Shelties vs. Collies

*Caro said:
I always tell people the big difference is in the purpose. Shelties were bred to herd semi-wild sheep (and other small, strong willed domesticated animals) up rugged mountains on a wild, wind swept island, keep birds off the crops and be a watch dog, and in the winters could still be brought into the house to be with the family. Rough Collies were bred to stand on a hill top and calmly watch over their flocks with their shephard. So basically crazy vs dignified calm.

I also think shelties have a lot more stamina than Rough Collies.
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I think this is about the best description of the difference between Collies and Shelties that I've ever come across!

It just gives me an visual: Frenzied Sheltie chasing over the mountain tops madly herding everyone home before the winter storms set in. Bark, bark, bark! Home, home, home!

The Collie doing guard duty...yep! All cool! Ooops! Something wrong. Better tell a human....

So Shelties are "doers" and Collies are "sentry" psst....doers are thinkers too. Sentries just watch.

Ok, maybe not fair......but I also agree that Shelties are a more manageable size than Collies. Perfect size in my book - not too big or too small.
 
We were out for a walk and a romp in the tennis courts yesterday when we ran into our first rough collies. Thought of this thread! Neither shelties nor rough collies are very common here at all. Lots of Border Collies, though.

I'm not sure who was more surprised as the collies got closer and bigger and bigger, Beau or my boyfriend!
my beau: "Oh, look, shelties!"
"No honey, those are collies"
Beau: "Look, m-ooooom, shelties just like me!"
my beau: "Wow, they're... really big!"
Beau: "M-ooooom, they look just like me but twice my size. Can I sniff their big pants now? Ultra fluffy big pants must be investigated." /BARK
my beau: "Collies are..really big! I didn't know they were that big!" This is a man who has had APBTs most of his life! How big can a collie really seem? :D

The collies seemed bemused to have found an elderly collie puppy.

We're so lucky to have found that calm collie personality in a little 16 inch package. And nice to meet neighbors with such pretty pups. Lovely blue merle on one of them.
 
Narci said:
We were out for a walk and a romp in the tennis courts yesterday when we ran into our first rough collies. Thought of this thread! Neither shelties nor rough collies are very common here at all. Lots of Border Collies, though.
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This happened to us on the beach one day. It was so funny. We were walking a sable and blue merle and we could see someone way down the beach with a sable and blue merle. It was funny, as the dogs came closer you could see the difference and the collie nose. It was cute to see them sniff each other. I swear my dogs know what they look like!
 
Riley got to 'play' with a rough collie over the summer. They both looked surprised, sniffed each other all over, then Riley followed her all over the park. The collie played too rough for Riley's taste, but he still followed her around, he just was worried about playing. We kept getting questions by people who thought it was a mommy & baby :winkgrin:
 
I'm two weeks into sheltie ownership, but I've owned collies since I was two months old. I'm forty now, and I've had six collies, so I feel like I can speak for them in this slightly biased forum. Lol! My collies have ALL been silly, playful and full of life. They all had impeccable manners. They've all been very social and never met a stranger, loving everyone they meet. Two were clingy and demanding of attention. Of course, all were brilliantly smart.

Upon the loss of our last one, I was devastated and didn't want another dog but then fate intervened and sent me a border collie. I'd need a whole new post to describe her, but in short she's amazing. I talk to her like I do my kids, and she understands everything I say. She's SO not a collie, but that's ok.

Enter Luckie, another unplanned addition. She was living in horrible conditions at the home of an acquaintance and it was a situation in which the person was going to let me have her willingly, or she was going to disappear. Either way, I took one look at her and knew I had to save her. I had always thought shelties were precious little things....tiny collies, but I'd been scared by what I'd read about them--that they were crazy, yappy, etc. In addition, the handful I'd ever met were very aloof, which is why I was surprised to see that trait attributed to collies here. I've never met a sheltie who willingly came to me.

This little girl has come into our home and taken over! Largely in part to the fact that she is so very much like one of my childhood collies it's almost eerie. She is shy and doesn't love strangers, but other than that, she is my Dolly reincarnated. So, so much alike.

So, all of that's to say that while I know there are differences between the two, there are far more similarities. I just hope I have forty more years now that I've discovered shelties. I'm hooked for life!
 
I had a collie while I was growing up - he was my constant companion when I was a teenager, runnin' wild in the country! This was well before I "found" dog training or knew anything about it, but in retrospect, that was one smart dog. I was devastated when he was killed - run over by a car. Still hurts.

Didn't get another dog for a LONG time - 10 years or so. Then, I was living in the city in a very small townhouse, so I ended up with a Sheltie. My mom still refers to them as "apartment collies"! The temperament is not quite so different. Both are pretty bright - the rough collies are a tad more sedate and not prone to "twirlies". Both are good watchdogs.

When my ex's first Border Collie (a rescue) died, I tried to convince him to get a rough collie. I actually had the offer of a pup from a line of famous collies (yes, THAT collie!) but he wanted another BC. Our trainer at the time was against the idea of a collie (vs. a BC), claiming that collies tend to be a "soft" dog to train - too sensitive for the obedience ring or herding trials. So I ended up with a Border. (I say "I" ended up with a BC because though it was nominally "his" dog, I did all the training, showing, and day-to-day care. And he got the dog in the divorce. Devastating.)

Anyways, I tend to like the breeds equally. Any individual dog is going to be different in personality, within any given breed. Depends on if you'd rather have a larger, somewhat slower dog (like having a stretch limo) or a smaller, faster dog (like having a sportscar). They are both maneuverable and will get you from point A to point B.
 
I think this is huge question and if we can answer it we might finally be able to bed the question of mini-collie vs. sheltie.

I have to admit that I stuggle myself with the differencs, specially since both my boys are over-sized, and termperment-wize, Bacca is so laid back.
 
BarbV said:
And for "alerts", I maintain that a Sheltie is better than a Collie if Timmy ever falls into the well! Shelties are experts at alerts!
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Haven't you heard the old saying,"if Lassie had been a sheltie, Timmy would have never
Fallen into the well in the first place."
 
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