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Blue merle |
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Blue merle is properly the color that most people remember an Aussie by. This characteristically color has also played an important role in the creation of the Aussie, as an example did people back in time precisely notes small blue dogs with great working abilities. The distinguishing pattern of grey and black spots is caused by a specific gene that acts by diluting areas of the black so as the color appears to be grey (blue). The areas of blue is very individual and can range from dogs of mostly the original black color with no or very little merling (areas with blue) to dogs with small patches of black and heavily merling. Breeding of Collie has shown that it is possible to select for a lot of blue. Below are shown two examples of dogs with different degree of merling. The pup on the picture to the left shows minimum merling with a lot of black. The dog to the right are on the other hand showing small patches of black and mostly merling.
A
merle that are so black (or red) that it is difficult to distinguish him
from a solid colored is named a cryptic merle (Phantom merle is some
times used as well, but Cryptic is the most correct term). It is quite
rare that you sees a true cryptic merle, meaning a dog that appears to
be solid black or red but genetically is merle and can transmit this to
its pupies. It is some time possible to find a dog with only small areas
of merle, as an example a little spot on the leg, but they are
technically not cryptic merles as the merling can be recognized on the
dog. The shade of the blue color can, just like the areas of blue, vary. Some dogs can seem almost white while others can appear in a dark grey. You can as an example compare the two dogs below. The dog to the left has a much lighter colour than the dog in the middle. The dog to the right is an example of a very dark steel gray merle. If you are concerned whether your dog is pale grey or white (not recognized by the standard), you can take a piece of white paper and compare the color of the coat with the paper.
Like
the other recognized colors, are blue merle allowed as being either
self-blue merle or with markings of white, tan or both. The vast
majorities of the Aussies are blue merle with markings of both white and
tan, also called blue merle c/w. The dogs on the first four pictures are
all blue merle c/w. Dogs with only white, tan or no markings at all, are pretty rare and can mostly be seen in the workingdogs. The dogs beneath are both blue merle with white markings (Blue merle and white). The dog to the right seems almost as a self-blue merle, but does in fact have very small white spots on this chest.
All merles are as a rule born pale and become darker with age, like the area of the bigger black spots becomes more widely distributed with age too. You can see an example of this below. The dog is only 4 months old at the first picture and looks almost white. The second picture shows the same dog at two years of age and the blue/gray color is clearly different from white.
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