Colours explained * Border Collie Photo's * Links
*Colours and markings of the border collie*
Black
Blue Merle
Slate Merle
Liver/red
Red/Chocolate Merle
Lilac
Lilac Merle
Sable
Sable Merle
Brindle
Yellow/Gold
*Markings*
Solid White
Piebald
Irish Spotting
White Trim
Solid
Ticking/roaning
White Head Markings
Masked
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Content/Layout © Linsey M.
Eyecolours
The eyecolours listed under the coat colours are those that can show up in dogs with these
colours. This doesn't mean that in shows all eyecolours are allowed. In showdogs
blue/odd eyes are only allowed in merles. They are faulted in other colours.
The most common colour in the breed. Black dogs have black pigment. The eyes can be dark
brown, amber, blue or odd-eyed.
The merle gene in a dogs that is black will cause that dogs to be blue merle.
Blue merle dogs have a black nose and black eyerims. The eyes can be dark brown,
amber, blue or odd-eyed. The nose can be spotted with flesh colour.
Blue
A dilution of black.It's a blue grey colouring. Most of the time these dogz
will be very dark almost black, but some are of a really light colouring. These dogz have
always a grey/blue nose and eyerims. When a blue dog is also a tri-colour,
the tan markings will most of the time alse be of a lighter creamish colour.
The eyes can be amber,blue or odd-eyed.
The merle gene in a dog that is blue will cause that dogz to be slate merle.
Slate merle border collies have diluted pigment, which means that they always have a grey
nose and eyerims and as with blue dogs, tri-colour markings will often be lighter
The eyes can be amber,blue or odd-eyed.
The nose can have flesh coloured spots because of the merle gene.
This is the chocolat brown colouring. The colour red is in some parts of the
world also used for yellow/gold border collies, as in "australian red", but
this is a different colour. Liver/red dogz have liver pigment, therefor the nose
and eyerims are brown. The eyes can be amber, blue or odd-eyed.
A red/liver dog that carries the merle gene will be red merle. These dogs have liver
pigment. Their eyes can be amber, blue or odd-eyed. Sometimes the nose has flesh coloured spots.
A liver dogs which carries the dilution gene is called a lilac dogs. This is a rare colouring
in border collies, but that is changing as more lilac pups are turning up
in litters. Lilac border collies have lilac noses and eyerims. The noses is lighter
then the nose of a liver dogs. The eyes can be amber, blue or odd-eyed.
This colour is mostly known from weimaraners, where it is called isabella.
A lilac dog that carries the merle gene. This is a really rare colouring in
border collies. Their eyes can be amber, blue or odd-eyed.The nose can have flesh coloured
spots.
The term sable describes a pattern. The hairs have a dark tip and a lighter base,
which may give the dog a speckled look. Most of the time the dogz is a mixture of
brown, cream, orange, red and/or tan. Sable is controlled on the same gene as tri-colour
and saddle, so sable can never occur on the same time as those. Sable can come in diluted
colours, like in lilac sable or blue sable, but also in liver sable. The eyes are amber, blue
or odd-eyed in diluted and liver sables and amber, dark brown, blue or odd-eyed in the other sables.
The nose colour is the same as in the main colours, so a liver sable
has a brown nose, a blue sable a grey/blue nose and a lilac sable a lilac nose.
A dog that is sable and carries the merle gene, will be sable merle. The eyes and noses
are the same as described in the sable above.
Sable merles don't always show patches like with the other merles and are often confused with regular sables.
Lilac sable merles and sable merles with blue pigment are also called diluted merles,
because both the dilute gene and the merle gene are present.
A colour not so common in border colliez. It used to be believed that the colour didn't
excists in border collies, but recently more have showed up that are purebred, proving with
a pedigree of many generations. Brindles are most of the time still mistaken for sables. Brindle is, like sable, a pattern not a colour.
Brindle is mixture of darker colours and lighter colours in a pattern of stripes. The eyes
can be dark brown, amber, blue or odd-eyed. The nose is black. So far only brindle border collies with
black pigment are known into the breed, but it also possible to get chocolate, blue or lilac brindles.
In these colours the stripes follow the pigment colour. No examples are shown here though, since there are no border collies with this colour known yet. All examples below show brindles with black pigment.
This colour ranges from a dark orange colour to a light cream almost white colouring
which is often referred to as 'champagne'.Many names excists for this colouring like
cream, blond, australian red, lemon,...These dogs may have amber, dark brown, blue or
odd-eyes. They can also have a liver nose. Underneath the colour the dog is actually
another colour like lilac, blue, liver,...but it can't produce the hairs, only red.
These can come in any colour, unless otherwise stated.
Tri-Colour
White and tan markings. Cannot come in sable.
There are 3 different patterns: traditional,creeping or saddle.
Traditional: the is present above the eyes, cheeks, chest spots, on legs and under the tail.
Creeping: the tan extends to thigh and shoulder and chest patch is larger.
Saddle: the tan is present on a large part of the dogz. The tan may cover the
whole head and a large part of the body, only leaving the belly with the base colour.
The tan can be covered with white markings in any pattern.
Tan can also come without any white markings, then it's not tri-colour
anymore, but just the name of the colour + base colour (ex. black&tan)
There are endless posibilities, as tan markings in between the 3 listed are also possible.
In solid whites (not being mistaken for a 'champagne') the white covers up all the colouring.
So these dogz may have any pigment(liver, grey, lilac,..).
A large amount of white. The colour is spread over the body in patches. This can range
from a small amount of white, to an extreme amount of white, where for example only the
ear has colouring.
White markings on the chest, feet and tailtip. Or on the muzzle, neck, chest, feet, legs,
tailtip and a blaze. And anything in between. The dogs can alo have a white front (head, chest and front legs).
A small amount of white on the toes (one or all), chest and/or tailtip.
Complete absense of white.
Ticking is a common pattern in border colliez. These are flecks or spots of color in white areas.
These can range just a few spots to heavy ticking/roaning.
Border Collies can come with lots of different white markings on the head, ranging from
no white at all, to a complete white head and anything in between. A few examples:
There are two types of masks:
1) A tri-colour dog where the tan parts (not all but some) on the head are covered with the main colouring.
This marking is a common one in some other breeds like the beauceron or the hovawart.
2) Dark mask, where the dogz has a mask that covers the ears and or muzlle/cheeks with a
darker colouring. This masks follows the pigment, so liver dogs have a liver mask,
blue dogs a blue and so on.
