I've had it with these ridiculous Border Collie people.

They make me crazy. I spent way too much of yesterday and today arguing why blue eyes shouldn't be excluded from the BC standard, and honestly I am so done with it. It amazes me that any one of these people can pretend that they have any concern for the working Border Collie, it is so clear that they just want their ridiculous little perfect show dogs only club. I know, I should just ignore it, I should just move on- and I am, but I'm still really infuriated about it.

I mean... These people know nothing about genetics. They're going on and on about how a dilute should have brown eyes too, because having dusty grey eyes (like 90% of dilutes have) are an absence of proper pigment and again ruins their expression. Seriously? Apparently I have two dogs with "wrong" color eyes... I guess I should alter them now.

Just... Idiotic. Dog people are insane. Especially when they own Border Collies.

Rant over... Maybe.

It's like that with every breed. I own four different breeds and am active in the communities of a few other breeds... There is always a divide. ):

You know I know nothing about genetics or breeding, but this I do know...
Fiona is beautiful

I agree with them. Who would want a blue eyed Border Collie? Get rid of them all I say!

People are ridiculous.

Wait a second don't Border Collies come in merle? How can you allow merle and not allow blue eyes?

Yeah, that's why I hang with the Sporter Collie people. They don't care what color my dog is and they don't care what color his eyes are.

Yeah, I'll go hang out with my sport and herding BC people now. . .besides, actually working or doing sports with your dog is *way* more fun than arguing.

OMG BLUE EYED DEVIL DOGGIES!!

Seriously though, whatever. My dream border collie would be a soft red (tan?) merle with ice blue eyes. Swoooon, that or a perfect smooth like Blaze.

One can dream.

I love when people arbitrarily narrow the gene pool for aesthetic reasons. I think all breed clubs should do it.

... Oh wait.

You can only hang out with the herding BC people because your dog is not merle

There's a herding person near me with three merles. She's pretty well accepted in that world too =)

That seems to be true all too often, but I will say that the BC people here I've had the misfortune to meet have been such unmitigated assholes that it's been hard not to project my feelings about them and their attitudes onto the breed at times, even though they're lovely little dogs and I've always found them charming . . . away from those owners.

EDIT: That's "here" as in where I live -- NOT on Chaz!

I don't know. If I was a sheep and saw Fiona staring at me with those eyes, I'd move my ASS. You'd think blue eyes on a herding dog would be considered a positive.

Shush, my logic is flawless.

Ditto on the merle thing

They allow blue eyes in merles but not in black and whites in most countries, although the BCSA is proposing a change to our standard that would fully accept blue eyes in all colors and a lot of people are upset about that.

Yeah, I like my herding friends and my Dog Scouts friends. They aren't insane... at least not in the same way. Facebook is evil!

Yes, I think you should get rid of Fiona and Wesley. Lucky for you they'd be accepted in Canada. Send them up!

Really though who cares about eye colour, if you don't like the blue eyes on a black dog, then don't breed for that. Simple.

Blue eyed border collies are pretty dangerous. Guess no one ever told you that. You should probably just send Fiona and Wesley to me and then you won't have to worry about it.

It is seriously silly to me that people worry about eye color! It's like everywhere you go in the BC world, there is some big argument about what a BC "should" look like.

Unpossible. Merle dogs are not capable of herding anything. Except dumbballs.

Lol the 2 breeders I've contacted that are big big big in the trial world both have merles and are very well accepted...all open level trial dogs.

Is Wesley a blue BC? I didn't know they came in that color, but then I don't know much about the breed anyway. I do agree with the discrimination toward color though. If it doesn't cause any health problems (you know, like double merles) then what's the big deal with disqualifying colors? I would die for a blue PWC (they call them blueies) but they are considered a very serious fault and though I haven't looked into them a great deal, I'm pretty sure it only has to do with color. The color of the coat also comes with lighter eyes and eye rims, nose, etc and that's a no no. Who frickin cares as long as it's healthy and can do it's job?