Melanie L Chang said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

They're terribly different here as well, but no one knows
the difference. And frankly, from the average pet home
point of view, there is very little difference because the
differences that exist are not relevant to most pet owners.

I guess that since BCs are so common here, APO knows that an
Aussie is not a BC. They might not know what an Aussie is, but
it's not a BC. Big Rocky gets Berner once in a while.

I've never seen a Barbie Collie in real life - we have plenty of
large BCs, but the ones I know still have The Look.

Almost everyone in the street assumes Solo is an Aussie
because of his color, and he looks nothing like your
average Aussie.

At a trial this past weekend, a couple of CKC folks told me
unequivocally that any BC that wasn't B&W wasn't a real[1] BC,
that there was something else in there. "Nuh uh," I said, and
then after reflection, "So what if there is?" How far back do
we have to go before we decide a gene pool has been "dirtied"?
Aren't Bearded Collies crossed into UK BCs every once in a
while?

He's hairy, but not anywhere near Aussie
hairy, and skulks along like a secret agent -- not to
mention the luxuriant tail!

To me, the difference is all in the attitude. I don't need to
see a tail (or lack thereof).

[1] They reserved the word "purebred" for CKC recognised dogs.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.