by Doris W. Werdermann
The popularity of the Smooth Collie has increased significantly all over the United States in the past 20 years. The improved quality of smooths has enhanced their success in inter-variety competition at Specialty shows and among all breeds in Groups and BIS classes. Rough and Smooth Collies are still being interbred today and it is not surprising to find the two varieties becoming more competitive in the show ring. The Smooth Collies has also gained greater recognition as a companion and obedience dog.
The Smooth Collie differs from the rough variety only in coat. The correct coat is as important to the overall quality of the smooth as the full coat is to the rough. The Smooth Collie is a double-coated dog with a short, soft, dense undercoat required for insulation as in roughs. The outer coat should be straight, harsh and close to the body and of sufficient length to cover the undercoat. The head and ears are smooth, as are the forelegs and hindlegs below the hock joint. The neck is furnished with slightly longer, thicker hair forming a slight ruff. The hair forming the pants, or skirts, on the hindquarters is slightly longer and more abundant than the body coat. In breeding and judging both varieties of Collies, an understanding of the correct coat characteristics is imperative.
Early Smooths in England
During the mid-1800s the Smooth Collies of Northern England were, in general balance and conformation, closer to today’s type for the variety than were the rough-coated dogs of Scotland, for the rough variety. These tended to be short-legged and long-bodied, with short, forward-thrust necks. Rough/Smooth crosses were common at that time.
H. E. Packwood wrote in Show Collies Rough and Smooth-Coated, published in 1906 in Manchester, England, that smooths had made good progress in the previous ten years and were equally as good for show or shepherd work as their rough brothers. He noted that the smooth was not so popular with the public and entries at shows ere small.
The show history of Collies had begun in 1860 at the Birmingham National Dog Show where one class for dogs and bitches of all varieties of sheepdogs was offered. By the 1870s the variety had taken hold and enough smooths were being exhibited for a few large shows to offer separate classes for them. One of the first smooths bred for the show rings was Eng. Ch. Pickmere, a tricolor dog from a rough/smooth cross, bred by F. Hurst and exhibited by A. H. Megson.
Another early influence on the smooth variety was Eng. Ch. Heathfield Dot, sired by a rough brother of Eng. Ch. Metchley Wonder, the well-known winner, from a blue merle smooth working bitch, Blue Light. Packwood wrote that Dot was …”an ideal quality blue merle with a perfectly chiseled head, nice ears, pleasing expression and a coat that is seldom equaled.”
Eng. Ch. Babette of Moreton (1900) was the top smooth bitch up to that time. She was a great-granddaughter of Heathfield Dot and was almost entirely of smooth breeding. in 1902 she won the Challenge trophy for Best Collie of Any Variety at the Collie Club show. Babette has been described as ideal, a lovely true type, an exquisite quality bitch with hardly a fault in her conformation. In 1906 at the same show, Ormskirk Venice won the championship, repeating the performance of Babette by winning the Challenge trophy.
A particularly beautiful and versatile smooth was the blue merle bitch, Eng. Ch. Laund Lynne (Hetman ex Primly Primula), owned by W. W. Stansfield, Whelped in 1917, Lynne herded sheep and cattle, retrieved and also had an illustrious show career. She was the winner of 17 challenge certificates, and was placed Best in Show all-breeds or Best Bitch in Show 95 times. Her record included the cup of Best of All-Breeds at the English Kennel Club show. She also won outright the silver jardiniere of the Kennel Club for Best Bitch in Show by winning it three straight years. Lynne was never bred during her youth owing to the demands of her show career. Remarkably, at ten years of age she reared a litter of seven puppies.
Early Smooths in America
The earliest record of smooths being shown in the United States is the Westminster catalogue of 1888. There was a class for “smooth-coated Collies and bob-tailed Sheepdogs,” sexes combined, which attracted five entries. By the 1890 Westminster, rough and smooth Collies were mixed in all classes except for open, which was divided by coat, but in Smooths combined in sexes. In the next decade four champions appeared: Ch. Clayton Countess (1901) finished in 1906, Ch. Ormskirk Mabel in 1907 and er daughter, Ch. Ormskirk Lucy, the following year. Then came Ch. Warran Patience in 1909. Smooth entries later declined, with no record of the variety being shown at all from 1923 to 1940.
During the Golden Age of Collies in America the popularity of roughs rendered the smooth variety all but extinct. In an attempt to overcome this condition, a syndicate was formed in 1939 consisting of such prominent fanciers as H. R. Lounsbury of Halmaric Kennels, Mrs. Clara M. Lunt of Alstead, Robert G. Wills of Alloway, Arthur Foff of Tamalgate and Mrs. Genevieve Torrey Eames of Torreya. They imported Laund Blue Peter, a blue smooth male, and Laund Loftygirl, a smooth tricolor bitch, the the Laund Kennels in England. The pair were bred twice with the members drawing lots for the puppies. Unfortunately the syndicate disbanded after a few years due to lack of interest and the progeny of the pair scattered. Their influence remains today, particularly in midwestern smooths.
Due to lack of competition, there were no opportunities to make up smooth champions during this period. However, Hewmark Hallmark, an imported tricolor bitch, won Best of Breed over roughs for three points and went on to place second in the Working Group at the Hampton Roads Kennel Club show in Norfolk, Virginia in 1941.
