Mini Collie? AKC says so.

[k9kreationz]

We try so hard to educate people and say that Shelties aren't just miniature Collies. And then I read this on the AKC website for the Sheltie Meet the Breed:

The Shetland Sheepdog, or "Sheltie" as it is commonly called, is essentially a working Collie in miniature

Of course in the breed standard they talk a bit about how they are different. AKC, you are not helping.

 

[SheepOfBlue]

I do the same. After all there is collie in them. Of course Sca the Border Sheltie doesn't get accused since he is the wrong color, after all everyone knows collies are all the same color as Lassie was

 

[k9kreationz]

I do the same. After all there is collie in them. Of course Sca the Border Sheltie doesn't get accused since he is the wrong color, after all everyone knows collies are all the same color as Lassie was

Yup. Having two sables, I get to hear "mini Lassie" too much. I was just surprised AKC would say that.

 

[Silaria]

I frequently have to add the "small Collie" descriptor when talking to people about my dogs. I get a number of blank stares when I say 'Shetland Sheepdogs' or 'Sheltie'.

 

[Mally's Mom]

I frequently have to add the "small Collie" descriptor when talking to people about my dogs. I get a number of blank stares when I say 'Shetland Sheepdogs' or 'Sheltie'.

I do the same thing (say small collie), then they get it.

Years ago shelties were called, "toy collies". People did not know any better, I believe.

 

[Caro]

The statement is actually correct, as Collie is the Scottish word for sheepdog. Perhaps it's confusing because so many people use Collie for Rough Collie and they would have been better off saying it's a miniature sheepdog.

 

[Tabitha]

I frequently have to add the "small Collie" descriptor when talking to people about my dogs. I get a number of blank stares when I say 'Shetland Sheepdogs' or 'Sheltie'.

I have to do the same thing. But instead of just saying "They look like small collies" I add "but they are not the miniature and have totally different personalities!" Sometimes I get the really 'smart' ones that don't know what a collie is! Sometimes I have to ask if they know what Lassie looks like, and every once in a blue moon I get a "No".
It can be very frustrating and I can't believe AKC would make it harder for us sheltie lovers.

 

[Mignarda]

It's really hard to pin down the Sheltie history; there's lots of controversity and divided opinion involved. But from everything I've gathered, I'm inclined to speculate that the original Sheltand Sheepdog actually did resemble the miniature form of what on the mainland was called a Collie. Collies in the mid-eighteenth century didn't look like the rough Collies of today; their fur was shorter and they hadn't developed the "Borzoi" head, wherever that came from (and there's controversy regarding that as well). Whatever the case, when the Rough Collie changed to incorporate the longer fur and Borzoi head, soon thereafter the crossing of the Sheltie with the Rough Collie started to appear--almost as if the Sheltie breeders were trying to maintain the image of their dogs as "Collies in miniature." The appearance of the Sheltie since the late nineteenth century has always been supposed to be that of a miniature Collie, and that's the way they're perceived, despite the differences in temperament and intelligence that are fairly obvious to Sheltie people!

 

[Tabitha]

I have read more versions of the Shetland Sheepdog history than most people. I lost track at about 10 and have read many more in the past year of my sheltie studies. This is one of the best short versions I've found on the net.

http://www.foxpointfarm.com/sheltie_history.html

 

[Mignarda]

I have read more versions of the Shetland Sheepdog history than most people. I lost track at about 10 and have read many more in the past year of my sheltie studies. This is one of the best short versions I've found on the net.

http://www.foxpointfarm.com/sheltie_history.html

Looking at this quote from the article, "... also due to crosses in the early 1900's to small rough coated Collies to improve coat and head type[.]" I believe (based on other readings) that by "improve" they meant bringing the breed more into line with the way in which Rough Collies had evolved over the past half-century.

I recently read an article from somewhere around the 1920s (confound it, I can't remember where!) in which space was devoted to the controversy surrounding the Borzoi-type head in the Rough Collie. That's what led me to think that there really was a major shift in the Collie's appearance, and to me it says something that people were still buzzing about it in the 1920s. Now if you've got a breed that's supposed to be a "collie in miniature," and the breed you're basing it on has undergone a major change, what do you do to keep that designation apart from trying for a similar change in the miniature version?