Border Collie

I just love the way you tracked her development in that site of yours.  Both ausssie and BC's are so similar that seperating the trates is so difficult.  I don't have any adivce on behavors to look out for but I just wanted to say she is a beautiful dog.[]

There's so much variety within the two breeds that I can only say she is what she is!  If you are wondering what color she is, she is a dilute of something - I can't decide whether it's black or red - it's so hard to tell from pictures.  I'm leaning towards red dilute (called lilac in BCs).  Border collies carry the dilute gene (Aussies do too, but not as many), while more Aussies carry red.  Thus you got something that is rare in both breeds.  Note, this is different from merle, which is that mottled pattern.

Here is a lilac tri BC working on her farm in Scotland:http://www.corriedhu.co.uk/Mist.htm

And there is another red dilute here - but this one is also merle!  Scroll down to the last pic:http://www.corriedhu.co.uk/Ghost.htm

Were the parents working dogs?

I did notice when studying the pics of her at bout 2 weeks that she had a reddish cast to her, a pretty easily seen one. Every now and then I *think* I see a red cast, however I am colorblind for red so it takes quite a bit of red for me to see it. I used to have a red sable sheltie and it was awhile before I realized he was red sable. People kept commenting on the "red sable" but I could not see the red so did not understand what they were talking bout. Her mother is definitely NOT a working dog. Her sire is not working himself, but I was told he comes from working lines in Canada. The friend I got her from said her dam's sister has produced her color in previous litters.  This was her dam's first litter. Shiloh will be spayed, no litters for her. I used to raise/show shelties, had blue/tris and bi black/blues, and one sable.

LOL.  If you can't see red it's going to be really hard for you to tell dilute red from dilute black (slate).  But the slate blue usually has a much darker body color, while the red often fades to a silvery color (the dog in the link I gave you didn't, but you can see her sire in the second link didn't fade with age either).

Good for you for spaying.  Dilutes are another of those tricky colors that shouldn't be bred to another dilute without a lot of advice.  It's not as clear cut as the merle-to-merle issue, but alopecia is a problem in BCs and I think I've heard Aussie people mention it, too.

She would be spayed even if was not a dilute and the best pup in the litter because (1) she is not purebred, (2) she is not from registered stock, and (3) I no longer breed - when I bred my shelties I bred to improve quality only.  I got her strictly as a companion and that's what she is and will always be []  I am wondering now if spaying her will help settle her down a bit, but she's young, she's only 11 months old, has quite a ways to go before mature. Here are 2 pics - first taken 9/06, the 2nd just a couple days ago. Studying the pics of the litter I did notice the diff b/t her and the other solid colored pup like her - that pup is darker and I can see, in the pic, a reddish tinge to her, and every now and then I *think* I see a reddish tinge in her, but I just can't tell. She has not come into her first season yet but I'm waiting ...

OK, here's another guess - agouti grey.  Her nose and eye color just look too dark for even a dark chocolate.  Agouti is fairly common in working BCs though most people don't notice it because it's not usually as light as your dog. 

The way you tell, is you get one of the long guard hairs and look at it in a well lit area, with a magnifying glass if possible.  You'll see different shades on the hair - bands of  grey, yellow, and whatever the body color is.  It doesn't matter what colors you actually see - if the banding is there she's agouti grey.

One of the fun things about these breeds is all the colors.  she's just beautiful, by the way, and no, spaying will not settle her down most likely though not dealing with heats will be a big relief, I'm sure!  These breeds generally become mentally mature around two and have their real adult brain at about four years old (six for some lines of Aussie!).    Good luck!!! []

She's lovely! Good for you in spaying her. My BC Mix started acting more mature around 2 years, and at almost three is starting to get a brain. [] She was still a pretty live wire until about 15 months, when she started to settle in some.

Thanks, I'll have a look at the guard hairs - not that she has many for she does not have much coat, and what she has is pretty short. While her nose is pretty dark, her eyes are not, they are actually light and I have said she has "odd" eyes. I suspect she has vision problem but have not been able to get her checked yet.  Do you know of way(s) of checking vision.  We don't have a vet close by to take her to. We recently lost the vet we had, he was in a truck rollover while haying. I've watched her track a bird in the sky w/o problem, but not see a bird walking on the ground @ a foot from her - she simply did not see the bird on the ground. I saw and heard it, she did not.   I figured she would settle @ age 3 so that gives her 2 more years.  My shelties were not mature til 3.  Kim

Hmmm.  There's a condition called PRA which affects the retina and creates vision problems, but doesn't usually start affecting their vision significantly until the dog is eighteen months or older.  This is a fatal disease [sm=sad.gif] so you'd want to get her checked if you continue to suspect she has problems.

That's the worst case scenario.  There's something called juvenile cataracts, and then there's something called CEA, which you are probably familiar with from the shelties.  It's the same disease. 

For all of these, you'll want to consult a CERF vet.  I think you can find the nearest one if you check outhttp://www.vmdb.org/cerf.html

I have no experience with Border collies but i didnt know they came in so many colors! This girl is at our local pound [linkhttp://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=7072036]http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=7072036[/link]
Do you think she is a mix? or purebred? I wasnt sure at first because i have never seen one that color,they actually arent that common around my area.

She certainly could be purebred.  It's hard to tell from the pic but they definitely come in that color (blue merle).  And there's several breeders who have that color in their lines in the NY area.

This is a fun site:http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/Permanent/BC_Looks_Health.html

As I suspected there is no CERF vet close by - I'm in western SD. We lost our vet not too long ago. I called the closest vets for their suggestions on her and they said to find a vet who could pressure test her eyes. There is no vet closeby who can do that but one vet clinic has a specialist come in to do clinics. He is coming 10/20 & 23 so I have a call into him. Now in the meantime, this morning I was playing w/ her and inside, out of the bright light, she tracked my hands close up w/o a problem. I just don't know what to think of her, but will see what this vet says if/when he calls back.  They suggested a pressure test because her eyes are bulgy - have you seen what often happens when toy & mini poodles are crossed - they have bulging eyes on those little heads?  Her eyes are kinda like that. Another option I guess might be she is just so excited she is not paying attention but we'll see.  One thing I have noticed w/ her, I have been working on her catching things - her rope toy, the stick, etc - I'll tell her "watch and catch", she'll go into her crouch and watch the item, I toss it and she catches it - and she does this inside and out. BUT everytime we have done it outside it is in the later afternoon, when the light is lessening.  Any connection? Inside she is great at catching.  Any connection?   Kim

That is a beautiful dog you have there.  I love border collies and my last dog who is very sadly not with me anymore was a border colie shepard mix that i adopted from the animal shelter and she was the most amazing dog i've ever known.  Smart, responsive, amazing with all people, everything you could ask for in a dog she was.  The 3rd pic you have of shiloh at 22 weeks, with one ear up and one ear down, this reminds me of Cambria because she always had one ear up and one ear down, you would think that one of them was broken but on rare occasions you could catch them both up.  Here are some pictures of her at different stages of maturity:





 

Shiloh is a real character. And her ears are still up and down like a yoyo.  She'll be looking at me, one up & one down, like in that pic. I'll ask her "what is your ear doing UP?" and she'll tip & tilt her head, down comes the ear.  Few mins later she'll come & sit beside me, staring at me (I'll be working on computer), I'll look down and the ear that was up is down & the one that was down is up. We'll go thru this again ... and again.  It's a game to her.  She is quite a character and there is no doubt that altho she is one hyper little gal, she has brought life back into my life again.  When I lost the kennel in the late 80 to early 90's I was devastated, but did get another sheltie from my stepmom - one that was causing major problems for her. That dog and I went out to live on my stepmoms property up at the foot of the mountains - living in a 13' travel trailer out in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow when we moved back to town, back to the rat race - bought a trailer, etc - she was killed and losing her just took the heart right out of me and I said NO MORE and had no more for bout 10 years.  Over the years I would play w/ others' dogs but refused to have one myself. Until I saw Shiloh at 2 wks of age. Then again at 4 wks.  At 6 wks I was lost and she came home w/ me.   Every now and then I've asked WHY did I get such a hyper dog, but then she looks at me, cocks her head, and answers my question. And would not give her up, hence my turning down 2 jobs at CO ranches because while they will allow my horse, they won't allow my dog.  Their loss - no dog, no me.  []