BC Museum: Saddle Patterned Border Collies

THE BORDER COLLIE MUSEUM Permanent Collection

SADDLE-PATTERNED 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; and 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

These dogs are usually considered tricolored dogs if they are Border Collies, or sometimes "saddle sables". However, in other collie breeds, the English Shepherd for example, they may be called "sable-faced tris" or "saddle-backed sables" and the terms are used interchangably. Jan Hilborn, who runs the National English Shepherd Rescue (NESR) says, "I've also heard the term 'tri-factored sables' tossed out by Collie and Sheltie people. I have one of this 'mis-named'-colored dogs, he is registered as a tri, but I've always thought of him as a sable since every black hair on his body is really a [tan] hair tipped in black (sometimes the [tan] is only a very tiny percentage of the total hair though)." The fact that different terms are used in different breeds for this same color pattern leads to a lot of confusion, but, suffice it to say that, again in Jan's words, "true saddle patterned dogs are neither tris nor sables but are something else all their own--saddle patterned dogs. [And] yes, they have three colors so they are [also] 'tris' and yes, they have tan roots so you could argue they are heavily shaded sable...but...they are neither--they are saddle patterned dogs."

Liisa Sarakontu from Finland seems to agree:

"Saddle pattern is something between sable and tanpoint [or tricolor]. Not [the] same as either of these, but a pattern, where the back is [a] denser black than on the darkest sable, but the black area is smaller than on the lightest tanpoint. All Airedales and Finnish Hounds and most Bloodhounds, GSDs and Beagles are saddle patterned.

"The valid genetic explanation behind this pattern is partially unclear yet. Saddle is certainly dominant to tanpoint and recessive to sable, but it is not [clear] if it is an independent A-locus pattern like sable and tanpoint, or it is caused by a gene from another locus, which modifies normal tanpoint pattern."

Therefore, we have chosen to give dogs of this pattern a webpage of their own.

Storm was a rescue Border Collie. He has a black saddle, dark, rich tan, and a mask on his face. If he looks more like a collie than a Border Collie to you, it is only because you are probably not used to seeing a Border Collie in this color pattern. (Photo by Carole L. Presberg.)

This dog is Unseelie Jack, bred and owned by Donna Lumme of Espyville, Pennsylvania. Donna described him as being born with the "normal split face, white on one side, black on the other", but that "gradually, the brown began creeping up the black side of his face until it completely took over that side of his face". As you can see in the photo on the left, Jack at 7 weeks old had just a small amount of tan in all the usual places for a tricolored dog, eyespots, a bit on the cheeks, some on both sides of his chest, and some on his left front leg. He probably had tan on his rear legs as well. But in the photo on the right you can see clearly that Jack's face (excluding his ears) is almost completely tan, and his left front leg where there was just a tiny bit of tan as a puppy, is almost completely tan as well. This is very typical progression for saddle-patterned dogs.

At the time, I had never seen this sort of transformation before, so I asked my "color experts". Jan Hilborn, when asked if she had ever seen this before, said yes, she had seen it in her own ES, "Quinn and all the other sable-faced tris. Quinn's tan is much more brilliant and reddish than most sables and as pups, he and all his littermates looked like tris, some with hardly any noticable tan at all making them essentially look black and white. Then, as they matured, the black faded back and the tan was revealed."

Linda Rorem, who has been studying herding breeds for a long time, explained this "growing saddle pattern" in this way:

My main experience with [the] saddle pattern is in German Shepherd Dogs, but I'm sure it's genetically the same in English Shepherds and in Border Collies. Many saddle-pattern GSD's are born with very extensive black...But as [they] grow, the black lessened steadily and considerably, creeping up [the] legs to [the] shoulders and then up to [the] withers, leaving [them] with a saddle. This appears to be a common occurrence... The tan background color can vary considerably in any tricolor dog, from bright tan ('copper' in Aussies), through duskier and lighter shades, to very pale tan to 'silver'. In Aussies I have seen this full range of tan possibilities, from bright tan to silver, usually in true tricolor...pattern rather than saddle pattern, though, as saddle pattern seems somewhat rare these days in Aussies (although I have seen it)...In Shelties it is believed that minimally-present tan is a sign of a bi-factored dog (one that can produce black and white without tan), whereas a non-bi-factored dog has a more extensive tan...Most Collies, in which the bi-factored gene has been virtually eradicated, have the extensive type of tan, whereas the extent of the tan in Shelties, where bifactor remains common, varies considerably.

Another interesting thing about tricolor in Shelties and Collies (and I assume other breeds) is that at birth the tan may not be apparent other than as a very slight dusty shade under the tail...Probably if the owner of Jack had known to look carefully, she would have seen the dusty patch under the tail within a couple of days of birth. The puppy photo clearly shows tan. But the dog being, apparently, a saddle-pattern rather than a true tricolor, the tan kept extending, as it does in GSDs, until he had his present coat pattern. The brightness of his tan does appear unusual for a BC, but I'm sure it's just one of those variants, and might not be as noticeable in a true tricolor as it is in a saddle-pattern dog. In the same way one will see saddle-patterned GSDs with very deep red, others varying all the way to light sandy color. However, GSDs are deliberately bred for the richer color, as it is desired in the show ring, whereas this kind of selection hasn't taken place in the BC (yet!). Aussies likewise have the rich red/tan more frequently now that they are show dogs...So the colors are in the general collie-breeds gene pool, just not seen as much in BC's.

Another dog that falls into the same category as Jack above, and who illustrates it even more dramatically is Solo, below, belonging to Sharon Webley of England. Of Solo, Sharon says the following:

The first [photo] shows Solo as a puppy. You will see that he was born very dark, with the black colouring well past his shoulders, and on his head, and his face wasn't golden tan, it was a mucky brown with black on the top of his head. As he grew, the black receded and the mucky brown turned to a lovely golden tan. He was definitely the ugly duckling who turned into a beautiful swan. His dam was a normal tri, but he turned out to be almost identical to his sire. Of the 7 pups in the litter, Solo was the only one who turned out this way, the others were all normal tri collies. His sire was "Sealight Blow", bred by Bing Bellamy of Kent, UK...The Sealight prefix is owned by Bing Bellamy and she breeds 2 types of Border Collies, the ones like Storm [above] (and [another] typical example [is] my Solo...) and she also breeds darker collies.

Above, are 5 of the current Sealight Border Collies bred by and belonging to Bing Bellamy of Kent, England. And below are a breeding pair of Mrs. Bellamy's, Sealight Puffin ("Orville", left) and Sealight Lace ("Lacey", right) and three of their bitch puppies (below) from a 2002 litter. (Thanks to Sharon Webley for the photos of all the Sealight dogs.)

Mrs. Bellamy also bred Jaffa, owned by Gloria Crimmin of Middlesex, England. You can see from the two photos of Jaffa how she had black on her head as a pup, but the black receded, leaving her with a mostly tan head.

Another dog who comes into the category of "saddle-patterned" is Tristan who belongs to Debbie Spence of Keller, Texas. Tristan is 5 years old, but in the photos, below, where he is a puppy, you can see that he was almost completely black and white with just a little tan on his face and rear legs; but as an adult, the tan has spread to most of his face and onto his front and rear legs.

Below are three dogs related to Tristan, Dash (his dad), Flash (a half-brother), and Eagle (a grandson of Dash) who appears to be an "ordinary" tri.

Dan is another saddle patterned dog. Hemp 'n Fly's Danny Boy STDd is a Welsh import rescued from the Humane Society in August of 1998 by Mary Ann Lindsay of Hayden Lake, Idaho. Mary Ann is actually an Australian Shepherd rescue person, and although she intended to place him, she says, "it became obvious very quickly that he and I were going to be the best of buddies, so he came to me [and] he stayed. He helps here with the moving about of our 'weed eaters'. Early on ( 6 days after bailing him) he earned his Started Trial Dog title on ducks. We've not done any competing since but may give it a go one of these days."

This is Moel Hemp, belonging to Myra Soden of Virginia. Hemp is a Welsh import bred by Keri Jones Rundle, a daughter of the famous Welsh sheepdog handler, Glyn Jones. Myra is convinced that Dan, above, is a full brother of her Hemp, and says that "Dan looks so much like Hemp's mother, Dolwen Fan." She says that Hemp, like Dan, is "a total natural on geese, ducks and chickens. He has his AHBA (American Herding Breeds Association) HTD III on ducks in September 2000. He is a trained sheepdog and we are currently running in the Open Ranch class in ISDS herding trials. We do ducks, geese and chickens for fun simply because Hemp loves it so much. I never met such a perfect birdy BC!" Stay tuned. Myra is going to try to find out more about Dan.

Meanwhile, Hemp has recently (March 18, 2001) won High in Trials at the AHBA trial in Chesapeake, VA. Besides his green and white qualifying ribbon and his blue ribbon for first place in his division, Hemp won the beautiful High in Trial rosette. The trial was his first leg of his AHBA Herding Trial Dog III title on sheep. With the scores he has had in these trials, he has earned 2 points towards his AHBA championship. Myra says, "AHBA events have been nice practice for Hemp and me but we look forward to going to 'normal' Border Collie trials this spring. He is doing 350+ yard outruns without problems and driving and cross driving very well. With the work we've been doing this winter, we expect to do pretty well in the USBCHA Open Ranch class this spring. If I could learn to shed, we might make it to Open someday in the near future."

Bovva, who belongs to Sharon Webley from England, is a perfect example of the way a "saddle-patterned" dog develops its coloring. Bovva's parents were both black-and-white, and Bovva was black-and-white until he was 5 weeks old, when a tiny patch of tan appeared underneath his tail. You can see in the first photo, where he is 4 weeks old, there is no visible tan on him. By the time he was 9 weeks old, in the second photo, there is quite a bit of visible tan on Bovva, but his ears and legs are still predominately black, and notice the black spot on the top of his head. In the third picture, Bovva is 18 weeks old (4 1/2 months), and the saddle is pretty well developed, though the black still goes down his legs. In the last photo, Bovva has turned 20 months, almost 2 years old, and he is a classic saddle-patterned dog. There is no black on his legs, and while he still has about an even amount of black and tan on his head/ears, note that "black spot" on the top of his head: it has become a tan spot. There were 7 pups in Bovva's litter. One was light sable, 2 were classic tri, 3 were black-and-white, and there was Bovva. Sharon says, "I don't know where the sable bitch [puppy]'s colouring or Bovva's saddle tan came from, all I know is that the dam had some red-and-whites in the litter that she came from, and his sire had blue merles in his litter."