Smooth Collie

The smooth collie is the short-coated form of the collie, the herding dog developed in Scotland and northern England and closely related to the rough collie. In many registries the two are varieties of the same breed, while others list them separately. The smooth has the familiar collie outline: a long wedge-shaped head, semi-erect ears, an athletic body, and a dense flat coat in colors such as sable, tricolor, blue merle, and color-headed white where accepted.

Compared with the rough-coated variety, the smooth collie is easier to groom but still sheds and still needs brushing during coat changes. It is usually a responsive, people-oriented dog that does well with training, household routines, and moderate athletic work such as herding, agility, obedience, or long walks. Sensitive handling suits it better than harsh correction. Health-aware breeders screen for collie eye anomaly and other eye disease, hip problems, and MDR1 drug sensitivity, a mutation that affects medication choices in many collie-line dogs.