The Smooth Collie can stand anywhere from twenty-three to twenty-six inches and can weight anywhere from fifty-five pounds up to seventy-five pounds. In Canada and the United States, this breed tends to be larger in size.



The Smooth Collie tends to be more long than tall. This breed is a good show dog because of their soft expression of sweetness that is often in their face and eyes. The undercoat is very straight and very dense and thick and the outer hairs can be harsh and almost stiff. The outer hair also tends to be fairly long, ranging from two to three inches. Because of the length of the hair and the rough outer coat, this breed needs to be regularly brushed at least once a week. Twice a year, the Collie's coat sheds very heavily, but otherwise, for the rest of the year, shedding is fairly normal. Rough Collies? coats are usually any combination of sable and white. The Rough Collies have a double layered coat, and unlike the Smooth Collie the Rough Collie's coat does not require a lot of care other than frequent brushing.

Known as a very sociable breed, both the Rough and the Smooth Collie makes a great dog for a family and is trained easily because they are very intelligent and pick up quickly. They are also always wanting to please their owners and trainers, so ready to obey any commands or training given to them. This breed is not known to be aggressive at all, but if trained to be so, can make a good watchdog. This dog has almost a supernatural ability to know what humans want and a rare love for their owners and humans alike. This dog is very sensitive, so no harsh training or correction is needed. They run from harsh treatment. Because this dog bonds so well with humans, many time Collie are used to assist the disabled or the blind. This breed also does very well with children and other dogs and gets along with just about anybody, human or animal.

A Rough or Smooth Collie can be fed anywhere from one and a half to two and a half cans of a high-quality meaty product or five cups of a complete, dry dog food, with vitamins and minerals included.

If the owner allows them to roam free, they have a tendency to chase anything from children, bikes, cars to joggers. This is because of their inherent herding instinct. Both kinds of Collies are very sociable and must have humans around most of the time. If not around humans or alone for long periods of time, they will become bored easily if outside and will bark incessantly. Inherently, they are very gentle and domesticated, however, if confronted with a dangerous situation, they become fearless and uninhibited and rush to their owners to defend and help.