Autumn's Display

Brown in Shelties is technically referred to as "Sable" - we will refer to it as such for the remainder of this and all other documents.

Sables come in varying shades from a very light almost lemon yellow to a very dark mahogany with black overlay. Sometimes the overlay can be so dark that the dog almost appears to be a tricolor.

The black overlay or "grizzling" on the tips of the coat may also either be present or not. And it may affect the coat in various amounts. Shelties such as the lemon yellow color may have no overlay as opposed to the very dark mahogany which has a very dark overlay.

The basic and sure indicator of sable coloring is the "mask" on the face. This makes the dog appear to have a "heart shaped" face. This mask is caused by the black overlay affecting the shading of the coat.

Sables are allowed to only have brown eyes. In the case of sable merles the eye may be blue as the merle gene affects eye color as well as coat color. However, regardless of this fact, the standard does not allow for blue eyes in any sable.

There is a blue eye that may be seen in the sable which is totally unrelated to the merle gene. This is usually appears as one clear blue eye and one brown eye (same as seen in the black). This is considered a genetic fault and any dogs displaying this type of eye coloring should be spayed or netuered and not bred.

Thanks to Sam Edwards of Ft. Myers, FL for allowing me to use this picture of "OJ" Ch Alymere Foxglove You Bet. He's a beautiful representation of the sable with little to no black/darker overlay in the coat.

Thanks to Natalie Whalen of IL for this picture of her pretty red sable boy Joey.

Thanks to Reidun Monsholm of Playtime Shelties, Norway for the following pictures. As you can see, these sable are very clear and lighter in color than the majority of our American shelties. Such wonderful examples of English type!

Ch Mainland's Born To Be Just Me with daughters, Playtime's Fine Time and Playtime's Fine Taste (L to R) Milward First Edition

Thanks to Serena Marshall of Shantel Shelties for this picture of her boy "Flame" - International Ch Shantel's Desert Fire.

Color Inheritance - Blacks - Merles - Double Merles - Color Headed Whites - Non-Standard Colors
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