to keep your Collie mentally stimulated and happy.

Weight

Male Collies weigh 60 to 75 pounds, while females weigh 50 to 64 pounds.

Temperament / Behavior

You’ll find the Collie to be respectful, sweet natured, friendly and without aggressiveness. This dog is a loveable and loyal breed that will protect its owners at all costs. Calm, cool and collected, the Collie is not easily riled, and if properly trained, will rarely bite. This dog breed is a great watchdog and companion.

The more, the merrier – Collies get along with other animals, so this breed does well on farms. Collies love kids and will play outdoors for hours, making this breed a good choice for families. Intelligent, active, courageous and determined, you may find that your dog tries to round up your family!

Common Health Problems

The Collie has a few health concerns you should be aware of. Collies are prone to eye ailments such as Progressive Retinal Atrophy. This means it’s important to keep regular appointments with the vet for eye checkups, so that problems can be identified before they become too serious. This breed can also be affected by Neutropenia (a blood disorder), gastric torsion, hip dysplasia (the abnormal development of hip joints), dermatomyositis (inflammation of the skin) and arthritis. Like all breeds, Collies can be susceptible to disease because of trauma, infections, and abnormalities of the immune system, genetic influences or degenerative conditions.

Life Expectancy

Collies have a life expectancy of 14 to 16 years.

Exercise Requirements

To maintain its strong and lean physique, Collies need a lot of exercise. To keep your dog in peak physical and mental condition, be sure to play, take your dog for long walks and give it plenty of activity every day.

You’ll find the Collie to be respectful, sweet natured, friendly and without aggressiveness.

AKC

The American Kennel Club says this about the breed: “Although a large, active dog, the Collie is both elegant and graceful, appearing to float over the ground as it runs. Loyal and affectionate, the breed is naturally responsive to humans.”

Coat

There are differences in the fur texture between the two varieties of Collie. Rough-haired Collies need thorough grooming as its fur tangles much more easily and it should be brushed on a daily basis. Smooth-haired Collies don’t need brushing often – about every week will do. But because Collies have a mane and tend to shed, it is important to brush both types of Collie frequently to prevent hairs from being spread throughout the house.

Through the spring and summer months, this dog breed tends to shed more often. You should brush your dog more frequently during these seasons.

A Collie’s coat is usually a combination of sable and white, tri-colored and blue merle. All have a double coat. The smooth-haired Collie has a dense, straight outer coat and a soft, furry undercoat. The rough-haired Collie has a short, harsh and smooth outer coat and dense undercoat. Collies are a clean breed and don’t have that distinctive doggie odor.

Puppies

Collies have a tendency to nip at your ankles as a puppy, thanks to its herding instincts, but will soon grow out of this stage.

Photo credit: WilleeCole/Shutterstock

Amy Tokic

Amy Tokic, Editor of PetGuide.com, is a passionate animal lover and proud pet parent of Oscar, a Shih Tzu/Chihuahua cross, and Zed, a Japanese Chin. Her love of animals began in kindergarten, when she brought her stuffed dog Snoopy into class with her every day. Now, she writes about her adventures in pet ownership and tirelessly researches products, news and health related issues she can share with other animal enthusiasts. In her free time, Amy loves perusing used book and record stores, obsessing over the latest pet products available and chasing squirrels with wild abandon (a habit attributed to spending too much time with her pooches).

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In countries where dogs aren’t microchipped, don’t wear tags, and usually run free, it’s challenging for authorities to determine which dog has already been vaccinated for rabies. A new mobile phone app could help improve rabies vaccination by identifying dogs using facial recognition technology.A team of researchers from Washington State University tested the app’s effectiveness in a rabies vaccination clinic in Tanzania, where they microchipped, vaccinated, and registered dogs. The idea behind this project is to take a picture of a dog’s face during initial vaccination. Then the picture needs to be entered into the database via the app, along with other important information, such as the dog’s age, sex, and coat color. When veterinarians return to the same area, they will take a facial photo of each dog they come across. If the app finds a close match in the database, it will notify the vet, who can then decide whether the vaccinated dog in the database is indeed the same dog they are currently examining. A vaccination team testing the app visited nine villages in Tanzania, where they photographed and vaccinated 1,420 dogs. After the initial check, 20 images were deemed unusable, leaving exactly 1,400 to work with. All of these photographs were added to the app’s database.Later, a different validation team visited the same villages, assessing 720 dogs via the app, not knowing which dogs were already vaccinated, and entered into the app’s database. Once again, some photos were deemed unusable for the study - 161 were rejected.Using those images, the app helped the team to correctly identify 76.2% of vaccinated dogs and 98.9% of unvaccinated dogs. These findings were confirmed using microchips that were implanted under the dogs’ skin when they were vaccinated, as part of the study.“Because domestic dogs are the main reservoir for human rabies, controlling human rabies globally requires the mass vaccination of dogs,” said Felix Lankester, WSU Associate Professor and the lead investigator of the study. Scientists are working to optimize the app’s registration process to minimize the number of rejected photos. “When carrying out mass vaccination, one of the major problems that we face is trying to identify which dogs have and haven’t been vaccinated. For example, microchips are too expensive to use at the scale needed to eliminate rabies, and collars can be removed by owners. We developed this app to see if facial recognition might work, and it’s showing great promise in helping us achieve that goal,” Professor Lankester added. The facial recognition algorithm used by the app is developed in collaboration with Canadian company PiP My Pet. It identifies a dog by looking at key features of its face and comparing it to previously stored photos of the faces of other dogs. Photos with the highest number of similar features are shown as possible matches, leaving it to the user to pick the right one.The app’s success depends on the image quality and information about each dog being properly recorded. Before unusable images and incorrect information about dogs were removed from the database, users were only able to match around 65% of the vaccinated dogs.For the time being, users must be online to use the app’s facial matching feature, but Lankester and his team are working to make the app operational even offline. “We’re not quite there yet, but I think with the investment, the technology can get there. I am excited by its potential,” Lankester said.Join the PetGuide community. Get the latest pet news and product recommendations by subscribing to our newsletter here.

Do Dogs Cry Tears?

Perhaps you spotted tears streaming from your pet’s eyes and wondered: do dogs cry tears as an emotional response? Or is there a different explanation for this phenomenon? Well, the answer is pretty straightforward – dogs don’t produce tears because of their emotions like we humans do. They produce tears primarily to lubricate their eyes, and remove dust and other irritants. But, this does not mean that they don’t express emotions in other ways – here’s what you need to know about your teary-eyed furball.Do Dogs Cry Real Tears?If you spot tears running from your dog’s eyes, you are not deceived – they are real. However, they are not tears of sadness or emotion, as dogs simply don’t express feelings the same way as we do. The role of those tears is more of a bodily function. They are there to lubricate the eye, making sure it functions as it should. After all, dogs can just rub their eyes or place a few drops inside when needed. So, their body does the job for them, and hence the tears. Of course, an excessive amount of tears is not natural. And neither are dry and tearless eyes. So, in either one of these cases, you should schedule a visit with your vet. Dry eyes in dogs are also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) or "dry eye syndrome," and can lead to discomfort, irritation, and potential complications if left untreated. In many cases of dry eyes, veterinarians prescribe artificial tears or  lubricating eye drops to help moisturize the eyes and relieve discomfort. These drops can help supplement the natural tear production and provide relief from dryness. 

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