Is this a sign of merle?

Greenepony · Sep 5, 2015

https://flic.kr/p/xXWsRN

Olive has some white on her hip but when I was holding her I saw she has quite a few on her head (the link above). What would cause it? Is she really a Sable merle? ( on top of her other weird coloring)

ghggp · Sep 5, 2015

Actually, I have no idea...

But, I have to say I just love her sweet face!!! Such a cutie!!!

Cleo2014 · Sep 9, 2015

I have a sable merle, and by my experience, you can't always tell if they are or not. Sometimes shelties are born that have so few merle markings that they look to be a solid color rather than a merle. This can be scary for someone breeding shelties and is why most breeders don't pair sables and blue merles. The sable merle that looks like a sable is accidently bred with a blue merle, thus producing double merles. With my Cleo, you can definitely tell she is a sable merle. If one of her parents was a blue merle and the other a sable then it is possible that she could be a sable merle, but unless you can really see the merle markings, or if she has one or both blue eyes, then it is almost impossible to tell in your case.

Greenepony · Sep 9, 2015

Cleo2014 said: ↑

I have a sable merle, and by my experience, you can't always tell if they are or not. Sometimes shelties are born that have so few merle markings that they look to be a solid color rather than a merle. This can be scary for someone breeding shelties and is why most breeders don't pair sables and blue merles. The sable merle that looks like a sable is accidently bred with a blue merle, thus producing double merles. With my Cleo, you can definitely tell she is a sable merle. If one of her parents was a blue merle and the other a sable then it is possible that she could be a sable merle, but unless you can really see the merle markings, or if she has one or both blue eyes, then it is almost impossible to tell in your case.
Click to expand...

That's my generally feeling about her history. Before she was 9-11 mo it's all a guess. There was that sable merle thread a couple of weeks ago and it's interesting to see how it's expressed.

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Is this a sign of merle?

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