Rough Collie Dog Facts

From the multitude of Collie breeds like: Rough Collies, Smooth Collies, Border Collies or Shetland Collies the most famous one is the Rough Collie. I mean who among us hasn’t seen the feats of bravery, loyalty, friendship and courage of a certain dog called Lassie? True the temperament and the intelligence were greatly exaggerated in the show with the same name but ever since the 1930’s till the present Lassie has been a constant in the television shows and films. Even before the shows, the companionship and the temperament of collies were ever present in some novels and works of art. This should be understandable considering the high training level a collie can receive and also because of its gentle, loyal character.

At first the collie was trained to be a herding dog and even today a lot of sheep herders train them just for that because of the easiness and malleability a dog from this breed has while being trained. These cattle herding types tend to be stockier than the general breed. As a rule collies should weight around 10 to 25 kg, it’s height around 56-66 cm and the fur should be short, flat or long. Also, its life expectancy is around 14-16 years. Among the accepted colors of the American Kennel Club there are black, black and tan, red and sable.

As an overall bundle of characteristics they can be compared to the Energizer bunny being very agile, energetic with loads of stamina in all kinds of terrain. Like all dogs they are intelligent and eager to work at every opportunity they get. These working type dogs unfortunately aren’t well suited as pets as they may become unhappy or badly behaved if they aren’t given enough challenges, mental or physical, by the owner.

As far as the grooming goes the collies with long fur shed heavily twice a year and they also need weekly maintenance to their coats. Exercising is a must, being an active dog so a big yard in which the dog should be let loose for a run or in a park is a must. Daily long walks are to be taken if the space isn’t available.

And finally as a parallel between watch dogs and guard dogs they tend to go towards guard dogs more especially if the family has a small child, the dog considering the child his own and not letting strangers getting too close to him.