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Sheltie Colors

The standard sheltie colors are:

  • sable and white (brown and white)
  • tri-color (black,white and tan)
  • blue merle (blue,white and tan)
  • bi-blue merle (blue and white)
  • bi-black (black and white)
  • color-headed white
One of the most common mistakes made in registering shelties, is the registering shaded or mahogany sables as tri-colors. The rule of thumb is, if the dog is basically black, with small amounts of brown, it's a tri-color. If your dog is basically brown with black guard hairs for shading, it's a sable with black shading and should be registered as a sable and white.

Below is a picture of Dexter, a shaded sable on the left, and Tracey, a tri-color on the right. Dexter has black in his coat, however he is predominatly brown, and therefore, a sable. Tracey is predominatly black, and her brown markings are called "tan points".

dexter tracey"

Let's have some fun with sheltie colors.

Here is a bi-blue merle we'll call Joseph, because his coat will be MANY colors! Joseph is a "Cyber Sheltie", and able to change his color. Joseph is (in real life) a blue grey color with a white collar and black body markings.These black body markings can be any size, and be positioned on the body anywhere.

joseph

Now, if Joseph had "tan points", he would be a blue merle.

joseph

Here's Joseph doing his best impression of his Dad, and changing is color to be a bi-black. He is all black with a white collar.

joseph

Here's Joseph tring on some tan points to be a tri-color.

joseph

If Joseph were predominatly white, with color on his head, and a few colored body spots (spots can be sable, black or blue), he would be a color-headed white. Here he is a bi-blue color-headed white. Color-headed whites are penalized in the show ring. However, that doesn't mean they aren't appealing!

joseph

Sables come in many shades of brown. They can be red, honey, golden, shaded, and mohogany just to name a few shades. Sables can even be merled! Here's is Joseph showing us he can be a red sable too.

joseph

If Joseph had black guard hairs, he would be a shaded sable.

joseph

We hope you have enjoyed Joseph's demonstration of the various sheltie colors. While he enjoys being a "Cyber Sheltie", his favorite color is still his natural color, bi-blue.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about Sheltie color, send us an email. We'll be glad to help!

All photos are Copyright © 1998 - Debra Nordby. All rights reserved.

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