Sheltie?

Question
We just adopted a dog from the Humane Society. They told us she is a sheltie, and our vet agreed with that. But, a second vet who has seen her says she is a small collie. How can we tell for sure?

Thank you,
Laura McCaffrey

Answer
Hi Laura!

First, thank you for adopting from a shelter!

Now, about your pup:
The key differences between shelties and collies are size, nose, and legs.  

Sheltie acceptable range is from 20 to about 35 lbs. With that said some recent champions have been huge, on the 35+ side... but I digress. Collies begin at approx 40 and go higher in weight.

Your BEST indicator: A sheltie will have a well-defined curve down to the snout on the head, and the snout will be relatively short, or about the same "depth" as the rounded skull area.  A collie will typically have a nose that is up to twice as long as the rounded skull area.  A collie's snout will gradually meld to the end of the nose like a ramp where a Sheltie's snout has a definite start below the eyes.

Shelties have a very difinitive profile against a Collie if you know what your are looking for: nose and "ruff" shape.

A shelties legs are approximately as tall as their torso.  There are usually "guard hairs" -like "wing hair" out of the back of the legs coming down the leg to the paws. Collie legs are usually slightly longer or taller than the torso.

Otherwise they both look like "Lassie" dogs.  Just the smaller they look, the more likely it is actually a Sheltie.

There is a story of cross breeding in the early 20th century to help preserve the herding and size of the sheltie with Collies but I haven't confirmed that.  It does help explain their sable coloring pattern similarities though.

What matters most is not what your dog is but WHO your dog is and how y'all get along.  Labels are nice, but love is so much better!

Enjoy your new addition!
'sneezes
Dave