What is a smooth-coat border collie?

A smooth-coat border collie is a border collie with short fur all over its body. This is in contrast to the rough-coat variety, which has medium-length hair on most of its body and shorter hair on its extremities, ears and face.

Although show-quality border collies may only have a smooth coat or a rough coat, many purebred collies have coats of an intermediate length or with a mix of hair lengths. Dogs of either coat type may have fur of any texture, including wavy. Although the rough coat type suggests coarseness, smooth-coat collies actually have coarser fur, on average. Neither coat type is preferred over the other in terms of the breeding standard.