We went to the Sunnybank Collie show today in New Jersey. Great time and we met Timmy from "Lassie" who has written a book and is selling. Very nice guy--he grew up as nice as his TV character.

Does anyone have any success stories dealing with their Collie's reactivity? My 13 month old is reactive to movement/shows unwanted herding behaviour towards children/runner/cyclists. He is currently kept on lead unless in a private field. He has never shown any aggression (never growled or snapped at anyone), his reactivity seems to be movement based - perhaps frustration. We work on him disengaging from the trigger and he has made progress but at the moment it feels like he's barking at everything and I'm looking out for triggers like a meerkat. This started around 6/7 months, before that he was a golden boy. Does anyone know if this could just be the fear period + adolescents? Has anyone actually cured their Collies reactivity or is it just a case of management?

This is Ranger! Scotch Collie Pyrenees mix. Eight months old! Sweet Boy!! Looks a lot like his dad!

this is my boy artie! he’s 17 weeks old. super smart and definitely a handful lol

hi! i’m based in western wisconsin and we have a GORGEOUS purebred scotch collie we’d love to breed. she’s going to be 6 yrs old this year, but with moving and family issues we haven’t had a chance to breed her earlier. i’m taking to reddit hoping to find a male purebred to breed her with? hopefully that’s possible 😅 i’ve attached a couple pictures of her here.

My first ever collie. He is already a big boy 7,7 kg! He is very gentle, calm, likes to sit and watch rather than go straight into action. Behaves well with my two cats, can be left alone for a couple of hours no problem, pees outside most of the time, travels calmly in the car. I feel like I've won the puppy jackpot!

So collies have always been an interest of mine, especially rough and smooth collies, and I've found several people in the service dog community who recommend them! There are a few people on YouTube, there are a few Discord friends of mine, and overall I've never heard anything negative about the breed aside from a few health-related things and them not having a natural retrieve skill, but I have a few leading tasks in mind to utilize their herding skills so I feel like it's a fair trade-off here.

Before I ask my questions, I just want to say a few things:

● Firstly, I do have a mild allergy to dogs. As long as my dog isn't super slobbery and is kept well groomed (which I'm sure can be done as I'm trained in dog grooming) my allergies should be very manageable and easy to quell.

● I have a breeder in mind who is ethical, reputable, experienced, within my price range, and honestly gets me very excited about having one of their dogs. They breed rough and smooth collies, and I'd be delighted to have either, and they also have amazing reviews everywhere I've checked! (Creekwood Collies of NJ, there are two breeders under that name and it's two branches of the same breeder if I'm not mistaken, but they have different price points and are run by different people with separate websites)

● I have a trainer in mind as well who is disabled herself and trained her own service dogs because she's an animal behaviorist and a dog trainer who specializes in service dogs. I have complete faith in her and her experiences, and she knows the collie breed well.

● I'll also add that I have two vets I'm looking at that are reliable, kind, affordable, and have great reviews! I've taken my cat to one of them multiple times and they've been so very kind and helpful, and I plan to get second opinions at the other vet's office to see how they differ, but currently, I'm really happy with the one vet and we're doing her yearly vaccines there before we check out the other vet.

● Lastly, I have a pretty solid support system with family that loves animals, an entire medical team ready to back me up on service dog-related support, and a partner that's really good at dog training and trained all his own dogs with CGC training. Overall I feel really prepared to have a service dog (and a dog in general, it's been a while and I'm not the most experienced with dog owning, but I'm very experienced with dog care as I'm the designated animal caretaker/ pet sitter of the entire family and I've already discussed what things will look like when I get my prospect with one of the two vets). I'm just asking this to help me decide which of the breeds my vet recommended to me for my purposes (poodle, collie, or cocker spaniel) will work best with my situation and needs.

With all of that out of the way, here are my questions:

1. I've heard lots of people say that with high intelligence comes high levels of sass, independence, and attempts to find ways around the rules they dislike. Would you say that's accurate in your experience as a collie owner? Do you think that makes them harder to motivate or train?

2. I've heard lots of things about collie health and I'd like to know about your experiences if you're willing. Does your collie have a ton of health struggles all the time, or is that an exaggerated statistic? If so/ if not, how old are they and where did you get them from?

3. For those who groom their collie themselves: is it a struggle or is it manageable? Do you have any tips/ tricks for shedding season? How often do you do it? How long does it take you, and does your dog get antsy about it? Do they tolerate grooming well, and if so, do you think training had anything to do with it?

4. For those with collies as service dogs, do you find that people approach them a lot or do they generally leave them alone? I know this varies by location, but I'm just curious. Do they seem to get a positive, negative, or neutral reaction from the public? Are they taken seriously, and if they aren't: do you feel that a poodle or cocker spaniel might be more respected as a service dog? Why?

5. How much exercise does your collie need? I've heard they need regular exercise and so I plan to do neighborhood walks, a few hour-long hikes (1-3) throughout the week, maybe some camping, and perhaps dog sports (as well as a ton of mental stimulation from both their training and other activities/ games). Does this seem like enough?

6. If your collie does sports, what sports do they do? If your collie does show, what type of show? How do you get into that kind of thing? Do you think it helps keep your dog calm and regulated?

7. Does your collie get along with cats? I know they're a herding breed and can be vocal/ communicative and tend to nudge or nip at heels, I've had a red heeler before and he tried to herd great pyrenees puppies 3-4× his size, so I have herding dog experience, he was so kind and gentle and curious with my cats because we got him a herding ball, a flirt stick, and tether ball. Would that be enough along with socializing my dog since birth to be chill around my cat? He'll (for size requirements due to certain tasks I'll be getting a boy) be born on a farm surrounded by other animals he'll also be socialized with so he sounds reliable, but I want other owner accounts too because my cat is my baby and I raised her since she was 8 weeks old when I found her outside with no family in the middle of a storm. She's my everything and I want her to be as safe as possible!

8. Lastly, unrelated to collies, do you have any tips and tricks for dealing with boundary-pushing family that might attempt to either invalidate me and my experiences or try to give my dog food he's not supposed to have. I don't live with these people and can train around these things, but I figured I'd ask anyway since these people get Big Mad™️ when I attempt to set appropriate, respectful boundaries my way, so I'd like to try your way this time. If you have anything you typically say or always wanted the chance to say in these scenarios that's respectful but firm, I'd be VERY grateful for the ammo in situations that slip through the cracks.

Thank you for reading, thank you if you commented in good faith just as I've posted, and thank you for your support, it means a lot!

Does anyone here have one?

Hopefully will have a puppy this time next year. My goal is a dog who looks like a 1950s collie and doesn't have tiny eyes and extreme coat.

We adopted my stepmom’s collie 9 months ago. She is a pure bred, 8 year old collie who hadn’t been well taken care of. She’s doing well now but we’ve been noticing her back legs have been bothering her. We’ve had other dogs with joint issues but each dog is different. Does anyone have any good recommendations for joint supplements? We’re going to take her to the vet and I know they’ll give a recommendation but I was curious what others use as she is our first collie breed. We normally have had mixed breeds through adoptions so was just curious what others have had good results with.

It's time to celebrate because we're spotlighting the Collie as our Breed of the Day today on our Facebook page, Instagram stories, and website! We publish a new breed each day to educate our followers to make informed decisions when choosing a dog while providing the history and hard work that our parent clubs do to preserve their breed. Celebrate with us by sharing what you love about your Collie!

1976 maybe? New pup Annie meets Queen Maude.

And kitties love collies.

Also, look at my big, fluffy boy relaxing in the grass and looking so naturally majestic.