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General
appearance
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The
Collie is a lithe, strong, responsive, active dog, carrying
no useless timber, standing naturally straight and firm.
The deep,moderately wide chest shows strength, the sloping
shoulders and wellbent hocks indicate speed and grace,
and the face shows high intelligence. The Collie presents
an impressive, proud picture of true balance, each part
being in harmonious proportion to every other part and
to the whole. Except for the technical description that
is essential to this Standard and without which no Standard
for the guidance of breeders and judges is adequate, it
could be stated simply that no part of the Collie ever
seems to be out of proportion to any other part. Timidity,
frailness, sullenness, viciousness, lack of animation,
cumbersome appearance and lack of over-all balance impair
the general character.
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“In the creation
of my line I wanted to develop a picture of a dog which
goes against nature. If all Collies were allowed to breed
freely with no human selection involved, the result would
be commonness. The opposite of commonness is elegance.
To me the elegant ideal has a long clean head, combined
with a well rounded body and sturdy bone. The real and
wonderful trick is to get a combination of elegance and
substance.”
--
Patricia Starkweather, Glen Hill
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“No quality in the parts, however great,
can make a superior specimen of a dog markedly out of
balance. Each part of the Collie must seem to ‘belong’
to the picture presented by the entire dog. The importance
of this point cannot be overemphasized. The general picture
of the Collie must be characterized by harmony, and anything
that creates disharmony is a serious flaw.”
--
Alan Harper
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“The overall
picture of our breed is its most basic characteristic,
since without it,none of the elements that make up the
whole dog, however correct or beautiful they may be, are
sufficient to make it a true Collie. I am an ‘outline
person’ and the picture of a Collie posing majestically,
showing me that picture of balance, elegance, and beauty
still can take my breath away. We want the Collie to be
proud and impressive: an elegant, arched neck, well laid
back shoulder, level back, gently sloping croup... a picture
of curves rather than angles.”
--
Judie Evans, Clarion
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“All the truly
great Collies I vividly recall had one attribute in common
- class! Maybe it is that undefinable element so often
repeated (seven times) in the Collie standard - expression!
Class, expression, elegance, and balance distinguish the
really great ones that transcend beyond equal technical
perfection of type and soundness as defined by any standard,
written or pictured. The best Collie judges, whether all-breed
judges such as the late Alva Rosenberg, or our better
specialty judges of the past century, have not only adhered
to the standard but have had the ability to recognize
class and beauty. As a result, perhaps the most beautiful
breed of dogs has evolved in the modern Collie.”
--
Stephen J. Field, Parader
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“Type pertains
to the entire dog, because a Collie head, no matter how
good it is, if placed on a Saluki’s body or a Mastiff
’s body would rule him out as a good type of Collie. If
one look at a dog shows him to be too long in body, or
entirely too high on leg, or legs too short like he’s
standing in a hole, he is not correct in type. Body structure,
therefore, is part of type.
Soundness is
not enough and a good head is not enough.”
--
W.R. Van Dyck, Honeybrook
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“In the Collie
Standard and Collie tradition, there is no irrepressible
conflict between type and soundness. One flows naturally
from the other. The correct Collie body provides the foundation
and framework for both, while the whole structure presents
an impressive proud picture of true balance.”
--
Oren Kem, Lodestone
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Download
the two-page guide, General appearance (507k/PDF)
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