Blonde Collie?

While at a new Pet Store opening in our area today, we saw a man with a beautiful dog that resembled a Rough Collie, only it was a very pale cream color - so pale you could hardly see any white markings on the dog. I asked the man, and he said it was a "Blonde Collie." He said it was a very rare color for the breed, but more common overseas than in America. Anyone ever heard of this color on a Rough Collie? He was a striking dog, and if you looked closely, you could see the white blaze on his face, and the white markings on his chest and feet.

Would love to see a picture !!

collie, collies, collie puppies, collie dog, smooth collie, rough collie

http://www.collieclubofamerica.org/akc-meet-the-breed04.pdf

So would he technically be white then??

Interesting....thanks for sharing

There is no such thing as a blonde Collie. It could have been a very light sable, but I doubt it. We had an English import when I was a kid that was a very light pale gold, but was still obviously a sable.

I think what may be the case is that this dog's a sable double merle (aka double dilute). If you breed a sable merle to another sable merle, or a sable merle to a blue merle, you could get a sable double merle.

There are a few "millers" out there who sell color-headed whites and double dilutes as "rare" and get a pretty penny for them. The difference between the European and US Collie colors is that we allow white and they don't. They don't have a "blonde" either ...

Interesting...thank you for sharing, i wasn't sure if it was considered white with "markings" like described....

Ya learn something new everyday!!!

Hmmmmm, I wonder if he was a "white" collie - although the dog was primarily a cream (albeit, very pale cream) color. If I see the dog again, I'll definitely get a picture - he really was striking.

Wonder if part of it is colour semantics.. People tell me often what pretty blonde cocker I have.. except blonde isn't a cocker colour.. she's buff.. People also call her tan a lot.

Wonder if not so good collie breeders use blonde as a selling point for ooh uniqueness.

Do shelties come in a light "blonde sable"? I've seen some pretty large shelties, and if it was BYB then it's possible someone mixed collies and shelties without realizing it. Just curious, because I think there are some sheltie colors that don't exist in collies.

I found this picture of a double dilute merle collie, but it didn't say if it's blue or sable merle:

I am not sure how common welsh sheepdogs would be in the US, but have known a few 'blonde' welsh sheepdogs.

Border collies can also come in that very light red. Most the time it's referred to as 'Australian red' but I've heard people call their red bcs 'blonde'.



Bicolor exists in shelties but doesn't exist in collies. So shelties can be black and white or merle and white without tan whereas collies always have tan. Neither shelties or collies come in red (gold is light red) and white.

There are different kinds of sable in shelties and collies.

(sometimes referred to as 'Red' or 'gold')sable:



(Mahogany) Shaded sable:



Sometimes it is mistakenly written that a mahogany is always tri or bi factored but that's not ALWAYS the case. Some heavily shaded sables are pure for sables.

Sable merle:



Sable merle doesn't always look merled and can sometimes appear to be just a very very light sable.

Any of those look close?

sable

A pure for sable (not carrying the tricolor gene, so has no mask) can be a very light golden color, but it's still discernible from the white.

If he was cream, I'm thinking he was more than likely a double dilute. Creme sounds awfully light if I'm picturing what you're describing.

This is the collie I was thinking of in particular.

A welsh sheepdog - basically a working variety collie really.

I think this could be described as blonde, however in technical terms I guess would be light sable.

In Collies (collie Collies lol) = all shades of sable are called "sable". People can make up names like "blonde" to sell them as "rare" for more money, but a sable is a sable is a sable for all intents and purposes. But many people need to think their dogs are rare in some way to make themselves feel special.

Romy - That looks exactly like the dog at the Pet Store - except it didn't have such dark ears, or any variation of color other than pale cream - just the hint of a white blaze, chest and feet - but that's pretty darn close.

We had a Border Collie in today that was such a lithgt caramel coulour, it was almost white.
Absolutely gorgeous, but I dont know how the breeding is and if it is infact good for the breed.

me too... it would be great if you share some pictures of it.

I'm going back to the Pet Store tomorrow (they're having a promotional "dog wash") in hopes of running into the gentleman again - I've never seen him at any of the local dog parks or other Pet Stores in our area - hopefully I can can get a picture - he truly is breathtaking......stay tuned.