BC body type

[IronHorse]

I have seen over the last couple of years numerous posts and replies indicating individual opinions as to what crosses are thought to be in a paticular dog when a picture is posted.

 

With the diversity that exsist within the "pure blood lines" I am curious what is concidered to be a "typical" Border Collie body type?

[border_collie_crazy]

good question, both my pure BCs have completly differnt body types lol youve got Happy with her rounded rear end, stick straight back legs, big ribcage with huge tuck up, long slender neck and narrow racy looking head. then you've got Misty with her squared body, squared and well bent hind legs, small tuck up, shorter thicker neck, and and almost blocky head lol

[stockdogranch]

Yes, part of makes a BC a BC is that there IS NO typical body type (at least there wasn't until the ACK got hold of 'em), and that's still true with the TRUE working lines (and I DON'T mean the candy-colored SPORT bred ones). However, after you've been around the real working ones for a long time, you can just "see" it--it's a lot like that old quote about pornography--I can't define it, but I know it when I see it!

A

[Catu]

I think too that with the wide variety of BC many rescuers take advantage or just involuntary missunderstand any mutt as BC mix just because thay are black and white or have semi-prick ears. Here in Chile Border Collie are still very rare. 7 or 8 years you couldn't see almost any of them, now there are a few breeders but the cost of a pup is no less than 600 dollars, so there are not in strays BCs or BCs on shelters (yet). And even that way, you can see "Borders Collies" in lot of places that are just black or red mutts with white collars, but there is no a single BC gene on them on the past 100 generations. The pattern is very common and many people could think of BC as a direct parent, without the need of it.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

What tips me off is the fact that other breeds ARE highly standardized, so the moderation and functionality of the Border Collie physique often stands out like a sore thumb among the vast majority of breeds that are focused on conformation.

 

Sometimes the field type setters will throw me, and there's a couple of other breeds that can produce a well-balanced body type like the Border Collies if outcrossed right (huskies, spitzes, terriers, pointers) - but there's often another tipoff there like color, coat type, the shape of the tail (the "quill pen" feathering on a setter's tail is unmistakable).

 

That moderation is pretty propotent - it's as fixed a characteristic as wrinkles on a Shar Pei and it keeps showing up in multiple generations. I have a dog here that is probably an Aussie mix - it has the typical Aussie head tacked on a slim, moderate, athletic Border Collie body. It's a bit uncanny to look at, but most Aussie/BCs I see are like that.

[WyoBC]

I thought about that a lot before I got mine too. But like Stockdogranch said "you just know when you see one". Once your around them for a while you just know. Being from Wyoming I know what "most" BC's look like but there's a lot of them that are BC but I wouldn't have guessed it.