General Character: The Collie is a lithe, strong, responsive, active dog, carrying no useless timber, standing naturally straight and firm. The deep, moderately wide chest shows strength, the sloping shoulders and well-bent hocks indicate speed and grace, and the face shows high intelligence. The Collie presents an impressive, proud picture of true balance, each part being in harmonious proportion to every other part and to the whole.

Head: The head properties are of great importance. When considered in proportion to the size of the dog, the head is inclined to lightness and never appears massive. Both in front and profile view the head bears a general resemblance to a well blunted lean wedge, being smooth and clean in outline and nicely balanced in proportion. On the sides it tapers gradually and smoothly from the ears to the end of the black nose.

Teeth: Meet in scissor bite and are of good size.

There is very little prominence of the eyebrows.

Eyes: Because of the combination of the flat skull, the arched eyebrows, the slight stop and the rounded muzzle, the foreface must be chiselled to form a receptable for the eyes and they are necessarily placed obliquely to give them the required forward outlook. Except for the blue merles, they are required to be matched in colour, almond shaped, medium size and never to appear large or prominent.

Ears: The ears are in proportion to the size of the head and, if they are carried properly and unquestionably "break" naturally, are seldom too small.When in repose the ears are folded lengthwise and thrown back into the frill.

Neck: The neck is firm, clean, muscular, sinewy and heavily frilled. It is fairly long, carried upright with a slight arch at the nape and imparts a proud, upstanding appearance showing off the frill.

Body: The body is firm, hard and muscular, a trifle long in proportion to the height. Ribs are well rounded behind the well sloped shoulders and the chest is deep, extending to the elbows. The back is strong and level, supported by powerful hips and thighs and the croup is sloped to give a well rounded finish.

Legs: The forelegs are straight and muscular, with a fair amount of bone considering the size of the dog. The hind legs are less fleshy, muscular at the thighs, very sinewy and the hocks and stifles are well bent.

Gait: The gait or movement is distinctly characteristic of the breed. A sound Collie is not out at the elbows but it does nevertheless, move forward with its front feet tracking comparatively close together.

Coat: The well fitting, proper textured coat is the crowning glory of the rough variety of Collie. It is abundant except on the head and legs. The outer coat is straight and harsh to the touch. The undercoat however, is soft, furry and so close together that it is difficult to see the skin when the hair is parted. Very abundant on the mane and frill. The face or mask is smooth, hind legs are smooth below the hock joints. The hair on the tail is very profuse and on the hips it is long and bushy.

Colour: The four recognized colours are sable and white, tri-colour, blue merle and white. There is no preference among them. The sable and white is predominantly sable to fawn sable colour of varying shades from, light gold to dark mahogany, with white markings usually on the chest, neck, legs, feet and the tip of the tail. A blaze may appear on the foreface, of backskull, or both. The tri-colour is predominantly black, carrying white markings as in a sable and white and has tan shadings on and about the head and legs. The blue merle is a mottled or marbled colour most blue gray and black with white markings as in the sable and white, and usually has tan shadings as in the tri-colour. The white is predominantly white, preferably with sable or tri-colour markings. Blue merle colouring is undesirable in whites.

The Smooth Variety of Collie is judged by the same Standard as the Rough Variety; except that the references to the quanity and the distribution of the coat are not applicable to the Smooth Variety, which has a hard, dense, smooth coat.