What Are Collies Best Known For

The frequently asked question is, “What Are Collies Best Known For?” Well, border collies are not just dogs; they are the most intelligent dog breed in the world. Isn’t that wonderful?

This amazing canine originated in the border regions of England and Scotland, where this breed was developed for sheep herding. This dog breed is known for its exceptional work ethic and agility.

Border Collies are medium-sized dogs, they are incredibly energetic and require plenty of mental and physical stimulation. These dogs are happiest when they have a job, making them excellent companions for active individuals and farmers.

These Border Collies are medium-sized dogs with a well-balanced and athletic build. Their weight ranges between 30 to 55 pounds and stand about 18 to 22 inches tall at the shoulder. This dog comes in various colors, having coats either rough or smooth.

These remarkable dogs are not ideal for first-time owners due to their high intelligence and need for constant engagement. Proper training, fixed routines, and socialization surely help them develop into well-rounded companions.

Let us find out more about What Are Collies Best Known For!

What Are Collies Best Known For And Why

Border Collies are known for their intelligence, work, sharpness, agility, awareness, physical characteristics, herding abilities, and many more qualities that you’ll love more and more. We’ll explain one by one.

Intelligence

As they are said to be the most intelligent dog breed, and there is a good reason for that. Border collies’ intelligence is deeply tied to their herding instincts, it is a combination of instinct, problem-solving ability, and obedience, making them highly trainable and capable of understanding complex commands.

They follow instructions with high accuracy and have the ability to learn new commands quickly, which is why they are ranked #1 smartest breed by the famous canine psychologist Stanley Coren in his book ‘The Intelligence Of Dogs‘.

Border Collies have a natural ability that allows them to assess situations, make quick decisions and responding to subtle ques from the handler.

Border Collies also excel in various dog sports like obedience trials, flyball, agility, and frisbee competitions. They can also memorize commands and hundreds of words, which was demonstrated by the famous Border Collie Chaser who learned over 1000 words.

If you want to know more, like the origin and history of border collies, then you certainly read our post on history.

Work

Originally bred for herding sheep, border collies are exceptional working dogs widely used today in different scenarios. The famous ‘Collie Stare’ is an intense stare border collie used to control livestock.

Border collies are high-energy dogs and they need constant physical activity. Herding was the only purpose they were bred. But as time passed, border collies were accepted by collie lovers as pets, as companions, and in police work.

Today border collies are also used in service and therapy works. Due to their intelligence, they assist individuals with disabilities, and because of their affectionate nature, they are becoming excellent therapy dogs.

Nowadays, border collies are trained in detection work, sniffing out narcotics, and explosives, and in search and rescue operations in missing people and disaster-stricken areas.

Lots of running and a lot of work means a lot of getting dirty. Though border collies are not high-maintenance dogs, they do require grooming now and then. You can learn how to take care of your canine’s coat.

Agility

Border Collies have great agility, which means the ability to move quickly, describing mental and physical skills. Because of their speed, responsiveness, and precision border collies are one of the best agility dogs in the world.

In dog sports border collies easily navigate obstacle courses with incredible accuracy and efficiency. They were bred basically for herding the sheep, but other qualities came with herding in them.

Excellent focus with their famous collie stare, strong work ethic, speed, great endurance, quick reflexes, making tight turns, and instant acceleration make their agility far greater than other dog breeds.

Sharpness & Awarness

Border Collies are also known for their exceptional sharpness and heightened awareness, making them one of the most responsive dog breeds in the world.

Their keen observing skills and problem-solving abilities allow them to excel in various working roles. Their incredible mental sharpness helps them to learn and process commands quickly.

They can understand and remember hundreds of words and gestures, which makes them highly trainable.
Border collies have a remarkable sense of their surroundings, whether on farms or at agility competitions.

They can anticipate movements, read human body language, remain fully engaged and responsive, and make precise decisions. Personally, we think, this quality of sharpness and awareness makes collies what are collies best known for.

Physical Characteristics

Border Collies are medium-sized muscular dogs built for herding and agility naturally. They are very energetic and require plenty of mental and physical stimulation to stay happy.

This breed has a range of varieties in colors and different sizes as per their surrounding and working habitat. Let’s know more about their physical appearance.

Size

Border Collies can be 10 to 22 inches tall at the shoulder. Their weight ranges from 14 to 25 kgs, whereas females are lighter and smaller compared to males.

Body

Their bodies are muscular, lean, well-proportioned built for speed, agility, and endurance. Most border collies stop growing around 15 months old. Their body length can be between 71 to 86 cm.

Coat

Border Collies come in rough coats as well as smooth coats. Rough coats are medium-length, and feathered and smooth coats are short and sleek. Both types of coats are double-coated, providing insulation and protection, so it’s not wise to shave or cut their coats completely.

Most border collies you’ll see will be in black and white. But they have many shades like white, red and white, black and Gray, tri-colors-black, white and tan, sable colors, chocolate, lilac, brindles and blue merle.

Head

Border collie’s heads are well-proportioned to their body size, with slightly broad skulls, flat at the top. Narrow but not too pointy head overall.

They have medium-sized, oval-shaped eyes. While most collies have brown eyes, one can find blue eyes in merle-colored dogs. Cases of heterochromia have also been seen, which means one blue and one brown eye.

Border Collies use their ‘collie-stare’ to control livestock.

The ears can be fully erect or semi-erect or can be fully dropped. The size of the ears is medium and slightly pointed at the tips.
The nose is normally black, but other colors can appear according to coat colors.

Tail

The tail of a dog contributes to his balance and expression. Border collie’s tail is covered in dense fur, based on the coat the tail may be sleek in appearance or it can have a blushy look.

Length is usually medium, but it can be slightly longer in rough collies. The tip of the tail is mostly white regardless of body color.

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Conclusion

So this was the hard research we did for you to know What Are Collies Best Known For. The more you try to learn and know this breed, the more you’ll realize that there is a lot to learn about this amazing breed.

This blog of What Are Collies Best Known For is specially done to spread information and message to the people and the world to know this breed.

People are curious and also hesitant to own this breed because of its hyper-active nature. We are afraid of the things we don’t understand, but if we try to know and understand then things become easy.

On this website, we try to cover everything related to border collies, like their history, taking care of coats, the food, and the bed.

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