- Permissible: Variety of colours
- White should never predominate
About the Border Collie
Origin: Great Britain
- Typical life span
- 12-15 years
- Size
- Medium — from its typical weight
- Weight
- 14-25 kg
- Height
- Male
- 48-56 cm
- Female
- 46-53 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Sheepdogs and Cattledogs (except Swiss Cattledogs)
- Origin
- Great Britain
- Known hereditary risks
- 4 documented conditions, with the test for each
About
What is a Border Collie?
Medium-sized, highly intelligent, and athletic herding dog with keen expression and intense work drive, renowned for its instinctual ability to control livestock with its signature stare
Border Collie history and origins
Developed by shepherds on the border of England and Scotland for herding sheep in hilly terrain, refined through selective breeding for working ability. The breed's lineage can be traced back to a single dog named Old Hemp, born in 1893.
Border Collie appearance and size
Males typically stand 48-56 cm at the shoulder and females 46-53 cm.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Sheepdog
- Behaviour and temperament
“Tenacious, hard-working, of great responsive and intelligent. Neither nervous nor aggressive. tractability. Keen, alert,”
Quoted from FCI standard n°297. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Medium
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Sheepdog” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 4 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 3 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- 4 conditions documented
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Border Collie
What you get with the Border Collie
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Sheepdog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Tenacious, hard-working, of great responsive and intelligent. Neither nervous nor aggressive. tractability. Keen, alert,”
What you are taking on
- 3 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in brain & nerves and eyes. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “Two varieties: Moderately long or Smooth.”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; OFA — Collie Eye Anomaly. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Border Collie
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged permissible.
Coat
Two varieties: Moderately long or Smooth.
In both, topcoat dense and medium textured, undercoat soft and dense giving good weather resistance.
In the moderately long-coated variety, abundant coat forms mane, breeching and brush.
On face, ears, forelegs (except for feather), hindlegs from hock to ground, hair should be short and smooth
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°297 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the breed standard says
- Size
- “Ideal height at withers: Males: 53 cm (21 ins), Females: slightly less”
- FCI distinguishes an ideal from what is permitted.
Quoted from FCI standard n°297. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Border Collie in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
Health & screening guide for the Border Collie
Known hereditary risks for the Border Collie breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
4 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Brain & nerves
Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL5)
Serious
A fatal, inherited storage disease in which waste products build up in nerve cells. Affected dogs develop behavioural change, loss of coordination and seizures from around 15–20 months old and rarely survive past 32 months. There is no treatment.
What to ask for
A DNA test for the CLN5 nonsense mutation, on both parents.
Eyes
Collie eye anomaly (CEA / choroidal hypoplasia)
Serious
A congenital defect in how the back of the eye develops, present from birth, ranging from a small blind spot with no effect on vision to retinal detachment and blindness in the more severe form. Mild cases are easy to overlook without an early exam.
What to ask for
A DNA test for the NHEJ1 gene deletion, on both parents — or, if DNA status is unknown, an eye examination by a veterinary ophthalmologist at 6–8 weeks old, before secondary changes can mask a mild case.
Blood
Trapped neutrophil syndrome (TNS)
Serious
An inherited immune deficiency in which infection-fighting white blood cells cannot leave the bone marrow properly, leaving affected puppies with recurrent infections and poor growth. It is typically fatal, or requires euthanasia, in puppyhood.
What to ask for
A DNA test for the VPS13B mutation, on both parents.
Medication sensitivity
Multidrug sensitivity (MDR1)
Monitor
A mutation in the ABCB1 (MDR1) gene disables a protein that normally pumps certain drugs out of the brain, so an affected dog can react to standard doses of drugs such as ivermectin, loperamide or acepromazine with tremors, disorientation or collapse. The Border Collie carries the same mutation as the classic working Collie, but at a much lower frequency in the breed.
What to ask for
A DNA test for the ABCB1 4-base-pair deletion — UC Davis's Veterinary Genetics Laboratory explicitly lists Border Collie as a breed appropriate for this test. The result matters most as information to give a vet before anaesthesia, sedation or antiparasitic treatment, not as a breeding disqualifier on its own.
How long the Border Collie lives, in the records
Median survival 13.1 years
95% confidence interval 13.0–13.2 years, from 7,969 recorded deaths among 12,943 dogs
Mortality hazard 0.85 (0.83, 0.87) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.
Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
Gallery
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Puppies
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