Its name comes from the herds of sheep dispersed on the high plateaus of Scotland: “coalies” (they are sheep with black head, “coal” meaning English coal). The work of the dogs was essential to gather these animals in sometimes difficult extents of access. Of “coalies”, one arrived at Colley, while having passed by “colly, then collie”… This dog undoubtedly comes from crossings of local dogs and shepherds having been brought by the Romans at the time of their displacements in all Europe. It is also called the shepherd of Scotland. It is considered that in the second part of the 19th century, this race was stabilized in its evolution and its characteristics recognized and maintained until our days in this form.
Its atavism of sheepdog is always present: if a Collie sees a herd in a field, it starts to groan and turn on itself. It is before any observer, and at the house, it patrols literally, or scans, looking at the actions of each one. When all is calm, it lengthens in its preferred corner, ready to intervene with the least problem, or if something seems to him unusual… It knows its field of intervention perfectly.
One it known as timorous, timid, sad, even melancholic person, but it is a very sensitive dog which one should not be sharp with. If it is abused mentally, it loses all its means; its Master may find it very beneficial to apply his authority with understanding and psychology. The Collie needs to open out with a total confidence in its family of reception and the environment where it saw. It needs a goal, a task; it must play its part, like all the other members of the family.
For its health, it is to better avoid making live the Collie in apartment, because even left regularly, it is preferable by far that it lives in a house which has parks in the neighbourhoods. It must run and be spent apart from its periods of rest… Therefore, if the conditions are met, a walk will be pleasant for him, if not, the habitat “appartement” will have to be compensated for; by a physical exercise definitely more intense. It is a sheepdog and the kilometers, turns and turnings, are its life.
Calm and discrete, the Collie is thus a large sportsman. It slightly moves, with flexibility, its hairs flying in the wind. With the bright sun, it prefers gray time and the bad weather, and its maintenance will be, with these conditions, a good regular brushing, to preserve its beautiful long peeling.
Physically, the male Collie measures 56 to 61 cm with the garrot, the female limiting itself to a size from 51 to 56 cm. Their weight is, respectively, from 20 to 29 kg, and 17 to 25 kg.
With share sheepdog – its vocation first -, he can be used like guides of blind man, watchdog, dog of rescue in the coastal areas, and the Collie is, of course, a perfect dog of company.
