Strangest color I have ever seen in a sable

In Aussie circles, the double merle is WAY too common and very, very unfortunate. I was twice offered double merle pups and refused, giving an earful to the breeders for doing that willingly.

Yes, little sheltie Shay has a long way to grow and prove herself before she can get all the health certificates and that will give you time to think about whether breeding is really what you want to do. It's a really big committment and can bring a lot of heart ache and expense, not just fun and joy.
 
Would you not if you knew there was a possibility of getting a sable merle or really any merle test to see if they were or were not a merle dog (if they were not already obviously marked)? Second it was my understanding that it is easier to see if a sable is a merle while a pup. This changes as time goes on in some of them.

(I know Jester is an obvious smerle many even think he is a blue then they first see him....do not ask me why since he is quite obviously brown to me)

If you were the breeder though you should know if your dogs are a merle or not I would think.

The only thing I would worry about concerning the merle gene is purchasing one from some one and for some reason the papers not listing the fact they are merle when it is not an obvious one. Well if I was intending to breed dogs.
 
Pretty Halo is at a local collie rescue, having been used unscrupulously by a puppy mill breeder to get 100% merled pups.

Unfortunately she is deaf, and blind as well:(.

I could never intentionally do that to a dog.....
 
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My Hanna at 9 months is still very obviously a sable merle, she has light ( especially on her back legs & pants) and dark patches and every month I see more black and grey coming through. I always get - 'What colour is that!'
 
I don't plan on breeding Shay even though I am pretty sure she is a sable.. I am just curious about the magical combination for that.. Do you guys think she looks like a sable merle or something? She does not have any gray from what I can tell.. Just a lot of black.. Everywhere except her white.. As she grows I'm sure I will figure it out.. Even though I DID ask the breeder and she said she was 100% sable.
 
Sheltie.Mama said:
I don't plan on breeding Shay even though I am pretty sure she is a sable.. I am just curious about the magical combination for that.. Do you guys think she looks like a sable merle or something? She does not have any gray from what I can tell.. Just a lot of black.. Everywhere except her white.. As she grows I'm sure I will figure it out.. Even though I DID ask the breeder and she said she was 100% sable.
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The breeder should know. I was just saying I would not attempt to do a sable to merle crossing myself, because of the risk for a cryptic sable merle. They just seem to be much harder to tell from other colors crossed with a blue because many dogs have a light sable coat naturally....
 
Sheltie.Mama said:
Okay. I thought you were saying she looked like a sable merle.
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Well, there's always the possibility that she IS a sable merle since the father is a blue merle. Did your breeder have them TESTED to see if she really was 100% sable? Or did he/she just look at her? There is the possibility of her being a cryptic. With black dogs it's sometimes fairly easy to tell if it's cryptic or not, but sables are usually difficult. It could be that the only way you'ed really know is if you had her tested for the blue gene, which unless you plan on breeding, it wouldn't be necessary.
 
Tabitha said:
Well, there's always the possibility that she IS a sable merle since the father is a blue merle. Did your breeder have them TESTED to see if she really was 100% sable? Or did he/she just look at her? There is the possibility of her being a cryptic. With black dogs it's sometimes fairly easy to tell if it's cryptic or not, but sables are usually difficult. It could be that the only way you'ed really know is if you had her tested for the blue gene, which unless you plan on breeding, it wouldn't be necessary.
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Actually I have a friend with a bi black who is really a bi blue. When she was CERF'd her retinas looked molted like a merle. Yes she is a merle and I dare you to find 1 blue hair on her body.

Any time you are dealing with merles there is always a chance that you miss a crytic. Somebody correct me if I am wrong but the merle gene test has been invalidated. I was not aware of a new one. If anyone knows of one seriously let me know. How we handle it in AOACs if we are concerned is breed back a black to a black. Even then there maybe the occasional surprise but it is rare.

Another way you can get all colors is a bi factored Sable to a bi factored Blue merle. Ember is from that breeding. 2 bi blue, 2 sable merles and one sable in her litter. The sable merles were very obvious as new born puppies not so much as adults.

I personally don't care for the sable/merle breeding and we stick with the AOACs for our color variations.
 
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