LYNDA J. COX, WESTERN HISTORICAL ROMANCE AUTHOR
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  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
  • Blog
  • More
    • Favorite Recipes >
      • strawberry/jalapeno jam
      • Pineapple Shake
      • Lemon Blueberry Cake
      • Beef Barley Soup
      • creamy potato soup
      • Chinese Spaghetti
    • Upcoming Events
    • My Collies

Random Thoughts

Not always PC or SFW

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Too soon?

Blogging is dead or dying. That's the current wisdom. Okay...so I guess I have to find some other way to keep this page ever green. 

A Horse of a Different Color

5/18/2019

 
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There’s a brew-haha going on in the collie world. It’s a justifiable brew-haha and this one has my blood boiling and my dander is way up. (If you think drama is limited to only Romancelandia, you obviously have never had even a passing acquaintance with the world of purebred dogs and dog shows.)  I’ll keep the description of what set off this tempest as short as possible.

Today, at an all-breed dog show (all-breed is exactly what it says it is—it’s all American Kennel Club breeds can be entered and shown, unlike a specialty show which is just for one breed of dog), a judge withheld ribbons on two dogs. One of those dogs took championship points the day before. The other is a finished champion who was an award of merit winner at our recent NATIONAL specialty show. The judge withheld ribbons on these two dogs because they are not an “acceptable color.”

First of all, the collie standard does not have a disqualifying color. All colors are acceptable. PERIOD. End of the conversation. Secondly, just because this judge is known to have a personal abhorrence to this color, it in no way or manner still allows for a disqualification and notation that the color is unacceptable on the judge’s sheet. Let me repeat: THE COLLIE STANDARD DOES NOT HAVE A DISQUALIFYING COLOR. The judge IS ALLOWED to withhold ribbons for whatever reason, but that reason must be stated. By writing the color was unacceptable, the judge violated the standard written by the Collie Club of America and approved by the American Kennel Club. I would like to hope that the parent club of my breed knows better what acceptable colors in my breed are than a judge who has never owned nor bred a single collie.

What was this color this judge found so offensive as to withhold ribbons on two dogs (and BTW, totally missed another dog entered and shown who is also the same color)? Sable merle. SABLE MERLE. 

This isn’t the first time the issue of sable merles has come up with judges—both all-breed and specialty judges. If you’re in this game long enough, you learn who the judges are who will not put up a sable merle and those who think color and eye-color is the very last consideration when evaluating a dog in the ring. Unless and only unless the coloration and eye color throws the expression off, color and eye color should be a moot point. As a good friend of mine said when I was discussing this with her, the sheep don’t care what color the collie is or what color its eyes are.

CCA, are you listening to me—because I’m going to make a few suggestions to try to resolve this problem. First of all, sable merles aren’t going to go away. When we have judges deliberately undermining OUR written standard for OUR breed that the AKC has approved, it’s become an issue. It’s no longer a non-issue, or something that can simply be fixed with judge’s education.

Let’s take our standard, the official standard, and tweak it. Under color, we need to address sable merles. It’s that simple. Here’s our standard, word for word, regarding color:

Color
The four recognized colors are "Sable and White," "Tri-color," "Blue Merle" and "White." There is no preference among them. The "Sable and White" is predominantly sable (a fawn sable color of varying shades from light gold to dark mahogany) with white markings usually on the chest, neck, legs, feet and the tip of the tail. A blaze may appear on the foreface or backskull or both. The "Tri-color" is predominantly black, carrying white markings as in a "Sable and White" and has tan shadings on and about the head and legs. The "Blue Merle" is a mottled or "marbled" color predominantly blue-grey and black with white markings as in the "Sable and White" and usually has tan shadings as in the "Tri-color." The "White" is predominantly white, preferably with sable, tri-color or blue merle markings. 

A simple tweak to the above, wording it as follows will resolve this issue.

Color
The four recognized colors are "Sable and White," "Tri-color," "Merle" and "White." There is no preference among them. The "Sable and White" is predominantly sable (a fawn sable color of varying shades from light gold to dark mahogany) with white markings usually on the chest, neck, legs, feet and the tip of the tail. The "Tri-color" is predominantly black, carrying white markings as in a "Sable and White" and has tan shadings on and about the head and legs. The "Merle" is a mottled or "marbled" color and may be either sable or blue. In the case of the blue the color is predominantly blue-grey and black with white markings as in the "Sable and White" and usually has tan shadings as in the "Tri-color." In the case of the sable there may or may not be marbling in the coloration. The "White" is predominantly white, preferably with sable, tri-color or blue merle markings. In all colors, a blaze may appear on the foreface or backskull or both. 

(I moved the sentence about face blazes because it was driving me nuts. Its placement in the original wording of the standard implied only sables may have a face blaze.)

Let’s look at what OUR written standard says about eyes (because a merle can have blue in the eye).

Eyes
Because of the combination of the flat skull, the arched eyebrows, the slight stop and the rounded muzzle, the foreface must be chiseled to form a receptacle for the eyes and they are necessarily placed obliquely to give them the required forward outlook. Except for the blue merles, they are required to be matched in color. They are almond-shaped, of medium size and never properly appear to be large or prominent. The color is dark and the eye does not show a yellow ring or a sufficiently prominent haw to affect the dog's expression. The eyes have a clear, bright appearance, expressing intelligent inquisitiveness, particularly when the ears are drawn up and the dog is on the alert. In blue merles, dark brown eyes are preferable, but either or both eyes may be merle or china in color without specific penalty. A large, round, full eye seriously detracts from the desired sweet expression. Eye faults are heavily penalized.

The way to resolve the issue here is to remove ONE FREAKING WORD--BLUE.
​
Unless and until the CCA addresses this issue, which has been compounded by the AKC’s latest blog post (https://akcconformationjudges.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/the-standard-is-your-standard/?fbclid=IwAR3ySyK5wZhsw-5DtlelM2ZImhOIBPvLodjNXsD37qCv8AMWu5KmsWZa0OA)—there will be more ribbons withheld merely based on color.

​Will the CCA address the issue? I’m not holding my breath.
 
 
 
 
 


Kristy McTaggart
5/18/2019 04:47:10 pm

I guess I haven’t been around long enough to understand the opposition to sable merles. What the? If collie fans want blues - and boy do they ever - you have to have sable merles to help make ‘em. There is nothing unhealthy inherent in a sable merle. I am completely mystified about this. (BTW, wasn’t there a standard change voted on 20 years ago or so with this changed, but it never took effect?)

Lynda
5/18/2019 04:53:57 pm

Kristy,

I don't think it was ever voted on to change the standard to address the sable merle. I remember the ugly, nasty fights about that time frame about SMs. Most of us didn't have a problem with the color and even then said it was a simple fix. Others said (and I'm quoting what I was told by one judge) that SMs should be drowned at birth. Over 200 SM collies have finished their championships, and one of them was BOB at the National in MA in 2012 (I think that was the year).

Shelley Bergstraser
5/18/2019 07:57:24 pm

I ADORE Sable merles-and I love your post-but you do not need sable merles to make blue merles :-)

BUT I adore blues AND I love sable merles!

Kristy McTaggart
5/18/2019 08:51:44 pm

Hi Shelley - I know you can get by making blue merles with other blue merles, but how boring is that?! Think of how many fewer blues there would be if not for SMs! I personally have never kept a blue, but I have bred a few nice ones

Bonnie Stenzel
5/19/2019 02:33:03 am

You have your genetics very wrong. You dont need sables to make merles. Tris do the job just fine. And you sure don't make Merle by breeding to other blue merles. Your remarks may be the entire reason some people have issues with sable merles. One good point is with DNA color testing one should never to figure put how to safely breed a bitch.

Kristy McTaggart
5/19/2019 06:37:54 am

Bonnie, I never said you need SABLES to make merles. My genetics are just fine. I use sable merles to make blue merles by breeding them to tris. I do not have any blue merle collies in my breeding stock, but I do produce them regularly.

Tracy Marie Oefelein
7/29/2019 10:21:07 am

Kristy, you ARE aware that breeding 2 merles can result in double dilutes, aka lethal whites, aren't you? Your comment is a bit alarming, and very misleading to others who have no understanding of this anomaly.

Shelley Bergstraser link
5/18/2019 07:58:33 pm

Great blog Lynda! AND such important points for our breed!

Karen Shaw
5/18/2019 09:38:43 pm

Also, may I add that the collie that was in question was also reserve winners bitch in Virginia Beach.

Candace Hunter
5/21/2019 03:58:22 pm

And not to mention won an Award of Merit at this years Collie Club of America National.

Kristy McTaggart
5/19/2019 07:07:47 am

I'm sorry, I may have added to the confusion by failing to mention, that my sable merles are TRI FACTORED.

I love to produce a good color variety in my litters if I can get the quality I want at the same time. My most recent litter of 8 contained 3 whites (each with a different color head: a tri, a sable, and a sm), 2 sable merles, a trifactored sable, a tri and a blue. My bitch is a tri factored white factored sable merle, and the sire was a white factored tri factored sable.

Becky Tehon
5/19/2019 09:01:41 am

Regarding rewording the standard - instead of adding sable merles to the blue merle description, make it clear that it is part of the sable and white colors. Just add "including sable merles" - The "Sable and White", including sable merles, is predominantly sable (a fawn sable color of varying shades from light gold to dark mahogany) with white markings usually on the chest, neck, legs, feet and the tip of the tail. That way the sable merles that show so little merling that they weren't identified as such are not an issue. Eye color - I agree, just remove the word "blue".

Lynda
5/19/2019 12:33:44 pm

Becky, that is a great idea! And, this is why I know this problem isn't unsurmountable. We have too many really smart, savvy people in this breed!

Kayla McMann link
5/20/2019 02:06:41 pm

Maybe taking look at the Canadian standard for the collie may help with how to add sable merle and mereling in eyes into the standard for AKC.


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