German Shepherds and Border Collies are beautiful, impressive dogs. But what happens when a German Shepherd and a Border Collie start a family?
Quite simply: magical „Shollies“ are born.
Even though the FCI does not recognise such hybrid breeds, some breeders have dedicated their hearts to these wonderful crossbreeds.
External appearance of the Shollie
A mixed breed is always a surprise package, and this is no different with selective breeding. Which characteristics of the parents prevail is pure coincidence.
As both the German Shepherd and the Border Collie are medium sized, it can be assumed that the Shollie will also be medium sized.
However, Shollies often grow taller than their parents. While German Shepherds grow to 55 to 65 centimetres and Border Collies to 46 to 56 centimetres, Shollies measure 53 to 74 centimetres.
At 31 to 36 kilograms, the Shollie weighs considerably more than the Border Collie, which only weighs 12 to 20 kilograms, and is in the upper range compared to the German Shepherd (22 to 40 kilograms).
However, it is clear that the Shollie is athletically built. In stature, however, it resembles the muscular German Shepherd more than the lean Border Collie.
Both parents have dense, weatherproof coats, which are passed on to the Shollie in any case. How long the coat is, however, depends on which part of the inheritance is more important.
The coat colours could not be more varied. In some cases, the Shollie has the typical shepherd dog colouring or is black and white, as one would classically imagine a Border Collie to be.
However, the Border Collie comes in many more colours, which can also be seen in the Shollie. Blue-merle, purple, brindle or tri-coloured are just some of the possibilities.
Character of the Shollie
The character of mixed breeds is also left to chance, but Border Collies and German Shepherds have a lot in common.
Both are herding dogs and are therefore athletic, intelligent, self-confident, active, obedient, docile and alert.
They are also loyal to their families, love children and love people.
The Shollie inherits these traits from its parents, making it a loyal companion and family dog that never gets bored.
Like his parents, however, he also needs plenty of physical and mental exercise as well as consistent, but of course loving and exclusively positive training.
Because of its high need for activity and its self-confident intelligence, you should preferably already have experience if you want to take on a Shollie.
In addition, a Shollie should not be left alone for long periods of time, as it will quickly become bored.
