Information taken from G Force Border Collies site
| COLORS and PATTERNS |
| If you are interested in a BC and have seen the ads for "rare colors" and you are thinking "cool a rare color" let me explain. It is my opinion that a breeder who charges MORE for a pup of a different color is NOT a good breeder. I have not met ONE good breeder who charges different prices based on color or gender of puppies. Now that is not to say breeders do not charge different prices for non breeders / breeders or to repeat purchasers. Breeders who are breeding for color so that they can charge more are not breeders I would ever recommend ANYBODY buy from. They are out to make money and not worried about much else. I have never seen one of these color people doing hip and eye testing. Some will say they do but can they provide proof? Proof is a copy of OFA certificates and DNA certificate numbers. My advice is stay away from breeder who can't provide proof of health tests AND breeders who charge more money for colors. You should get a pup based on more than the color of the puppy. In Border Collies there are NO rare colors. There are colors that are not seen as often but they are not rare. Any breeder who wants to produce color can easily do it if they have basic knowledge of color genetics. Don't be fooled! Most of these "color" breeders will have ads that say "rare lilac" or "rare blue" do these breeders know anything about the dilute gene? Usually not. The most common colors for Border Collies here in the USA are black and whites, chocolates, tri's and merle patterned dogs. Those are the most common but really you can find any color or pattern very easily here in the USA. There are many breeders who produce blues, ee reds which is called Gold by the AKC, lilacs, slate blue merles, chocolate merle, sables and brindles. You can also get sable in different colors and merle in different colors as well. Merle: Breeders who want you to think merles are rare must not realize if you breed a merle you will get merle pups in the litter. That also goes for brindle and sable another non rare color. The colors except lilac you simply need to breed dogs who carry a color. To get lilac the parents must carry both chocolate and blue to produce it. ALSO PLEASE remember merle is NOT a color. Merle is a pattern. The ee red AKA Gold is a masking gene and the dogs true color is not the color you see. An ee red dog can be any color including blue, black, chocolate, lilac etc. Don't be fooled into paying more for any color. Below is a little info about a few colors or patterns hope this helps for those who want to know the difference. I am working on making this easier to read. If you have a dog and want me to put his her picture here let me know and I will add your dogs photo with credit. |
Border Collies
come in most
colors:
Black and
white
Chocolate
Sable
Lilac
Blue
Gold
ee red (called
gold by AKC
or Australian
red)
Merle (merle is
a pattern not a
color so your
dog can be
any color and
have the merle
pattern too!)
Brindle
Tri (can be in
combo with
other colors)
come in most
colors:
Black and
white
Chocolate
Sable
Lilac
Blue
Gold
ee red (called
gold by AKC
or Australian
red)
Merle (merle is
a pattern not a
color so your
dog can be
any color and
have the merle
pattern too!)
Brindle
Tri (can be in
combo with
other colors)
| Newborn litter of pups. Black and white, blue and white, slate blue merle and blue merle. |
| Tan points also called Tri. Tri can be present in all colors as well as dogs with the merle pattern. |
| Ticking is common in Border Collies in varying degrees. Ticking is a dominant gene so it is very common in certain lines. |
| Irish Spotting or Piebald? There is a difference Irish Spotting is from the shoulders forward and piebald goes back farther. If a solid colored dog has a white patch on the back of it is a piebald even if the face of the dog is classically marked. So if you breed that Piebald to a white factored dog you will get a lot of white on your puppies. |
