I have kept rough collies as pets for over 20 years and at present have a blue merle dog from show stock.I am looking to possibly breed a litter of my own in the next year or two.Is it true that he should only be mated to a tri-colour bitch?Any advice would be most welcome.

This is quite prevoking question.I own rough collies, I show and I breed sometimes too.I personally would only breed a blue to a tri.But I do know friends who have bred blue to sable with excellent results,but you run the risk of sable merles in your litter and I believe sables possibly with blue eyes.Also I know blue to blue but then you run the risk of whites which can be totally blind if there is no colour on their heads.So it depends what your aims are.In your shoes, I would opt for a well bred tri-colour,you could then get blues and tris.If you want a sable, then mate your tri to a sable which could give you shaded sables and tris.A dominant sable will give you all shaded sables to a tri.This is obviously after you have had your dogs eye tested and hip-scored,their pedigrees tie in,they compliment each other as adults and you are prepared to have any puppies back that you may sell at any time in their lives.Hope this helps answer your original question. Gail :) :) :)

hi
i have a blue bitch i mated her at the beging of the year to a tri dog
who was blue breed. she had 4 pups all tri but 1 onlyone servived out off litter a tri bitch wich
i kept .
my breeder will not let you breed blue/blue or sable/blue as their are to much defects
in the litter she had been breeding and showing rough collies for years
she has win plenty off shows
well any good breeder would not allow you to mate him out with the tri
as my breeder is very strikt with her line of breeding
     yours
           sharon