To understand the collie, you must understand where they come from and why they are classified as a “collie”.  In this article, we will take a trip “up the ladder” to learn the specific scientific classification of the Collie Dog.

Scientific Collie Classification Breakdown Review:

Individual Collie >  Your Pet
Breed > Rough & Smooth Collie
Group > Herding Group (In the US / AKC Kennel Registry)
Sub Species > The Domesticated Dog
Species > Canis Lupis

Genus > Canis
Family > Canidae 
Sub Order > Caniformia
Order > Carnivora
Class > Mammalia
Phylum >  Chordata
Kingdom >  Animalia

In this Article, we will cover the first five classification steps of the Collie – Individual through Species.

Individual:  Personality and variety determines differences

The individual collie has many different personalities – funny, serious, goofy, mature, motherly, playful, etc.  These personalities, including specific fears, needs, activities, learning speed, vocal ability, and more are what makes up your special collie.  Individual collies also have variations in coat texture, coat length, coat color markings, height, weight, overall size, and vocal sound.  For instance, the Sable White Rough Collie has many different varieties of colors possible, from light golden red to deep, dark mahogony.

Breed: Traits inherant to a dog line, and is perpetuated through their descendants.

On a common level, however, they were all specifically bred for one purpose – to herd and gather livestock.  Their ability to perpetuate the same traits (herding, intelligence, calmness, non-aggressiveness), same looks (colors, coat variety), and temperament from one generation to another makes them a “breed” – the Rough &  Smooth Collie.  When one purebred rough or smooth collie is mated with another purebred rough or smooth collie, they will always produce another rough or smooth collie with the exact same looks, colors, inherant traits, and temperaments of their ancesters.  The mating of a rough collie to a border collie will not produce the same breed as characteristics from both of the 2 different breed lines will be noticeable in the cross mix.

Group: Based Collectively on Common Breed Traits

On a group level, however, they all have the Herding trait – the inbred instint over hundreds of years that guide them on a subconcious level to non-agressively herd and gather livestock (or children!). In the United States, the Collie breed is part of the AKC’s Herding Group along with other herding dogs such as the border collie, bearded sheepdog, and austrailian cattle dog. Each of the breeds represented are believed to have come from many of the same ancesters.

Sub-Species: The Domesticated Dog

Further up the line, groups are all part of a larger domestication formation known as “Domesticated Dogs” – a subspecies of the wolf. The English word dog, in common usage, refers to the domestic dog’s sub-species Canis lupus familiaris. The English word dog might derive from the Old English docga, a “powerful breed of canine”. The English word hound is a cognate of German Hund, Dutch hond, common Scandinavian hund, Icelandic hundur which, though referring to a specific breed in English, means “dog” in general in the other Germanic languages. Hound itself derives from the Proto-Indo-European *kwon-, which is the direct root of the Greek ???? (ku?n) and the indirect root of the Latin canis through the variant form *kani-.

Officially, a male canine is referred to as a dog, while a female canine is called a bitch. The father of a litter is called the sire, and the mother of a litter is called the dam. Offspring are generally called pups or puppies until they are about a year old. A group of offspring is a litter. The process of birth is whelping. Pups who are born to two parents of the same breed line are called purebred.

Species: Canis Lupis

The subspecies of the domesticated dog belongs to the Species “Canis Lupis” – the Gray Wolf.  The gray wolf was once abundant over much of North America and Eurasia. However, as a result of habitat destruction and widespread hunting, it now inhabits a very limited portion of its former range. In some regions, gray wolves are listed as endangered or threatened, although considered as a whole, wolves are regarded as a species of least concern for extinction according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Wolves are still hunted in many areas of the world for sport and as perceived threats to livestock. Kazakhstan is currently thought to have the largest wolf population of any nation in the world, with as many as 90,000, versus some 60,000 for Canada, which is three and a half times larger.

Tomorrow we will learn about the final classifications of the Collie Dog – their Genus, Family, Order, Class, Phylum, and finally, Kindom.

Related posts:

1. Understanding Collie History Series (Intro)
2. Intro to Collie Origins
3. One Breed.. Two Varieties..
4. The Rough & Smooth Collie Personality
5. Kennel Time – The AKC vs. the UKC