What does a blue merle Border Collie look like?Īccording to the American Kennel Club (AKC), the breed standard description for the Border Collie is that they are “a well-balanced dog of athletic appearance, displaying style and agility in equal measure with soundness and strength.” It’s also referred to as a ghost or phantom merle that appears as black or liver, with only a few areas of merle.Įven if these dogs look pretty, proper and ethical breeding should be followed carefully.

There’s a possibility to get one pup with a merle coat in a whole litter.Īside from the merle allele/gene and non-merle allele, there’s a third variant called cryptic merle. Having a blue merle Border Collie parent doesn’t guarantee a puppy with the same color pattern. What it does is take a dominant color (like black) and dilutes it to make that grayish or bluish shade with swirly and splotchy streaks or lines.

Genetics can be tricky and complicated, but to simply put it, a dog’s coat color is a result of two base colors – a dominant and a recessive gene that it will inherit from its parents.įor breeders to get a blue merle Border Collie, one of its parents should be carrying the merle gene.

Blue Merle Border Collie breeding & genetics