My tie-dyed boy.

[mbfrench]

I'm new to Sheltienation and am glad I joined. One of the reason I joined was to get some input on the coloration of Ollie who is one of our 5 month old boys who are brothers and litter mates. Both are sable merles, but I wanted to show off Ollie's coloration and get some feedback. There are more photos in the album section in an album named "The boys".

Hello there!

I looked at your pictures,and I just love your two pups.I have no advice on colorations,but he is really a striking puppy.He is going to grow out beautifully.

Maybe this is just all puppy coat,and once he grows into himself,his coat will look differant.
We all know how these pups go thru wonky stages..from ears,to legs to heads looking to big for the body.

 

[BOO'S-DAD]

so he wouldnt be considered a blue merle because of all the sable color?

NO blue merle....My Boo is a blue merle.....check his picture or album.

 

[Smudge]

Two more photos and some infor. Ollie is 5 and a half months old. Both parents are AKC reg. as is Ollie and his brother. I know about predominant white, but he isn't. I might agree that he might be a bit washed out, but his markings, to me are merle. He looked much like his brother did, who looks sable now, until the puppy fluff came out and he had this coat. The photo of Ollie on the desk is about 2 months old, and the photo on the counter was taken this morning.

I don't know, but he sure is cute!

The older a dog gets their fur changes color. Smudge started out a nice, very dark shade of sable. Now his rump is blonde/very light sable, and the rest of his body is much lighter than it was as a puppy.

Picture 1 - around 7 weeks or so.
Picture 2 - Smudge at about 11 months old (he was sick in the picture, and you can tell it by looking at his eyes!). You can also see the blonde/light sable around his rump.

 

[Emmasmom]

My Noah was a blue merle - no sable about him.

 

[Justicemom]

The last 2 pictures were the exact color Pike was at that age. I don't have any pictures of him at that age but he was almost silver peach. He matured into a light gold color the merle spots(the dark spots) are not that noticable anymore. He just blew his coat big time and he now again has that sort of silver look but not as much as he did as a pup. It is hard to see in the picture but he is silvery in person. First time since he was a pup that I could without a doubt tell he was a sable merle. He is 7yr old now.

There is some option of some that the sable merle color is a degenerate color and it produces a washed out diluted color which is a fault in the breed and they think the color should never be bred. Others see no problem with the color. The thing is when you get the sable merle color, the merling is more often than not is hard to see because the sable hair shaft is of different color itself(dark on top and light on the bottom). So breeding for dramatic coloring is usually unrewarding. Plus since it is hard to tell, if you accidentally bred a sable merle to a Blue merle or another sable merle you risk a double merle which can have hearing and sight problems.

 

[kim86]

I can see why ppl who freak out he does look like a red merle in the picture of him standing on the table but there is no such thing as Red merle in the sheltie breed. maybe one of the parents were a sable with a reddish tint to the coat? other then that id say maybe he isnt a pure breed...idk. definitely not like any sheltie ive seen before. very pretty tho!

 

[Calliesmom]

as the proud mama of a sable merle boy- Cranberry changes colors weekly. my one friend called him a chameleon sheltie your pup looks very sable merle right now- he will very likely change a lot more before he grows his adult coat.

here is the link to his album- pup pix to relatively recent.
http://cranberrycallie.shutterfly.com/19

I was away for a little more than 2 weeks and I swear he changed again- got lighter on his back. I knew that I wanted a sable merle and I also knew that I wanted it to be obvious that he was a sable merle- which from his face, I think he is

 

[Lightplum]

ahhh thats a better pic...no not looking like an aussie now defiantly a sheltie! And a sable merle as well.

 

[Lovely]

I have no issues with color, and wouldn't mind a color headed white. A true color headed white, not a piebald mismarked dog like we see often labeled a color headed white.

Anyway, the merle acts more on the black pigment than it does on the brown pigment, so dogs who would be a dark shaded sable merle sometimes look like yours. But then sometimes not.

I consider Abbie a CHW, even though she is probably somewhere between that and a piebald mismark.

http://cranberrycallie.shutterfly.com/377 Her whiter side.
http://cranberrycallie.shutterfly.com/380 Her darker side.
Abigail is a sable merle as well.

I LOVE Ollie's coloring!

 

[Gwylliam]

Thank you for your input on my posting. I will update my album as he gets older. I have spent a lot of time reading posts and my wife says I'm addicted... I can't think of a better addiction.