# Australian Shepherd Colors



## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

I have always said that my aussie is a red merle. I didnt know it at the time, but now that I am better educated I can see that he came from a BYB. His mom was a blue merle and we were told that the dad was a red tri. My understanding is that red merle has red/brown spots that can vary in shades. My aussie has very dark brown spots but a lot of them appear black (I'm not sure if they are black or if they are just very dark red). Everyone always asks me what color he is and a lot of people have told me he isnt a red merle but is a blue merle. Now I was just searching google out of boredom and found this site that has a section on non standard colors. The sable merles look a little like my boy in particular the third aussie pic down. http://www.ashgi.org/color/sable_aussies.htm 

In his litter there was a female that was a yellow or sable color (I cant remember for sure) but in the pics of her as a newborn she appeared red merle. The merle was not visable at 8 weeks when I saw her. The rest of the litter included 2 blue merles, a black tri and a black bi, a red merle, and then Boomer.

Here are some pics of Boomer. If anyone can help me better understand the colors I would appreciate it! I am a little confused now lol

In this one it was a really sunny day and he looks really red but he has a lot of grey mixed in too..






































puppy pic









I have more pics of him on my profile and some more pics on this thread http://www.dogforums.com/8-dog-pictures-forum/69461-before-snow.html


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

He is for sure a blue merle with copper points - similar to my mini aussie. One rule of thumb with merles - red merle have liver or brown nose, blue merle have black noses. Both merles can have butterfly noses or areas that the pigment hasn't filled in, pigment fills in by the age of 1yr old. If not filled in by that age then it probably won't, not a big deal unless you are showing them.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

That looks like a Red Merle Tri to me...


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

He has a brown nose, its dark but its brown. Actually a butterfly nose because he has one little pink spot that never turned brown. A lot of people call him a blue merle but he does have some brown spots in there too so he looks like a mixture lol


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Xeph said:


> That looks like a Red Merle Tri to me...


same...........


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## Nargle (Oct 1, 2007)

It's pretty hard to tell, but he sort of looks like a blue merle with a LOT of tan. However, blue merles aren't supposed to have the liver nose, and that wouldn't explain the random blotches of brown. Hmm, I'm not sure, lol! I'll wait for someone who knows more about aussies to come and post


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

Ok so red merle tri.. thats what I've always thought but I got very confused this weekend. Our vet was telling me he was a blue merle because he is so grey on his back. Am I right that if they have spots on the merling that is brown they are red merles even if some spots are black?


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## cherryhill (Aug 21, 2009)

he is a red merle with tan and white, also he has running copper on his back legs. 
he is a cutie 


/Amanda


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

I would say red merle. The nose looks brown to me.

this is a tangent, but I thought Aussies had a 2 much white type of rule. As in too much white, or white in the wrong location would be some sort of dis-qulafier or something. Is that true and if so how is it defined?

this website

http://www.ashgi.org/color/index.html

has a lot of info on Aussie coat colors. More than I can process at the moment.


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## cherryhill (Aug 21, 2009)

NRB said:


> I would say red merle. The nose looks brown to me.
> 
> this is a tangent, but I thought Aussies had a 2 much white type of rule. As in too much white, or white in the wrong location would be some sort of dis-qulafier or something. Is that true and if so how is it defined?



White past the whithers is a disqulifying fault in the show ring, white on ears or face is of fault but aussies can and have been shown to their CH. it is up to the judge how much he wants to fault the dog.


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

cherryhill said:


> he is a red merle with tan and white, also he has running copper on his back legs.
> he is a cutie
> 
> 
> /Amanda


Ok thanks! I've never seen a red merle that looks quite like him. And thanks I agree he is quite cute lol


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## cherryhill (Aug 21, 2009)

in regards to his nose you never know i have heard of aussies having butterfly noses until they were 3 or older then the nose just started to fill in.


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

well he's 6 years old so I'm thinking its not going to fill in anymore. I think it didnt start filling in until he was just over a year old, but it hasnt changed in years now. But thats fine with me, I wont be showing him anyways.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

cherryhill said:


> in regards to his nose you never know i have heard of aussies having butterfly noses until they were 3 or older then the nose just started to fill in.


Cool, the website I posted mentioned a case where that did happen. Pigmentation increased on a butterfly nose. and was at age 3.


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## Tofu_pup (Dec 8, 2008)

Awesome link. I want a harlequin! I've never seen that before.


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

There is no such thing as a red merle tri, that is actually 2 different colors. I still fully believe he is a blue merle, due to the lighter coloring being the salt/pepper grey. He appears to be a blue merle without having jet black spots & lots of copper. My blue merle has one large spot that is more red than black but his overall body color is the grey vs the redish blonde you see on a red merle.

From http://www.australianshepherds.org
Blue merle, black, red merle, red—all with or without white markings and/or tan (copper) points, with no order of preference. The hairline of a white collar does not exceed the point of the withers at the skin. White is acceptable on the neck (either in part or as a full collar) chest, legs, muzzle underparts, blaze on head and white extension from underpart up to four inches measuring from a horizontal line at the elbow. White on the head should not predominate and the eyes must be fully surrounded by color and pigment. Merles characteristically become darker with increasing age. Disqualifications—White body splashes, which means white on body between withers and tail, on sides between elbows and back of hindquarters on all colors.


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## RaeganW (Jul 14, 2009)

Red merle. He reminds me of Keechak's Jack, in coloring.


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## cherryhill (Aug 21, 2009)

luv2byte said:


> There is no such thing as a red merle tri, that is actually 2 different colors. I still fully believe he is a blue merle, due to the lighter coloring being the salt/pepper grey. He appears to be a blue merle without having jet black spots & lots of copper. My blue merle has one large spot that is more red than black but his overall body color is the grey vs the redish blonde you see on a red merle.


I think they meant that he is a red merle with tan and white.
If he has liver pigment around his eyes,month and nose than he is a red merle. Boomer does has silver merling it appears in the picture, but that doesn't not make him a blue merle, some red merle have extremely dark liver with silver merling rarely seen anymore on red aussies. As for your boy that spot is probably a dilute spot, do you have a picture of him I am curious


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

> There is no such thing as a red merle tri


Yes, there is. That's how we use it as a color descriptor. Saying Red merle tri, or tri red merle is a lot faster than "red merle with copper points". It's used all the time around here.


> I think they meant that he is a red merle with tan and white.


Yup.

And there is no way that this dog is blue x.x



> some red merle have extremely dark liver with silver merling rarely seen anymore on red aussies


Yeah. I tend to look at it like I look at sun burned hair on a black dog. The hair appears red/brown, but the dog is still black. The hair is just damaged.


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## cherryhill (Aug 21, 2009)

luv2byte i clicked on your sig. picture and it took me to your photobucket account, i seen a body picture of your mini, and that spot that you were talking about is a dilute spot like i thought. just thought i mention that.


/Amanda


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

Xeph said:


> Yeah. I tend to look at it like I look at sun burned hair on a black dog. The hair appears red/brown, but the dog is still black. The hair is just damaged.


So is Boomers hair damaged making the spots appear dark brown when really they are black or am I misunderstanding this? 

I looked at Luv2bytes aussies pictures too and his brown spot does look similar to Boomers spots but he has a black nose. Is the nose the only thing that makes him a dilute and not a red merle?

And I have another question about the pup that was in Boomers litter that was born looking red merle but at 8 weeks was more a red/golden color (similar to a golden retriever coat). Would she be considered a red merle still since she was merled as a newborn or is she considered a red? To me her coloring was more golden than the typical red aussie coat. Sorry I dont have pics here, I came across them over the weekend but left them at home.


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

Based on the photos you posted, which are not ideal in color or lighting, his fur looks more salt/pepper with dilute spots than he does salt/red pepper with dilute spots. Because of this I think blue merle but if his nose is indeed liver & not black or bronze colored then he is probably red merle. What I mean but "bronze" is a dog with black nose often turns more brown or bronze colored in the winter, such as my eskie who has normally jet black points but this winter they are more bronze colored.


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

Sorry the pics arent great I can try and dig up some better ones. His nose is brown year round. The lining around his eyes is also brown. His coat is more salt/pepper in coloring with some red streaks in it. The spots are a really dark brown some so dark that they appear black (maybe some are black, its hard to tell even in person)


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

Every picture I have of him seems to be either a front picture or he is wet. Its a rare occasion when he isnt wet from being in the lake lol. So he is wet in this picture but you can see his color pretty good in it. And the other is a close up of my avatar that is an older picture taken in the summertime. You can see his nose color and eye rim color.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

He's red merle


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## cherryhill (Aug 21, 2009)

lauren17 said:


> So is Boomers hair damaged making the spots appear dark brown when really they are black or am I misunderstanding this?
> 
> I looked at Luv2bytes aussies pictures too and his brown spot does look similar to Boomers spots but he has a black nose. Is the nose the only thing that makes him a dilute and not a red merle?
> 
> And I have another question about the pup that was in Boomers litter that was born looking red merle but at 8 weeks was more a red/golden color (similar to a golden retriever coat). Would she be considered a red merle still since she was merled as a newborn or is she considered a red? To me her coloring was more golden than the typical red aussie coat. Sorry I dont have pics here, I came across them over the weekend but left them at home.


No boomer's merling really are brown, not black. Luv2bytes mini, is a blue merle with a dilute spot, boomer is a red merle with silver merling like i said in my ealier post. his nose doesnt have anything to do with a dilute spot. And your boomer isnt a dilute.

she could have be a yellow aussie, but i dont know without a picture, sorry 

/Amanda


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

the nrw photos you posted definitely make him look like a red merle unlike 2 of the photos you posted earlier that made hime look like a blue. Sorry to add to all the confusion but 2 pics, including his baby photo, looked like a blue merle.


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## K9 Wolf (Jan 31, 2010)

My friend breeds Aussies, and I also own one myself and know a lot about the breed. Your Boomer is definatly a red merle with silver merling. I have a web link that talks about the colours hear: http://www.shalakoaussies.com/BreedStandard_Color.html
My aussie is a blue merle with some, what appears to be, red merle markings on her head, not all dogs are exactly the same colours they should be, yours is pretty normal though.


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## lauren17 (Apr 14, 2009)

Ok thanks for clearing this up for me! Now I can confidently tell people Boomer is a red merle and support my argument in it


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