What colour is he?

[Chaz]

Where I work a bc came in that had a blue Merle face, with multi colour eyes (which I know is very common in blue merles'), but his body is white with black patches so what colour is he as I didn't know what he would be classed as :confused:

[Melamaphine]

It would more than likely be a white merle, which occurs when two blue merles are bred together. Merle is a recessive gene so when two blue merles are bred it can produce the whites.

In rough collies it is extremely undesirable and considered a breed fault, it can also cause many problems with pups as white merles can be born dead or blind and deaf for some reason related to the recessive gene. In rough collies, few would dare breed blue merles together for this fear.

[agilityk9trainer]

Actually, it depends on the colored part of him. If the colored part is diluted, he may be a double merle. This is when two merles breed together. 1/4 of the litter will be double merles - also called lethal white. They are called lethal whites because often these pups are born deaf and blind. Very, very few come through without being one or the other.

However, there is another type of white coloring in herding dogs. It's the same gene that creates pinto ponies. My dog, Jericho, is one of these. In shelties, it's called a "color-headed white." It is NOT a double merle, but instead occurs if two white factored shelties breed. This is completely different set of genes than the merleing gene. Jericho's colored part is sable merle. In shelties, any dog with over 50 percent white on it is considered a color headed white (unless the coloring on the dog is diluted).

Here's a picture of Jericho. He's got far more white on him than most color-headed white shelties. Most also have spots on them like pinto ponies would.

Here's a picture of Jericho:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/caninetrainer/JERICHOFULLBODYMICKEY.jpg

Here's a link to sheltie colors. It explains the double merle and the color headed white:

http://www.illinoissheltierescue.com/colors.html

Here's a link to border collie colors. Toward the bottom, it shows the border collie equalivelent (sp?) of the color headed white in shelties. It is the exact same gene set up.

http://www.bordercolliecolors.com/bordercolliecolors.white.html

Here's a pic of borders who are double merles.

http://www.bordercollies.nl/ekldblm.shtml

[Melamaphine]

Jericho is gorgeous Agility!

Interesting to hear that what we would call a 'White Merle' is a Lethal White in the US. Colour-headed whites are a breed fault here so you don't see them, as far as I know breeders make sure not to breed two white factored collies.

I found this site that explains the genes in rough collie pairings and the colourings they produce and it's a good reference if anyone is interested....

http://www.triadcollies.com/gen.php?boja1=1100&boja2=0000

[agilityk9trainer]

Unfortunately, Color headed whites are sometimes killed as puppies, even to this day, by some breeders. Most breeders do avoid breeding two white factored dogs together to avoid this coloration. But my understanding is that sometimes it's hard to tell if a dog is white factored until a CHW is born.

Thanks for the compliment on Jericho. I think he's beautiful, too. :)

And, yes, I think the "lethal white" term is very fitting.

[Chaz]

Oh I think that this dogs is gorgeous, he is quite unique and has the most lovely temperament, I don't see why people will kill puppies because they don't look right, if they really don't like them they could give them to a rescue home where they won't have their fancy papers and will have to be neutered or spayed (which my dogs get down anyway). Thanks for the info.

[Aussiepaws]

With Aussies they would probably consider your dog a Blue merle. In collies it would be considered the white variety if the body were white. In Aussies like Collies crossing two merles is frowned upon because of the chance of birth defects that can affect the eyes, and ears. Most often these pups can be born deaf or blind or both.

[Chaz]

Oh thats sad what can happen if you breed two blue merles together I wonder how many people who don't know this has done this.

[lassie]

It has been done succesfully some years ago.

[Chaz]

Well that is good news, is it because they are only breeding dogs which have none of these issues in their family history? I think that the blue merles are the best, I've also read that sable and white rough collies were as hard to find as sable and white border collies before the film Lassie, I find it so amazing what difference a film can make to people.
Sorry I just saw that your name was Lassie, I hope I didn't cause offence I just think that its amazing that people see a dog on a film and think that they want that one, maybe they should do more films about rescue dogs and see if that helps dogs in the rescues all over the place.

[Chaz]

:o :o