the colour Australian Red and a clear sable??? I tried to find out last night on the net, but couldn't really find any explanation.

Are the Australian Reds lighter in colour???

A friend of mine just rescued a young (6-7 month old) Australian Red collie boy. I was quite surprised as I thought the colour is still quite rare in the UK.

(I know the topic is not really about showing but didn't know where else to put it, sorry )

This webpage explains colours really well. http://bryningbordercollies.com/Border-Collie-Colours

Aussie red is becoming more common, but it is still rare, I'm surprised to hear 1 has ended up in rescue. I have seen 3 competing at agility now.

Im surprised to hear that one has ended up in rescue, though the colour is becoming more popular it is still rare.

Australian reds come in a variety of shades and 3 of my dogs do actually carry that colour.

A sable should always have some shading on its coat, if none is present on the body the tail should have some.

I think as Debbie says, Nat's site is great for explaining these things.

They do darken with age. Twix was very pale as a pup (can see pics of her on Nat's site). She is now 4 and has darkened a lot from a pup.

I have another that trains with me that is very pale. Again she is still young (just over a year) but doesn't look like she will darken to Twix's colour.

I was told to look at the hairs on the edge of their ears adn that was the colour they would end up. Kinda worked with Twix.

Again I am surprised to see one in rescue. That said this colour seems to have been around for a while.. perhaps just not lots of them and not all pedigree BC's by that I mean WSD's instead.

Mand