What are the types?

Since the breed originated in Great Britain, the classic English (British) collie can be considered the original version. As the years and decades passed, the breeders constantly refined and changed the breed. This is how the eyes, for example, became smaller and more almond-shaped, and the fur was bigger, longer, and thicker. Of course, there are as many nations as there are tastes, so wherever there was a larger population, that geographical region "developed" its own type. However, the basis must always be the English idea, the English standard. There cannot be huge differences, since the breed itself is the same. "The type is nothing more than an overall picture determined by various signs and characteristics, which is often characteristic of one geographical area - within the same species." - Mia Ejerstad.

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What types are there?

The collie in today's sense, as a breed, approx. 150 years old. Even if we start from the fact that the ancestors of all modern collies can be traced back to the second half of the 1800s. At that time, the collie did not really look like today's self, rather it resembled a slightly more elongated border collie. Around the 1920s and 30s, it acquired the form we now call the classic English collie. Over the decades, breeders shaped and modernized the breed according to their own taste and different (even local) guidelines. Since modernization is a process and not something that can be linked to a specific time, there are dogs that can neither be called specifically classic nor specifically modern, but rather form a kind of transition between the two. The process accelerated in the 1970s and '80s (mainly due to social changes, changes in mass communication and travel options), and continues to this day. Modernization did not escape the English dogs either, so in recent decades (perhaps dating from the 80s) the modern English collie was created. Today, this type is mainly typical in British territories. BUT... regardless of all the changes and modernization, the traits and characteristics that were characteristic of the first 60-80 years of the collie's history have not been erased from the breed, so classic traits appear from time to time, even in today's modern stock. Although only really old-type English collies can be considered real classics, the classic name still exists today. There is no longer a completely old-type classic dog. Rather, there are only modern dogs with more or less classic traits. Nowadays, we call them classic type dogs. Thus, we basically distinguish classic, transitional and modern dogs.

In Europe - apart from Great Britain - there is a fairly significant stock in the Scandinavian countries and France, as well as outside Europe in the United States. The breed has been bred in Scandinavia for a very long time, the type there is more like classic English dogs. In Scandinavia, the breed has not been modernized to the same extent as, say, in France. When talking specifically about the modern collie, most people think of the modern French type. Not by chance, as the French stock is predominantly modern. You can't really meet classic French dogs these days. Of course, these types are often mixed with each other, which is how mixed type dogs were created (e.g. the crossing of modern French and English lines). It is interesting that there are countries where, although there has been a huge population for quite some time, their own type has not yet developed (e.g. Russia).

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The collie originates from Great Britain, from where it was transferred to other parts of the world, to various European countries, America, or Australia. The long-distance herds are almost completely separated from each other, although there are some - very distant - kennels where they still try to update the herd with dogs from the motherland (e.g. modern English collies in Australia). Unlike Australia, America is not really characterized by the importation of modern European dogs.  There is thus no truly classic and modern type among American dogs, the appearance of the population there has remained roughly the same in recent decades and is almost completely separate from the European one. American dogs arrived in Canada due to their geographical proximity, so most of the Canadian stock is made up of American dogs, but - mainly due to the influence of the French-Canadian territories - it is sometimes mixed with modern European lines as well. Unlike the American, there is no clearly defined Canadian or Australian type.

 

Types in total:

In time: classic - transitional - modern

In space: English, Scandinavian, French, American, mixed

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Determining collie types is not an exact science, these terms are more commonly used by breeders. There are no precise definitions of what type is exactly what. Not just because there are so many temporary, mixed-type dogs. The modernization process seems to be changing in some places in recent years. The number of breeders who prefer dogs with classic traits is increasing. In fact, the American collie has slowly but surely begun to conquer Europe...

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What type of Lassie? Since Lassie was a star of the 1940s and 1950s, and the author of the novel is English (Eric Knight, who bred the breed himself), it would be a classic English dog in terms of type. It would be... if it weren't for the movies, but since Lassie's story was filmed in America, the Lassie that lives in the public mind is a sable white American collie.