Sheltie Colors General WHAT ARE SABLES WHAT IS “WHITE- VS. AOAC FACTORING” AND “IRISH PATTERNS”?

IMPORTANT: “NWF” (non-white-factored) still technically carry a "WF" (white- factored) called the "Irish Pattern" which is a normal and acceptable white pat- tern that can appear as a blaze down the muzzle, around the ruff in full or part, on the feet and legs in whole or in part, and the tip of the tail.

White-factor is a normal and acceptable white pattern that can demonstrate areas of white the same as the Irish Pattern (which is arguably still white factoring) in addition to white along the stifle and underbelly. Ab- Simply put, SABLES are the sence of white in these areas do not pre- "brown" dogs ranging from golden through clude a sheltie from being non-white fac- mahogany) marked with varying amounts tored! Breeders should make a conscious of white. AOACs are the "black" and "blue" effort to breed away from heavily white- dogs marked with varying amounts of white factored dogs because breeders cannot con- and/or tan. AOAC stands for "any other ac- trol where the white appears. ceptable color." (See following pages for examples.) Similar to too many doses of the merling gene, the white-factor dilutes the Unacceptable colors includes any Sheltie “base” coat color of the which can that exhibits more than 50% white, which cause excess white around the eyes and are also known as heavily-marked whites ears, thereby stripping the melanin neces- and color-headed-whites and are so se- sary for proper hearing and vision verely penalized as to effectively eliminate (reference Strain, 2002). them from AKC competition. Whereas ex- cessive white is severely penalized, Using more dogs with the white factored is disqualified. genes will produce considerably more white patches throughout the base coat known as Other faulty colors are rustiness in a black “mismarks” or in the case of a color- or blue coat and otherwise washed-out or headed-white (a heavily white-factored degenerate colors, such as pale sable and sheltie), a colored-head, which is represen- faded blue. Self-color, in the case of merle, tative of the “base” coat color, and an all- that is, without any merling or mottling white body—and undesirable breed type generally appears as a faded or diluted tri- (reference the sheltie standard) and penal- color and are also considered faulty, as are ized as such. However these shelties have “liver” or “chocolate” dilutes. typical vision and hearing function, look for color around the eyes and ears. NOTE: Solid colors no longer exist in the breed and brindle is extremely rare and un- *** desirable (a color disqualification).

29 Sheltie Colors Standard

PFS TFS or BFS SM TFSM or BFSM

TRI BFT BW

BM BFBM BB

Abbreviation Common Breed Color Name AKC Description Type Code

BW Bi-Black Black & White S 019

TRI Tri Color Black White & Tan S 034 BFT Bi-factored Tri

BB Bi-Blue Merle Blue Merle & White S 051

BM Blue Merle Blue Merle White & Tan S 052 BFBM Bi-Factored Blue Merle

PFS Pure-for-Sable Sable & White S 165 TFS/BFS Tri-factored/Bi-factored Sable

SM Sable Merle Sable Merle & White S 277 TFSM/BFSM Tri-factored/Bi-factored Sable Merle

30 Sheltie Colors Alternate

CHW—PFS CHW—TFS or BFS CHW—SM CHW—BFSM or TFSM

CHW—TRI CHW—BFT CHW—BW MM

CHW—BM CHW—BFBM CHW—BB

*Note: CHW = “Color Headed White” Abbreviation Common Breed Color Name AKC Description Type Code

BT N/A Black & Tan A 018

MM Double Merle/Double Dilute/Homozygous White White A 199

CHW Bi-Black White & Black A 202

CHW-PFS Pure-for-Sable White & Sable A 215 CHW-TFS/BFS Tri-factored/Bi-factored Sable

CHW-SM Sable Merle White & Sable Merle A 296 CHW-TFSM/BFSM Tri-factored/Bi-factored Sable Merle

CHW-TRI Tri-Color White Black & Tan A 219 CHW-BFT Bi-factored Tri Color

CHW-BB Bi-Blue Merle White Blue Merle A 266

CHW-BM Blue Merle White Blue Merle & Tan A 265 CHW-BFBM Bi-factored Blue Merle

31 Sheltie Colors Sable

SOLID

PURE-FOR-SABLE

WHY ARE SHELTIES COM- But it’s not just “Lassie” that MONLY BROWN & WHITE? gives to bear its fame inas- much as pure genetics. The gene responsible for sable in rown shelties are B the sheltie is dominant (Ay) otherwise known as sables. producing a golden sable. There are many different shades of sable, from a light The intensity of the pigment is blonde to a deep red and even actually controlled by one or BI OR TRI FACTORED SABLE a deeper mahogany that can more factors. Also see sable sometimes appear almost merle. black.

Sable has become the most *** popular colour to the breed further popularized by the sa- ble , “Lassie”.

Ch. Bamhollow Blaze of Glory

32 Sheltie Colors White

TRICOLOR

WHY ARE SOME SHELTIES BLACK INSTEAD OF BROWN?

Black shelties, oth- erwise known as tris or bis, BI-FACTORED TRICOLOR are a naturally-occurring color in the breed; but in order to produce a black sheltie, a sheltie breeder is actually ma- nipulating recessive genes, specifically the agouti pat- terns.

***

BICOLOR

33 Sheltie Colors Merling

SOLID Double Merle with White

WHAT IS MERLING? (Blue Merles)

nlike the MERLE U the "sable" dog bred to a dog with the merling gene, *It is important to under- whereas he may or stand color genetics. Some may not appeared breeders may mistake this brilliantly merled, a double merle for a color- headed white. tri- or bi- dog bred to a merle that produces a blue merle become easily identified as a merle to show and because the results are always eas- WHITE ier achieved and the patterns striking, blue merles are more popular than sable merles.

*NOTE: The merle gene in one dose "dilutes" the “base” coat color of the dog, which results in a marbled appearance. In the case of an offspring receiving a double dose of the mer- ling gene (which can only happen when the sire and dam are both merled), the base coat color is diluted twice over, which in many instances may also include the head. Yet, in some other instances, may be extremely difficult to differentiate from a color-headed white. In double dilutes especially, there have been problems with hearing and vision because the gene not only dilutes the melanin in the coat, but the melanin crucial for proper vision and hearing, as well.

Blue Merle with White (also white-factored) Blue Merle with White & Tan

34 Sheltie Colors Merling

SABLE MERLE (SM)

WHAT IS MERLING? (Sable Merles)

ny color can be introduced to the mer- BI– OR TRI– FACTORED SM A ling gene. For instance, if a sable is bred to a dog with the merling gene, he becomes a sable merle and often times is referred to as "blonde" because the deep red pigment in the sable be- comes washed to the color of straw.

This is a difficult color (sable merle) to show in America and many advise against the practice of breeding sables with merles for this reason. In Canada, the color is accepted and actively shown. It isn't always easy to distinguish a sable from a sable merle unlike the pictures below that demonstrates a noticeable difference.

Note: there are not any solid colors remaining in Shelties and with that, there no longer exists black and tan shelties. All shelties carry a degree of white factoring as shown in the photos below with a full “Irish Pattern” expression (collar, muzzle, legs & tail tip).

Sable & White (no merling) Sable Merle (with visible merling)

35 Sheltie Colors sheltie is touted as "normal" WF to unsuspecting buyers, es- pecially if there appears too much white in these areas (eyes & ears). WHAT ARE COLOR HEADED WHITES? ARE A “safe” color-headed white THEY RARE? may appear as pictured be- low, where clearly there is color around the eyes and Color headed whites ears. HWF are not a rare color, nor are heavily white-factored A color-headed white can ap- whites! Any breeder with pear in any color known to knowledge of color genetics the breed, as can a heavily- can very simply breed for marked white sheltie. these colors. A Word About Harle The only difference is that The “harlequin” gene, more breeders have very little con- accurately known as the trol where the white is dis- “White” (Ww) gene or Grey tributed, and presents a ma- Merle Dilution gene is not jor problem as it poses seri- CHW merling nor is it white- ous health risks if expressed factoring. Despite myth, this incorrectly. gene does not belong to the Great Dane alone, it is com- Most breeders do not pur- monly appearing in the posefully breed for this color as well. because it is highly faulted Breeders: this gene is carried (to the point a sheltie with recessively on the solids and more than 50% white is se- when bred to merle, dilutes verely penalized from breed the blue-merled areas to competition). You may often white. Use extreme caution! MM read a colored-headed-white sheltie is "normal" in every *** way except he possesses a colored head and a white body. While this may be true, it may also not be the case!

Ensure any "white sheltie" you breed has had his eyes CERF-tested and ears BAER-tested for a "normal" rat- ing before the

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