There were three lengths. The Welsh shepherds still have all three, NO?
Chico was a long coated ES (in the seventies).
Susie Q is very heat sensitive- a genetic tendency that has also been bred
out of the show collies. In 2000 we let her shed naturally, and her tail
shed almost all of the long hairs, looked kinda funny- I took pictures.
This spring when we moved to Show Low it was a lot warmer than Angel Fire
and Susie started shedding profusely! We had her clipped and left her tail
long Now she has a very full tail with hair that is about six inches long!
Susie has a "Teflon" coat that almost never needs grooming. Lucy is even
more teflon. http://www.geocities.com/farmcollie1/lucy.html
Rough collies haf=ve a wiry texture to the coat- I figure it helps fluff it
out0 sure makes burrs and everything stick worse, too!
As of now there are no smooths registered with AWFA, but they are allowed.
Elaine