I have enjoyed choosing my Chis (all six of them ) with colour in mind. Of course, first for me is temperament of parents, health, breeding and then colour.

Chocolate Chis are quite rare and I was desperate to add one to my collection so I paid way over the top for her but it was the going rate at the time. I know that the Breeder was offered £500 more than I paid for my choc Chi, trying to get her to dump me as a Buyer. Ridiculous really

I also like Merle Chis but would never go there, as they are known to have lots of health problems (can't be KC reg either) so won't consider it but, they are sooooooooo beautiful (in my opinion). It is rare you see Merle Chis advertised in the UK but, when you do, they are massively expensive! I wouldn't think they would come from reputable Breeders either, as the health issues can be quite severe and any Breeder I know wouldn't go there.

So through all my waffling, yes, I do like to consider colour, it is important in my choice of dog but nowhere near as important as other issues and, yes, I have paid more for a certain colour that I desired

With the nordic breeds its more on the texture of the coat that is important, it should be harsh and have a "slightly" oily feel to it, this is to prevent snow/ice/rain penetrating the coat, the only colour preference in malamutes in particular is the eyes are to be brown the darker the better, blue eyes indicate possibly something "other" in the dogs background ie sibes, Samoyed can and so have the ODD black hair too, although sometimes its really hard to find them lol


This was taken from a search and found in the Samoyed Association breed history.
When the Kilburn-Scotts had eight strains of dogs with noticeably distinguishing features they drew up the first Breed Standard which combined all points they felt were best and then set about breeding dogs which regularly conformed to it. This standard stated "all colours permissible; white preferred". Comments in later years suggest that black and brown colouring disappeared quite quickly - but most owners know that dogs today carry one or two black hairs somewhere or other.

This varied mixture of dogs in Britain carried a gene bank which soon produced a reasonably unified breed. Quite soon breeders were exporting dogs to other countries, and this has continued up until the present day.


Mo

Thankfully in sibes any colour is acceptable as colour doesn't contribute to working ability, it's sad though that many judges, particularly non specialists, won't look at a white or piebald, no matter how good the dog is, they seem to prefer the "traditionally" marked dogs.

I was once told by a Samoyed breeder/championship show judge that the original Samoyeds were mainly black and in todays samoyeds, the ones with the best textured coats often have black hairs through the coat.

I did choose Skye because she was a blue/white girl and I definately wouldn't change her for the world. Saying that I also have 2 black/whites and a tricolour and I wouldn't change them either. Border Collies are bred more for their working ability rather than looks, although they say sheep do not respect white dogs, so the breed standard says white should not predominate and also their white flag on the end of their tail comes in handy when their in long grass.

which would tie in with what mini said about diff coat colours having diff texture, very intresting.

Working border collies are bred for working ability - coat length and colour don't come into it, although I am sure most people would have a preference. My own is black/white, rough coated.

I love my longcoated black/gold GSDs and probably wouldn't have another colour or even coat length. I know the coat length isn't desirable by KC breed standards, but only because some longcoats have no undercoat, which isn't ideal when working in cold conditions.

Colour is certainly important to me in choosing a dog. I love black and tan dogs, for example. I chose Rio because she was the lightest colour bitch in her litter. I prefer light fawn and cream in Estrelas, but I also like brindle, whereas, my Oh doesn't like brindle dos at all. You do have to find your dog pleasing to the eye after all!

hi shona, i have had a wee look at your pedigree.well not yours i mean your dogs.
the pedigree has so many diffirent lines inter mixed all within a few generations and there is also a couple of german imports been used, so would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
the 2 german imports have no history in the uk so you do not know what qualities or faults if any that they bring until you put them to british bloodlines and then its like spin the bottle, its very much a hit and miss affair.
other thing i would say to you is if this breeder pin pointed an exact breeding line with a fault, i would ask her why if she knew this did she use her own bitches on them same lines and also promoted the very same lines shes knocking for other people to use.
some times out the blue we all get some pups with serious faults and unless we know of the faults the parents are carrying before hand its very unlikely you will find out.dr willis book on genetics is a very interesting book to read

yes like you say, the breeder in question did use this kennel time and time again, but sour gripes seem so common from this breeder, as you said in your pm, I should know better by now smacks self on wrist
And yes she did promote the kennel to others, she even wanted me to go to that kennel to mate mea.

From what I gather the gene for long coat is a resessive gene, so for two short coated dogs to produce a long coat both parents would have to carry the resessive gene.
so It would seem vinnie and lyken both have it,
there is a dna test {I noticed on a site for weimeraners} that detects the gene for long coat, so I would think that it also works for rotties??
the downside would be how many rottie bitches would have been tested for the gene,
as said, sometimes its a minefield, and yes the IMP lines are harder to work back,.

I really need to get my homework books on genetics out and do some more reading, but genetics make my head hurt...... wonder if they have brought out a canine genetics for dummies yet.. I would buy it

dont try dr willis book on genetics then,though very imformative i was lost after reading the index