All About
Bearded Collie

Bearded Collies are trainable and thrive with obedience, agility, herding, utility and/or other performance tasks. Their enthusiastic personality makes them stand out in the conformation show ring as well. Obedience training can be a wonderful performance activity for both owner and dog. However, Beardies do have an independent spirit that can make them challenging to train. They are easily bored, so keeping the training interesting is important. When done with patience and good attitude, the results of training Bearded Collies can be incredibly rewarding.

The Bearded Collie should do well on a high-quality dog food, whether commercially manufactured or home-prepared with your veterinarian’s supervision and approval. Any diet should be appropriate to the dog’s age (puppy, adult, or senior). Some dogs are prone to getting overweight, so watch your dog’s calorie consumption and weight level. Treats can be an important aid in training, but giving too many can cause obesity. Learn about which human foods are safe for dogs, and which are not. Check with your vet if you have any concerns about your dog’s weight or diet. Clean, fresh water should be available at all times.

The Beardie grooming regimen consists of two parts. The first is a daily brushing to remove tangles and foreign matter, which shouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes, assuming the dog hasn’t gotten into something messy. The second part is a weekly session with a pin rake, brush, comb, and possibly anti-tangle spray to remove dead hair and return the coat to pristine condition. This generally takes a half-hour to an hour. As with all breeds, the Beardie’s nails should be trimmed regularly, because overly long nails can cause the dog pain as well as problems walking and running.

The Beardie is an indoor/outdoor dog. He needs to live inside with his people with access to a yard or fenced acreage where he can run. He's not suited to apartment life. Beardies enjoy being with their people, whether they're indoors or outdoors. They'll be satisfied with a couple of half-hour walks or play sessions with a ball daily.Obedience training is a must if you are going to establish order and discipline in your dog's life. Make learning fun, and teach them with positive reinforcement techniques such as food rewards, play, and praise. Bearded Collies do not learn under abusive or harsh conditions. Begin training early and you will obtain excellent results. To ensure that he doesn't accidentally knock over a toddler or older person, teach him to sit for attention.

Major concerns: none
Minor concerns: CHD, epilepsy, colonic disease, pemphigus
Occasionally seen: CHD, aortic stenosis, PRA, PPM, cataract, vWD
Suggested tests: hip, (eye), (cardiac)
Life span: 12-14 years

The Bearded Collie is one of the oldest breeds in Britain. Sometimes called the Highland Collie, the Mountain Collie, or the Hairy Mou'ed Collie, shaggy herding dogs of this type existed for centuries as helpmeets to farmers. Farmers bred for working ability and didn't keep records, so how the Beardie came to be is unknown, but it's believed that a Polish merchant visiting Scotland in the 1500s traded a pair of Polish Lowland Sheepdogs for other commodities. Those dogs were probably crossed with local sheepdogs to develop what became the Bearded Collie.The earliest visual portrayals of Bearded Collie-type dogs are in a portrait painted by Gainsborough in 1771, and in a Reynolds portrait from 1772. A description of the breed was published in 1818 in an edition of Live Stock Journal. Bearded Collies were popular working and show dogs at the end of the Victorian era, but they had no breed club and no official standard (a written description of how the breed should look and act). The breed was kept alive by shepherds who valued their working abilities and continued to use them as working sheepdogs.The development of the modern Bearded Collie is credited to G.O. Willison, who began breeding Beardies for the show ring after World War II. She was instrumental in forming the Bearded Collie Club in Britain in 1955. In 1959 the Kennel Club granted rights to show for Challenge Certificates and Championships. The breed gained in popularity after that.Bearded Collies first came to the United States in the late 1950s, but none of those dogs were bred. The first litter was born in the U.S. in 1967. By 1969 the Beardie had enough people interested in him that they were able to form the Bearded Collie Club of America. The breed was admitted into the American Kennel Club's Working Group on February 1, 1977. It moved to the Herding Group when that group was established in January 1983. Today the Bearded Collie ranks 104th among the 155 breeds and varieties registered by the AKC.