RECESSIVE YELLOW or TAN BORDER COLLIES
(A.K.A. AUSTRALIAN RED)

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In order for a dog to be sable, there must be some black tipped hairs in the dog's coat. The dogs on this page are not sable, but recessive yellow (in genetic terms "ee") the Golden Retriever color. The gene that causes sable and the gene that causes recessive yellow are different and located on different loci. This color is often called red (a.k.a.,"Oz Red" or "Australian Red") in Australia. But in the USA and UK, it is usually called tan (and sometimes "blond" or "yellow"). The tan we are speaking of can come in every shade from deep, deep, mahogony or reddish-tan, through Golden Retriever yellow to the very pale, almost pinky-tan like Nick, below, and everything in between. Dogs with this color coat have black leather (nose, lips, eyerims), or, if they inherit the gene for red (on a different locus than the gene for recessive yellow), they have red (or liver) leather. This might make it confusing to tell the true color of a dog that is a dark shade of tan but has red leather. We have two dogs on this page that are recessive yellow but red based: Emma Joynson Cobain and Aya Morikawa's Beni, and they both have light tan coats.

This very handsome Border Collie is Nick who belongs to Sherry Detrich of Pownal, Maine. Here's what some of the "experts" have to say about his color:

[Nick] looks like he is what the English Shepherd people call a 'clear sable.' Genetically this is the Golden Retriever color. The full range of shades can be from very pale wheaten to rich gold/red, and occurs in black-nosed Golden Retrievers and yellow labs. The variation in shade is due to modifiers. This color isn't uncommon in English Shepherds and we've seen photos of Border Collies that might have been this color. Some 'true sable' dogs can be a color similar to this, but will have a few black hairs usually close to the base of the tail or over the shoulders, whereas the Golden Retriever color will have black pigment restricted solely to the skin. Unless the nose, lips and eyerims are diluated to liver or blue, dilution wouldn't be involved." (Linda Rorem, California.)

Right, two more examples of "yellow" dogs are Ben (left) and Sissy, who come from Queensland, Australia. (Thanks to Sharon Webley, UK, for these photos.) Sharon quotes Tim as saying that they are "technically Australian reds although some people have called them Champagne." Sissy looks almost white, but a closer look at her ears shows the tan color. Tim says "She is marked fairly 'normally', tho it's hard to see. It was easier when she was very little. She has a big white collar, and a lot of white on her face, but her body is mostly coloured." Tim says the following about the color he calls "Australian red":

As for the colour, in Australia we have the two main red types. We have the 'Chocolate' which is the same as the American red. With the Chocolate you can have a chocolate Tri and the chocolate tends to have a liver coloured nose. We also have the Australian [Oz] red which is quite common and it's controlled by a masking gene (ee) that masks any other colour the dog has. Generally the Oz red (gold) has black nose and lips, unless it's also a chocolate, and then it has liver [leather]. Also you can't get a Oz red Tri colour (or so it seems). The coulours are masked by the Oz red. The Oz red is also very variable and ranges in colour and depth of colour.

This is Honey, who belongs to Kimberly and Marjorie Crocker. She was a rescue dog adopted from the Chattanooga Humane Society in Tennessee. Honey is what Marjorie calls "golden", definitely a recessive yellow. Her "roommate" Teddy, adopted at the same time is sable.

This is "Servo" who belongs to Andrea Martin of California. Andrea got Servo from a shelter and was told she was an "Aussie-Chow mix"! Not even close! This girl is all-Border Collie. Since then, Andrea has done obedience, agility, flyball and herding with Servo, and says she is very smart. In color she is very like Nick, at the top of this page, including the "Dudley nose" (a nose free of pigment so that it looks red).

This is Frodo, who belongs to Steve Bailey of the UK. Frodo lives with a tricolored Border Collie named, wait for it, Sam. Steve says: "They both live in an old timber framed cottage which was renovated (yes renovated) in 1606. The cottage backs on to the River Rother, where they spend much of the summer."

This is Cobain, left, a liver tan. Cobain's owner, Emma Joynson, was kind enough to contact me when she noticed I had an Australian Shepherd illustrating liver tan because I couldn't find a Border Collie of this color. Cobain is a registered, purebred Border Collie. His nose, lips and eye rims are liver or red, so there is no mistaking his nose for lacking pigment.

Right is Beni who belongs to Aya Morikawa from Japan. "Beni" means red in old Japanese, Aya tells us. She is a smooth-coated dog whose dam was black and white and sire was a red (chocolate) tri, indicating that they were both carrying recessive yellow. Aya believes she is the only recessive yellow smoothcoated Border Collie in Japan.

Jake, left, was found in the National Forest in Northern Wisconsin by Sue Hanson and Steve Owens. When his owner could not be found, they claimed him for their own. They say he has a dudley nose, but it looks black in the photo. Sometimes dogs noses lose pigment from rubbing.

Kody, right, is on the large size for a Border Collie, so his owner, Susan Lawson, was told he was a Golden Retriever mix. This is a common problem for adopters adopting a tan dog. Most shelters don't know that Border Collies come in this color. We don't know for sure if Kody is a Border Collie, but he definitely looks like one of the collie breeds.

Wendy Denomme of the Metro-Detroit area of Michigan also got her dog Maizie, left, from a shelter, and didn't know that Border Collies came in tan. Although we seem to have quite a few "yeller dawgs" on this page, it is one of the less usual colors of the breed. Maizie is also white factored with a large white stripe over her hips.

Molly, right, is nearly solid tan with just a little white under her chin and on her chest. She belongs to Beatrix Kohlhaas.

Another Molly, left, belongs to Carolyn Seyler from New Jersey. Her nose is dudley but her eyerims are black.

Oliver Twist, right, has a tan coat and "merle eyes", which often makes him the subject of comment. He belongs to Robin Smith-Lonergan of Washington who thinks he resembles a husky, particularly in the face, but as we have seen (see our page on eye color), blue eyes does not mean husky genes, and merle eyes do not necessarily indicate a merle dog.

This is handsome Riggs, left, belonging to Suzanne Rider. If we learn anything from these pages, it should be that the Border Collie is very diverse, not just in color, but in ear size and carriage, in head shape, in muzzle length, and in body type and size. It's what makes Border Collies interesting. Other breeds have been selected for uniformity. Think about that when you decide to breed to a standard. (That's my soap box oratory for the day.)

Tilly, right, belongs to Laura Evans from Portsmouth, England. Although it's hard to tell in the photograph, Tilly is a red-based tan. Her owner says she has liver nose, lips, and eyerims, like Nugget, above. We're hoping to see a blue based tan in the near future.

Warf, left, comes from Australia, but lives with his owner, Michael Hershberg in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Heidi, left, belongs to Bob and Jen Simpson of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Look at those eyes! They say she is their "blue-eyed blonde".

This is Wiley, right, who belongs to Callie Pittsenbar. The dudley nose seems almost endemic to this color. If anyone has any insight on this phenomenon, please drop me a line at shepdog@gis.net.

Will ("Just William") belongs to Claire Warden of the UK. He's smaller than the average Border Collie, being just over a foot tall, and Claire believes he is not purebred. He looks like he could be a Border Collie X Jack Russell Terrier, a cross that's popular with the flyball crowd because it produces a smart, fast dog that lowers the jump height requirements for a team. Will is all white except for tan markings on his head and ears.

PUTTING THE RED BACK IN AUSTRALIAN RED

If you were wondering why tan or recessive yellow was called Australian red, these photos should clear that up. Above, far left, is Jedi-Mango, a Border Collie female belonging to Kerry-Anne Boer of Australia. In the middle above is Jessie, Mango's dam, who belongs to Kerry-Anne's sister. And in the other two photos, above right, and at left, are Mango and her brother, Jonah, who also belongs to Kerry-Anne's sister. Their tan is very red (though some might call it orange).

[Please click on the pictures to get to a page.]

BLACK-AND-WHITE

BLUE

BRINDLE

LILAC

MERLE

PATTERNED WHITE & COLOR-HEADED WHITE

RED (CHOCOLATE /BROWN)

SABLE

SADDLE PATTERNED

SPLIT FACE (HALF-WHITE FACE) & ALL-WHITE FACE

TAN (AUSTRALIAN RED)

TICKED

TRICOLOR & BLACK-AND-TAN

COAT TYPE

EYE COLOR

EARS

FOCUS