Why did you get the color sheltie you have?

Oh but I have to confess that while color does not matter eyes do. The blue eyed merles creep me out. I can have Spitfire or Sca stare at me but cannot do the same with most blue eyed merles (Cranberry is an exception to this for the most part) So while I want a Blue Merle one day it MUST have dark eyes that was a factor in getting the guys as while I could find merles finding one with both eyes dark is more challenging.

 

With black cats, the reason is stupid: bad luck, witchcraft, stupid. I think the bias against black dogs is possibly linked. BTW- I will ALWAYS own a black cat.

 

My mother adopted a pregnant black cat once and we were up to are armpits in black kittens. They were most definitely NOT bad luck, but the superstition as I understand it, black cats are bad luck if they cross your path. If they come to live with you, they are considered good luck. It could be that if they cross your path and you are driving an SUV, it's bad luck .... for the cat.

 

I don't think I knew any other colors existed 15 years ago when I got Miko. I grew up with a sable so I wanted a sable. As Miko matured and turned darker, I fell in love with his coloring. When I wanted another Sheltie, I went back to the same breeder for one big reason....temperament. I went to a show and out of all the dogs there, her dogs rarely barked. Sold. Add one more mahogany sable.

I then fell in love with a CHW that has, cow spots, no clue what you call it as the dog wasn't all white. Then fell in love with the bi-blues that are more like Aussies (more black spots and darker blues, not so silver/gray - sorry Ember). It seems I like AOACs that aren't the norm for coloring, darnit! I also like tri's that have a bit more brown.

Lastly, I love blazes, but neither of my boys have any. Could be why I like them more.

What will my next dog's coloring be? Most likely an AOAC. I won't get a pup until I'm ready, emotionally, after it's Miko's time. I'll probably want a dog that doesn't look like him, as Koji will be reminder enough and that will probably just kill me. So, I'll take whatever is the right fit. Oh I'm sure I'll have my faves, color wise, but personality and temperament is more important if I want to do sports with the pup.

ETA: I do like black dogs, but not so much in Shelties, no clue why. I had a black cat, but I really like calico's. I think I like the solid, bold colors on dogs. Huh.

 

Our first sheltie was sable by choice for colors there were other pups that were tris but we really did want a sable. When he died in 2011 my husband swore we were not going to get another dog he was so upset by what happened.

A month after Tala died he was the one looking on sites for pups. He did not care if it was rescue or from a breeder to be honest but there are not that many shelties being bred close and do not have so many in rescue either. He did find some videos of little sheltie pups. One was Jester the other was his brother. When we arrived at the breeders place to look at them both my husband nearly bought both. So much for never eh? I picked the one we named Jester more because the hurt from Tala was still fresh so another sable would be to close. Jester is a sable merle with blue eyes so quite different. Well that and he wanted me to pick him up. He still is a mama's boy.

Fox was more for a companion for Jester. Jester is a bit on the anxious/fearful side. The hope was with another dog he would be less anxious and this has proven to be true. Yes I admit I did look for another color then sable more because sables are still to close to Tala for husband. I did not really care which other color though bi blue would have been top as for coloring with a tri or the Fox's (blue merle) coloring next. I am not partial to bi black only because to me they look plain nothing wrong with them just more of a preferrence. I certainly would have been happy with a bi black or a sable if they had the same results with Jester as Fox has.

 

WHAT?! OK, well I can see where the ice blue eyes would have that effect.
But I LOVE the dark blue eyes.

 

How can blue eye on a cute little merle be anything but adorable? Now, if you want to see intimidating blue eyes ....

 

After we decided we were going to get a sheltie, we had it in mind we'd get a female sable. We went to a dog show where they were showing shelties and we had a talk with a couple of the people there, we discovered one man who had a couple of puppies, they were tri's and blue merles.

We didn't care though, we just wanted a sheltie because their general character was what we liked as well as them being absolutely beautiful. We ended up with a boy called Cosmo (blue merle)... four months later we ended up taking the last of the litter as well, another boy who was a tri. We were honestly baffled as to why it took so long for the last of the litter to go, Jet is an absolute joy to have.

It was funny, initially we were set on getting a female beagle and calling it Penny. But we ended up with two male shelties lol.

p.s. we have two black kitties.

 

I remember you mentioning that when I got Merlin and saying it was nice he had dark eyes. I wanted one blue one brown, but I'm not complaining. My boy has the sweetest hazel eyes and if you look deep enough you can just see a hint of blue