BC Museum: Ticked Border Collies

THE BORDER COLLIE MUSEUM Permanent Collection

TICKED, SPECKLED OR MOTTLED 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

On ticking, Dr. Philip Sponenberg of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, in an article on ticking that first appeared in part in the Shepherd's Dogge, Vol. II, No. 4, Winter 1989/90. says:

"Speckled dogs may be complicated. Most are probably [the result of] ticking, which is a dominant gene that tends to put tiny spots into the white spotted area of a white spotted dog. This does indeed happen at some weeks to perhaps months after birth...The ticking varies from a little to a lot, and in dogs with just a little would probably be missed altogether...

"It seems to me that most dogs should be fairly consistently ticked wherever they have white markings. That is, if it is just a light sprinkling it should be so everywhere, if intense and dark it should be so everywhere [but this isn't necessarily so]. So, the ones with more ticking on the legs and head are interesting, but might still be [genetically] ticked. There are records of some blue ticked dogs that had intense ticking but then also white spots free of ticking. If this is the case then perhaps there are two types of white spotting going on, one being subject to invasion by the ticking and the other resistant to it. This is a hypothesis, and if dogs are found like this, [the theory] needs to be tested.

"The ticking grows in the color that...is the background color, so can be black ([which] looks blue blue roan if intense), red, tan, blue (dilute) or anything else. White speckles in dark spots would be entirely different [genetically, and]...the ticking is [also] not relatedto merle at all."

Linda Rorem explains it simply "Speckling will be whatever the underlying pattern would be, were there no white there (sort of [as if] a white stocking with a lot of little holes in it was pulled on over a tanpoint or sable leg or black leg). Same with the collar or any other white area, and the face; on a tanpoint (tricolor), the speckling will be tan where tan would be located in a tanpoint face, black where the black would be located."

Many people mistake ticking for merling, and I can't begin to count the number of people that sent me photos of their "blue merle" dog, only to find out that they really had a ticked dog. Especially with heavy ticking, it is a natural mistake for people who have had no experience with either merles or ticked dogs.

At left, Brocken Glen (left, ISDS 37777) and Brocken Tweed (ISDS 37779), littermates bred by Barbara and Will Carpenter of Gloucestershire, England in 1965. Glen is a black-and-white dog with more black than white, but Tweed is a speckled or ticked dog. Barbara says her litters produced a number of ticked dogs, which were born white and developed the ticking as they got older. (Photo courtesy of Mrs. Barbara Carpenter.)

This is Tick, a blue-ticked tri colored Border Collie belonging to Dawn Sandberg from Rockford, Illinois. Dawn says that "when he was born, he was all white, except for black ears. All the color came later, as he was growing up." Tick is 4 years old. Dawn explains, "Merle and Mottle are two separate genes. Merles are born with all the color. Mottles are not born that way, the freckles develop as they grow up." Both Tick's mom and grandmother were also ticked or mottled.

This is Tonto, far left, a heavily ticked Border Collie that belongs to Shana Corbin of Corpus Cristi, Texas. When Tonto accidently bred Shana's tricolored Australian Shepherd, Sissy, this Spring (2001), one of the resultant puppies was Skye. Skye inherited the ticking from her father, and we wanted to show you a classic example of the development of ticking, so here is Skye shown left at 3 weeks with her mother.

In these 2 photos we see Skye again at 3 weeks. Notice the speckling is only on her face and ears, though perhaps it can be seen very faintly on other parts of her body.

At 5 weeks (far left) and 7 weeks, her face, ears and front legs have become heavily speckled.

At 12 weeks (far left) the speckling has heavily filled in on her entire body. And here is Skye, left, at six months old. She is, incidently, also a smooth coated dog.

These three gorgeous, heavily ticked dogs are Lacey, Gale and Jonnie. Lacey and Gale are litter sisters both owned by Peter Lubbi of Ashford, Middlesex, England. Jonnie, a tricolored dogowned by Brenda Potiphar of Brighton, Sussex, England. He is a British obedience champion and competes regularly in the Crufts Obedience Championships. Thanks to Sharon Webley for these photographs.

These two lovely girls are sisters Ash and Kate belonging to Suzanne West of Oliver Springs, Tennessee. Both are tricolored, but Ash has a heavy speckling on her face and legs. As you can see from Ash's left front leg, speckling often comes through as tan as well as black.

This lovely ticked red and white female is "Bow" (short for "Bow Tie") who belongs to Rachel Koepke of Hill Country, Texas, or, as Rachel puts it, "to Erinn Koepke age 5. Bow allows Erinn to do anything she wants, but is rather stand-offish with most other people. Bow's freckles are much darker than they appear in these photos."

This (above and left) is Stella, who belongs to Betty Gillis of La Vernia, Texas, and we had to put her up with her family so that you can see what an interesting family (color/pattern-wise) it is. Stella and her 4 littermates (all males) were bred by Rodney Long of Border Collie Ranch in Center Point, Texas. Stella is heavily ticked to the point of looking blue, and Betty says that some people think she is a blue merle, but she knew Stella was ticked. Stella's tan areas are ticked as well, and Betty calls them "leopard spots".

These are Stella's parents, sire Tyne (far left) and dam Dot (left), both working dogs. Tyne is white factored, probably can be considered patterned white tri (see the tiny tan eye-spot over his right eye and on his right cheek). He has a moderate rough coat. Dot is a heavily ticked saddle-patterened dog with a smooth coat, so you can see from whom Stella got her spots, and her blue eyes.

Here we have Stella at about 3 weeks old (far left) and about 2 months old (left). You can clearly see that at about 3 weeks she is mostly white, and by the time she is 2 months she is already heavily ticked all over. But nothing like by the time she is an adult, where the heavy speckling makes her look almost blue. It's also interesting how little tan she has on her as a pup, but how much she does as an adult, and the fact that the tan is almost all ticking.

This is Stella (center) and her littermates. They are, left to right, Bill, Boss, Brock, and Jack. Bill is patterned white like his dad. Boss is heavily ticked like Stella but has black ears and a split face. Brock is a saddle pattern like his mom, but hasn't as much tan or ticking as she does. Jack is another patterned white, with more white and less ticking. Three of the five littermates are smooth-coated, and Stella and Brock are moderate roughs.

These are three of Stella's four littermates. Brock, above left, the saddle-patterned dog, is rather interestingly marked in that the black saddle extends down his tail and he also has a narrow black stripe in his white collar. He has some tan ticking on his legs, but nothing like his mother and other littermates. Here's a better view of Boss (above, right). Look at the way his legs are positioned. Betty refers to him as "the blue dog", but in fact he isn't as heavily ticked or blue looking as Stella. And left, a better look at Bill. Like his mom, he has one blue eye, one brown. It would be interesting to get a "genetic readout" for this family of Border Collies.