I wonder why this people do the merle x merle or the double merle breedings? it's because the tri colors are not as popular like sables and merles?
I noticed the bash against collies at that page
, I guess this is common lately? since I rencently got a magazine that has one page of info on collies saying how they fell in popularity from the Lassie days, besides the lost of ratings on the shows they were also saying it was because health problems the narrow and long skull and tiny eyes, and difficult to groom them they said they were nearly impossible to own one in a house
I can see some of the points but don't agree on the "near impossible" part.
I think it depends on where you live. In the past several years when I get puppy inquiries I've had more people interested in tris or blues over sables... but again, I think it just depends.
As far as Collies being less popular, I find that a good thing, personally. In the Lassie days Collies were ranked in the top 10 most popular breeds, which is never really a good thing for any breed.
Along with health, again it depends on the bloodlines. You have to be picky. Bloat is a problem in some lines, whether people want to admit it or not. I fully believe it is genetic. Eyes are a big thing, and more breeders do need to work toward better eye checks. Other isses... I just ordered 5 MDR1 test kits which I plan to do ASAP, on my younger dogs. Once I get my taxes back I'm going to start doing the DNA test for PRA on my 3 youngest dogs and once those 3 are 2 yrs old (the first one will be 2 the end of March) I'll be having hips OFA'd.
As far as the long narrow skulls.. again I think it depends on where you live. I know many of the European collies, especially those in the UK have had some extreme head changes from what they once were 100 years ago. I find that most (certainly not all) of the collies in America have stayed similar to what they were in the early 1900s. I agree on the tiny eyes, the first couple collies I bought had these really tiny "pig" eyes, and I don't like that look, its not correct. I feel most of the dogs I have now have pretty correct eye shape. Placement could be a little better on some (Paris is a bit wide between the eyes).
Grooming should not be that difficult if your (rough) collie has a correct coat. However many of them have really soft, fluffy open coats which are harder to groom and very inncorrect. The coats are like cotton candy. Hate this.
Every collie I have ever sold lives in the house and has been fantasic family dogs. I have 5-6 or more in my house at any given time and they are all fantasic. Sometimes its a bit of a mad house and noisey because they love to chase eachother around the house, but they are great dogs... and outside they are just as good. HOWEVER I have heard from MANY people in Europe (especially smooth breeders) that the temperaments of the roughs in Europe are horrible.
I wondered about that too. All collie people I've talked to say that the sables are the most popular (thanks, Lassie). Personally I love the merles but the tris are my favorite.
Sadly, the only reason I can think of to breed for merles is that the merles are just flashier in the show ring.
I love blues... love the tris.. but a good dog cannot be a bad color. If I had to choose, sables would actually be my least favorite (don't tell the dogs, 6 of my 8 are sables)...