Colour Inheritance Chart for Collie Coats

LEGEND

Dominant over tricolour. Shades may range from straw to

S SABLE
red to dark mahogany.

Usually a clear shade of straw or orange red. No masking

PS PURE SABLE or fringes. These animals can only produce sable colour no
matter what colour is bred with them.

Sable coloured collies carrying the tricolour gene as well as

TRIFACTORED the dominant sable gene. Quite often a dark orange to a
TS
SABLE very dark mahogany in colour with dark fringes and
masking.

This colour is recessive to sable.Collies are black with

TRI TRICOLOUR white and tan markings on sides of muzzle, above eyes,
sides of cheeks, chest, and inner margins of legs.

This is a dominant dilution gene , which in combination

M MERLE
with sable or tri genes produces merled collies.

Bluish gray colour with black splotches, carrying sable

BM BLUE MERLE
markings in the same pattern as the tricolour collie.

This is a sable spotted collie.When they are born , all sable

merles will have a bluish tinge on tail and muzzle. This
SM SABLE MERLE disappears in a few weeks.Brownish merling on the head
may or may not disappear as the dog matures.Many sable
merles inherit blue or blue flecked eyes.

This collie will appear to be very light or even have a

"washed out " appearance at birth, with brown merling or
PURE SABLE
PSM spots.Quite often the adults lose their merling and the
MERLE
coat colour becomes a clearer red. No tricolour gene is
present in their genetic makeup.

This is usually a darker sable colour than the PSM. The

TRIFACTORED coat will have dark brown merling which is quite often still
TSM
SABLE MERLE visible at maturity. The tricolour gene is present as well as
the merle gene and the sable gene.

This coat colour is the result of either a cross between two

white parents or two white factored parents or a white
parent and a white factored parent. It may occur in
combination with sable , tri or blue genes. Resulting
colours are tri headed white, blue headed white or sable
W WHITE
headed white. These are not to be confused with white
merles also known as double dilution merles, whose
"white" colour results from the double dilution of the merle
gene. Colour headed white collies are within the standard
to be shown. White merle collies are unacceptable.

WF WHITE These coloured collies normally have a heavy white tail tip,
 large white frill and possibly a body splash of white hairs.
FACTORED There is also white extending upward from the hind feet
over the stifle to meet the white underbody.

NON NON WHITE Regular coloured collies that do not carry the recessive
WF FACTORED white factor.

These are a defective white resulting from the breeding of

two merled parents.The coat will be almost white in
appearance . There may or may not be a few merled
spots. Eyes, IF present are pale blue. Skin , including lips,
eyelids ,nose and pads are pigmentless, other than in an
area of merling.Hearing and sight are severely impaired.
WM WHITE MERLE
These coloured collies are usually destroyed at birth . If a
white merle is raised to maturity , and it is from a BM to
BM cross, it can be bred back to a Tricolour and will
produce all blue merle pups. This is not true of other white
merles carrying the PS or the TS genes when bred to a
tricolour.