A Very Brief Overview and the Beginnings in Australasia:
It is believed, the first smooth-coated stock dogs arrived in Botany Bay, Australia on ships from England in 1788 - The First Fleet. At that time all working dogs in the south of England were smooth-coated. About 100 years later, about 1870, two blue-merle Smooths were imported from Scotland as working dogs. It is said they were bred with the Dingo to create the Australian Cattle Dog, while two black and tan short haired Collies were imported in 1870. They are reported to be the original ancestors of the Australian Kelpie.
The Smooth Collie is a true working dog which has been purposely bred with a short, flat, harsh textured cost.The most famous Collie (smooth) owner was Queen Victoria, who was a passionate dog lover and possessed no less than three short-haired collies. The first was “Sharp”, a black & white dog born in 1854, who was the Queen’s pet for 15 years. His statue still stands over his grave in Windsor Castle and he appears in many of the Queen’s portraits, while his successor “Noble” who was bred in the Border country and lived to be 16, dying in September 1887, has a memorial in Balmoral Castle on which it is recorded that “He was for more than 15 years the favourite collie and dear and faithful companion of Queen Victoria”.
Many of the Royal Family possessed his offspring as pets.
Many years ago, when sheep and cattle raising began to flourish in England and Scotland, varieties of Collies were developed through selection and breeding for definite desired characteristics. The short coated Collie was especially adapted to cattle driving in Northumberland Country, while his long coated counterpart was better equipped to withstand the cold climate of Northern Scotland.
For almost 200 years, Australians have appreciated the value of the Smooth coated working Collie, but only in recent years have Collie fanciers turned their attention to the Smooth coated show Collie.
There are three colours recognised in Australia for the Smooth Collie. These are: Sable (varying shades of gold, from light gold to dark mahogany), Tri-colour (predominantly black, with tan markings on the face and legs); and Blue Merle (a marbled silvery blue, with tan markings on the face and legs).
July 1975 saw the release from Perth Quarantine of two Smooth Collies, believed to be the first pure bred Smooths in Australia since the 1920's.
The imported pair from the United Kingdom, a blue merle male "Aust. Ch. Cotsbelle Ling" (from Cotsbelle Kennels) and a tri-colour female "Aust. Ch. Foxearth Black Faith" (from Foxearth Kennels), were to be the foundation stock of the modern day Smooths in Australia for their owner Janice Cook (Foxbell Kennels).
The Smooth Collie arrived in New Zealand in July 1980 a tri-colour female, "NZ Ch. Erinwood Smooth Satin" (from Erinwood Kennels) was brought into the country by Dilys Stephens.
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Where Did the Smooth Collie originate?
In the 18th century, the collie’s natural home was in the highlands of Scotland, deep in the hills and the mountains, where he had been used for centuries as a sheepdog. It is possible that the Romans brought sheepdogs with them when they invaded Britain and that these dogs then interbred with the local dogs and thus are the ancestors of today’s collies.
Eventually two types of collies developed from these common ancestors - the Rough Collie, the long-haired variety that worked directly with the flocks; and the Smooth Collie, the short-haired variety that was used primarily as a drover dog to drive livestock to market.
The origin of the word ‘collie’ is also open to speculation. It has been spelled many different ways: Coll, Colley, Coally and Coaly. Coll is the Anglo-Saxon word for black and one theory holds that ‘Collie’ comes from the black-faced Colley sheep and therefore the dogs responsible for their well-being became known as "colley dogs". Another theory suggests that the original working dog was black and therefore was called "Coallies." Whatever the origins, around 1875, the name Collie was firmly in place.
Bred for centuries for their working ability rather than the status of their pedigree, their exact origins have been lost. The farmers who relied on these dogs were totally dependent on their pastoral pursuits, so the dogs were bred for strength, endurance, intelligence, devotion and loyalty. In old writings it's said that the Smooth Collie originated from crossbreedings between old fashioned black and white Collies and British greyhounds, in order to get fast runners (that also could be used as hunting dogs). |
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