BC Museum: Brindle Border Collies

THE BORDER COLLIE MUSEUM Permanent Collection

BRINDLE BORDER COLLIES

Note on the Color Pages: --PLEASE READ--

Up till now, I have accepted photos of people's dogs and have put them up on the appropriate pages when I have had the time. However, these pages are getting enormously large, for which there is a cost associated in both time and money (space costs). Furthermore, I have accumulated an enormous backlog of photos that I have not had time to put up, and given the size of the website in general, and the fact that I would like to expand it in other areas, I have not had the time to update the color pages.

So, sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I must cut back the existing pages by removing some photos and leaving only those that best represent particular colors or patterns. I will no longer be accepting photos of other people's dogs for publication on this website except from time to time if a perfect example and a great photo comes along. To those of you who have sent photos that have not yet gone up, I apologize for never having gotten to them.

Still, I have to say that I enjoy getting photos of your dogs and seeing for myself the huge variety there is in the breed. So, if you would like to continue sending me photos, and continue to correspond with me, I would like that very much, and am still available to answer any color questions you may have to the best of my ability.

Thank you for your support on the subject of color genetics in the Border Collie.

-- Carole Presberg, editor and curator, Border Collie Museum

We've been recently told that the brindle color is not inherited in the Border Collie. This is apparantly not true, to which the dogs on this page attest.

This is Brenda, a rescue Border Collie from Ireland and now living in Germany. The photos were sent by Beatrix Urban, who does Border Collie rescue in Ireland and places most of the dogs she gets in Germany, the country of her birth.

This is Sila (now called Shyla), also a brindle Border Collie, belonging to Gottfried and Mieke Kellerman of Osceola, Wisconsin. She was adopted from Great Lakes Border Collie Rescue. Mieke and Gottfried have two other dogs called Bella and Fjela. Of her they say she "is a fantastic dog, very bright and so eager to please. She fitted in right away with the other dogs." Grace Saalsaa of GLBCR fostered Sila when she was in rescue and says of her coloration, that it is "deep chocolate to the point of almost looking black, with stripes of golden carmel. The white in her coat isn't pristine white but rather a smoky white, heavily ticked. I had studied her coat many, many times and found her to be so interesting. [She has] silver ticking on her face. The under side of her chin is speckled like her front feet, in a grayish white with dark chocolate spots."

Durango belongs to Heather Young of Pennsylvania. She was adopted in February 2001 at about 7 or 8 months old from a shelter. Heather says of her, "She definitely has Border Collie herding instincts, is smart as a whip, is totally loyal, trainable, and she excels at agility!"

BRINDLE OR SABLE?

This is Rusty, who belonged to Kathy and Craig Chittenden of Stephentown, New York. He was adopted from a shelter and unfortunately met with a tragic end. Of him, Kathy says, "Rusty...was a true 'devil dog,' eight months old, difficult to walk [on lead], constantly barking, etc....I saw brains and beauty, and he came home with us the next day, much to the relief of the shelter staff. I kept a journal on my progress with him, I haven't gone back to read it, but I do know that I ended up with rope burns on my hands in those early obedience classes. We then went right into agility and he was a natural! So focussed, so talented!...I only had him six weeks but the bond we had and the progress we had made was incredible." Rusty was hit by a car and killed when, in true Border Collie fashion, he crossed the road to visit the cows.

For all those doubting Thomases who notice that all the dogs on this web page are rescues and say that since we don't know their background, they could be crosses and that doesn't prove that Border Collies can come in brindle, let me present Jesse. Isn't he magnificent? He is a purebred brindle and white Border Collie with registration papers. Jesse belongs to Mike Pawich of Alpharetta, Georgia. Jesse's sire was red (chocolate) and white, and his dam was black and white. Out of a litter of 7, 4 were red and white, and 2 were black and white, and Jesse was the only brindle. Mike says he came from a breeder in Tennessee. Thanks to Shelley Blom for sending Jesse's photos.

This is Cassidy who belongs to Cindy Pasnik of Medina, New York. She is registered with ABCA, and at the time her owner sent the photo (2003--sorry!) she had had 2 litters, each of which produced one brindle merle. She was OFA-good and CERF-clear, and frisbee-mad. Cindy was considering herding training as well, but we don't know what transpired in the four years since we heard about her.

This magnificent Border Collie is Star ("Stardust Memories") belonging to Cliff and Peggy Jencks from Alpine, California. Star almost looks blue in the photos, but photos sometimes lie about color and the owners did not say she was blue. One thing the photo can not lie about is that she is also brindle. Brindle only affects the tan areas. So, dogs that look overall brindle have an overall tan base (i.e., Australian red or recessive yellow). But what would happen if the dog were a "normal" tricolor (black, white, and tan) and they carried brindle? Their black parts would remain black, their white parts would remain white, but their tan parts would become brindle, and that is what has happened to Star. One more thing: since tan (e.g., Australian red or recessive yellow) is pretty uncommon in Border Collies as it is, it stands to reason that all-over brindle would be more rare yet, which seems the likely explanation of why people think that Border Collies "don't come in brindle". The Jenckses thought that the way Star was brindle was "how it is supposed to be in Border Collies". Since tricolors are common in Border Collies, it is more likely that one would see a brindle like Star than one like Jesse, above. And oh, by the way, if Star IS blue, yes, brindle can happen in the tan in combination with any color--blue, red, and even merle (as we heard in the previous dog, Cassidy, who had brindle merle puppies)--since it only affects the tan. A blue dog would have blue brindle stripes, a red dog would have red brindle stripes, and so on.

Brindle Indy belongs to Denis Singley of Phoenix, Arizona. What a handsome boy! And he has lovely old-fashioned tag ears. Denis says: "When I looked at him and his littermates I had never seen a brindle bc before...I am proud to own a rare bc and he gets a lot of attention everywhere we go."

These two beauties are rescue dogs, Puzzle (left) and Swirl (above). We talked about brindle merle further up in this page, and here are two living examples of that patterning. They came into rescue together and they are either sisters or mother/daughter. Thanks to Windi Williams-Weaver of South Carolina for sending their photos.

This is Annie ("Little Orphan Annie"--great name), also a rescue dog, belonging to Robert Mitchell. He says "turning out (with a boatload of patience, to be the best dog I've ever had."

Killian was a rescue dog with New England Border Collie Rescue. He came in with his brother, Guinness (two Irish beers). He now belongs to Sharon Marconi, and he is a smooth-coated brindle.

This is Frankie belonging to Tim Dyer of Genoa, Illinois. In the first two photos, Frankie is only 13 weeks old. In the second two, he is 7 months old. Frankie was bred in Alabama. His father is sable and his mother is black and white with blue eyes.