SABLE BORDER COLLIES

These two beautiful sable-and-white Border Collies are Lord Rhimy, left, and Lady Skye, both of whom belonged to Noreen Parrell when she lived in Rochester, New York. Note that sables have black noses and lips. Rhimy has a partial "saddle"--a partial or full saddle often occurs in sables; and he has a "mask", another common feature of sable. Sable is defined by tan hairs with black tips. (Photos by Noreen Parrell or Wayne Kokinda.)

This gorgeous sable dog is Chance, belonging to Sara Bagg, an artist from Tulelake, California. Chance has more black than any of the above dogs, and a black saddle as well. His tan is a very deep reddish-tan. (See an explanation of the saddle pattern and the variations in tans on the "Tricolored Border Collies" page)

This is Rusty, a 3 1/2-year-old sable Border Collie. Rusty is a Flyball Dog Champion who belongs to Ray Koenig of British Columbia, Canada.

This magnificent sable Border Collie is Zip, who belongs to A.J. Marhofke. Zip was adopted by A.J. from the Wisconsin Border Collie Rescue, and is being trained to be the first forensic evidence dog in the state Wisconsin. A.J. also does search and recovery with his Border Collie, Mollie Mae, who was also a rescue dog. Can you imagine anyone giving up a dog as beautiful as Zip?

This beautiful girl is 4-year-old Roisin (Irish for Rosie and pronounced Ro-SHEEN). She belongs to Maria Corcoran, of Slough, Ireland. In the photo on the left she looks almost red tri, but the giveaway is her black nose. The photo on the right is Roisin as a puppy. Notice that Roisin has a "saddle". Many people call saddle patterned dogs "saddle sables", but they are usually not true sables. Roisin can be said to be a true saddle sable.

These two gorgeous sables are Benny (far left) and Acoma, owned by Anke Gutekunst of France. Anke, a German woman who lives on a farm in Lothringen, France, has been breeding Border Collies for 8 years, and now runs Uisneach Border Collie Rescue with Beatrix Urban, another German national who lives in Ireland. They rescue Border Collies in Ireland and place them with families in Germany and elsewhere on the Continent. Benny is a dog rescued in Ireland by Beatrix. Beatrix says that Anke "just fell for him"--we can understand why! His tan is very pale, something we have not seen in a sable before--Beatrix calls it "blond", a very apt term! Acoma is a 5-month-old female bred by Anke.

This handsome sable dog is Michel ("Skippers Michel von Lonneberga") a Europeon show Champion bred by Anke Gutekunst. Michel lives with a family in Frankfurt, Germany.

This is Travis, a beautiful sable dog belonging to Stephanie Padgett of Greensboro, North Carolina. He's a registered purebred with a pedigree going back to Wiston Cap on both sides despite having come from a backyard breeder who was "retiring and getting rid of all his dogs". His sire was black and white and his dam was black tricolored. Stephanie was told that this pair had a pup like Travis in every litter.