Welcome to the HWCA

Thoughts on the 'Scottish Collie' by Caitlyn Johnson.

The very first time I saw a Scottish Collie was during one of our U.S. type, 'gathering of the clans', , better known as, 'Highland Scottish Games' in Loon Mountain., N.H. in 1986. I couldn't take my eyes from her as I stood there talking with her owner and handler.
This collie was definitely different than any other collie I had ever known in the U.S.; it certainly was different than the AKC Rough Collie, 'Tiffany' that I owned at the time.

So, what was so different? Many things. As I stood there gazing into the eyes of this female collie, she didn't seem to mind the staring. Most dogs would look away in discomfort at such an outright aggression, but not these collies. She correctly read my respect and returned my gaze with great humor and respect herself.

I am not describing the Border Collies that the Irish and Scottish would bring over to accompany them in the 'clan gatherings sheep dog trials', Though these Border Collies, too, were far different from the Border Collies here in the States. The collie type I am talking about is the Scottish Collie, a much older type from which our modern AKC Collies developed. These Collies were not quite as tall and had sturdier, less graceful looking legs with more muscle to them. Through the years of these gatherings, I saw allot of these Scottish Collies. The colors ranged from Black/White to Black/White/Brown markings (Tri-color). There were also some Sables/Whites though not as many as the collies with black. Most of the Sables I saw had black tips on the outer hair. There were also some that had obvious merle in their background because of the two eye colors the collie would have.

The head of these Collies was a bit larger than our AKC Rough Collies, and the eye was definitely larger, but still almond - shaped. The muzzle was not the 'snipe-nose' look, but rather a broader muzzle that was also just a touch shorter and held strong looking teeth. And the coat was beautiful! It was very windy on Loon Mountain, and the breeze would ruffle the dog's fur so that I could see how beautifully thick it was. It was not long like my own AKC collie, Tiffany's was, but mid-length, more moderate.. Though I loved my Tiffany's coat, it sure was hard to care for, and it needed constant care to keep it from tangling. These long AKC Rough Collie coats were beautiful, no doubt, but, I could easily see that they would be a problem in the remote places in Scotland where these dogs were needed to accompany the shepherds through a lot of territory with briars and heather, etc. So, the moderate coat sure made sense to me. These dogs were not as big as the AKC Collie has become, but not small like the 'Shetland Sheepdog' either. Again, the size of the collie was moderate like everything else on it . . . a moderate dog that looked strong and healthy; balanced and capable of handling any task it was given.. Despite this moderation in the Scottish Collie, it still held a quiet dignity and grace to it and had such a cheery, good-natured disposition.

Now, years later, I wish that I had asked many more questions about these dogs. I would like to have known if they were being bred here in the States or if they just came over for the Highland Games and clan gatherings. After moving from New England to Michigan, I found myself drawn to an Internet discussion group called 'FarmCollie' Discussion List. Here, I found a home, a group of people that were discussing the very dog that I had known existed, one who could do all the things I saw these Scottish Collies do. They were calling this a 'FarmCollie' !

Many more people started coming together in the late 1990's to form groups that would have various approaches to forming a 'FarmCollie' breed. Some would try to 'recreate' their idea of the original American Farmcollies by going back along breed lines and adding back in the various of collie types to recreate this 'American Working Farmcollie' over again. Two people in the 60's made a great and wonderful effort to find some of the original lines of 'Farmcollies' that had been brought over by the Scottish people in the mid to late 1800's; these two people were Rick McDuffie, Sr. in S.C. and Erika DuBois in Nova Scotia. With the few older type of 'American Working Farmcollies' they found in their own areas of the country, they bred to build up the gene pool of these wonderful, hardworking and intelligent dogs. Other breeders feel they have the original Scottish Collie already and are working toward making it a better, healthier breed with the stronger working instincts that have been bred out of so many collie lines somewhere along the way. Our group would fall closer to this last type. We know these original, hard-working Scottish Collies still exist in the United Kingdom. Fewer still exist in the U.S.. Much of the working instinct has been bred out of the AKC Rough Collie so that fewer lines are showing the great herding and guardian instinct it once had. Our group is trying to work within the AKC Rough Collie group and the McDuffie OTFS group (and also with any of the UK Scottish Collies that can be found) to return more of this working and thinking skill to the AKC Rough Collie breed and to give it a more easily managed coat. With hard work, prayer and devotion, we believe that we can have more Scottish Collies here in the U.S. that resemble their relatives in the UK in beauty, temperament and working skills.

Won't you join with us in this effort?

Caitlyn Johnson
Copyright 2002 HWCA,Inc