My 'mini-Border-Collie'....

...because Shelties aren't supposed to look like THIS (according to one of the ladies at Puppy Playtime (aka: Mayhem). I took Kelby out this weekend to a local playtime for puppies hosted by one of the local bigbox pet stores. Now this woman has teacup-somethings (I have no idea what they were other than very tiny with large heads, but were too fluffy to be teacup Chihuahuas).

He's a blue merle, cryptic...(and sorry for the lousy lighting; we're in the middle of updating some floors in our house and piled all the furniture in our living room (which will get a new chandelier when this is all done.).)

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a6dc08b3127cceeb2e6ada7fc400000040O00IZtmTlm5buQe3nwg/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00907939026320160229212848808.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/<this is after an hour of wrestling with our Shiloh who leaves him coated in drool and helpfully removed the ear stuff...

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a6dc08b3127cceeb2ebf823f6e00000040O00IZtmTlm5buQe3nwg/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00907939026320160229213159591.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/He's just turned 14 weeks...

I can kind of understand where she was coming from, as from what I have gathered, cryptic blues look a lot like tricolor (his sire is a tri), and at first glance, he doesn't.

His merling is along his front left leg, a largish patch on the back of his ruff, his left ear, alongside his blaze...
https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a6dc08b3127cceeb2e1c5afe4f00000030O00IZtmTlm5buQe3nwg/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00907939026320160229213336529.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/

 

I'm the one who thought he might be cryptic since in my eyes, he just doesn't look like what a blue merle should traditionally be<newbie here. I know that most cryptics look like a tricolor (which he really doesn't) or a bi-black (but he has tan markings). Our only other sheltie, Lir, was the traditional blue merle, and this guy looks so different (that was the main reason we picked him. Our hearts were still too broken to see another 'real' blue merle sitting in front of the fireplace.

I think he's a pip. He's so full of life, bounces around on his hind legs like Tigger...right now he's relegated to his puppy playpen since I had to reglue and retape his ears after his hourly wrestling match with his 'brother' who outweighs him by at least 70 pounds. And even though he got a bath yesterday, he's already got...stuff...ground into his coat. And the ears...oy...I'll have to start buying moleskin by the box at this rate.

As for the mini/teacup stuff, I used to get approached by people at the petstore who would actually offer their male BCs (because oddly there are a lot of them around, though no sheep to herd...), because Lir was a very pretty sheltie with clear coloring, and undersized (he was about 12 inches). When I would point out that my dog was a BOY already lacking his equipment, well...and I live in south TX...everything here has some Chiwi in it...it's just that these particular little...honestly, I've seen pretty much every combination here, so these might be the latest chipomweeniepug...whatever they were, they were annoying. And they snorted. Very odd.

I get that people can be unaware of the range of sheltie sizes. There is a pair of sheltie littermates who follow my Shiloh after his puppy class, and they are both -to me - oversized, almost reaching my knees. I can see where people thought that Lir was a teacup...and now my little pile of chaos.

I do have a grooming question (I hope I can ask this here); at what stage do I even attempt trimming those adorable whiskers? I was thinking long and hard about entering him in the Beginner Puppy portion of an All-Breed AKC show to be held in May just a week before he reaches 6 months, and along with hoping he doesn't grow too tall, I'd love to have him acclimated to the show grooming schedule.

 

Should I REALLY be worried?

I read through the article, pretty much line by line and am still somewhat confused. The white 'line' or belt going up his belly on his left side is blue/silver (merle), left ear is merled, a patch on his ruff and down one leg is merled, what I first thought was a Harry Potter lightning bolt blaze is actually a thin white blaze surrounded by merling...
(https://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=4a2b0411ae5385786d9889752d9a603c#1457038923118)

From what I had read, most, if not all cryptics are just that - they look like a black/white or tri and you pretty much have to comb through the coat to find some merling. Kelby's coloring pattern, though, matches more of his mother, who is a blue merle with white (bi-blue) - she has really dark patches on her body (her breeder mentioned her as a harlequin bi blue)

Looking at the parents' peds, there is a lot of either bi-blacks, bi-blues and blue merles (no double merles from reading the pairings).

This is a basic write-up :

Sire: tricolor (really dark); his sire is a bi-black and his dam is blue merle white and tan

Dam: blue merle and white (bi-blue); her sire is also a bi-blue and her dam is black and white

No way am I an expert of the color genetics of this breed, but I see a lot of black and white, and merles galore in his background. To me this means I have a uniquely colored puppy who I love unconditionally, but I'm beginning to wonder if I should even consider taking him into a conformation show if he will be penalized because of his coat.

I need to take better pictures of him. The ones I have done kind of make him look like he's stuck in a dark basement with just one bare lightbulb for lighting so he looks really smudgy.