.com Forum · Real Show Dogs

Looking at the collies on here I'm somewhat confused - do you mate Smooth collies with Rough collies in USA? Here they are two separate breeds. Also very concerned to see double merle dogs and really hoping that is just a game thing and not something done in real life?

Canada (we are usually fairly well aligned with AKC):

Rough and Smooth are considered varieties of the same breed and thus in theory may be interbred. In practice I'm not sure not being a Collie person, as to whether interbreeding is common. Since rough coats are recessive I believe they do on occasion show up in smooth litters anyway.

I believe the varieties are shown as separate breeds though.

As for double merle to the best of my knowledge, they are not purposely produced in real life due to the genetic issues involved.

Genetic flaws such a double merle are not considered in the game and those who wish to disregard such colour issues may do so. Personally I disagree with the practise but, not my breed. The overall philosophy in the game is realism but it was decided to ignore the merle issue when colour was added to the game several years after it was started.



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Last edited by gaylanstudio on 9/23/2020 12:28:25 PM

Let me chime in since I bred that DM currently for sale!

I totally don't advocate for merle/merle breedings (here or in real life).
Collies have been a tough breed lately, as far as keeping COIs low, and after checking out a dozen males and striking out every time (as far as COI compatibility) I jumped when I matched those two at only 1.70.
But I didn't realize he was a sable merle! The pattern is so faint, and I was playing on my cell phone and it was a mistake. I saw sable and went for it.

I do Australian Shepherd Rescue in real life and have fostered several deaf/blind DMs. I have little respect for anyone who would breed them on purpose.

As far as the coats go, I personally prefer the smooth coat and shoot for that first. However again, as far as COI, I'll take a rough coat pairing to get a better dog over a smooth coat. Collies on ShowDog are making it tough to be picky right now. LOL

That was my reply, I'm not sure why my kennel name didn't come up!

Let me chime in since I bred that DM currently for sale!

I totally don't advocate for merle/merle breedings (here or in real life).
Collies have been a tough breed lately, as far as keeping COIs low, and after checking out a dozen males and striking out every time (as far as COI compatibility) I jumped when I matched those two at only 1.70.
But I didn't realize he was a sable merle! The pattern is so faint, and I was playing on my cell phone and it was a mistake. I saw sable and went for it.

I do Australian Shepherd Rescue in real life and have fostered several deaf/blind DMs. I have little respect for anyone who would breed them on purpose.

As far as the coats go, I personally prefer the smooth coat and shoot for that first. However again, as far as COI, I'll take a rough coat pairing to get a better dog over a smooth coat. Collies on ShowDog are making it tough to be picky right now. LOL

In the US smooth and rough are interbred, and it is rough that is recessive, not smooth.

No one produces double merle (irl) on purpose, but if it is a natural consequence of a gene that exists in the breed, it should be available on the game. Before DNA testing, it was more common to produce double merles, especially from sable merles that presented as non merle.

You are correct Res, about the dominance/recessive thing (an oopsie - I'll correct that).

Personally, I don't really like merle in anything but that's a personal thing. In general, I don't like anything that has a potential for problems if it can be avoided.

Personally, I rather like the smooth too, Wolfsbane.

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Last edited by gaylanstudio on 9/23/2020 12:32:08 PM

Thanks everyone for the most interesting replies, I am so glad that it is not an accepted practice, I too disagree with deliberately producing any colour which brings genetic health problems with it, (in fact i think deliberately crossing double merle in real life to sell silly colours to idiot puppy buyers is pure evil!)
I tend to get rather bored with playing this game as a basic(can't justify paying out while I have real dogs eating me out of house and home!) and it's really cheered me up to know that there are real (and responsible) dog folk out there playing it too!

Wolfsbane:

Off topic somewhat but the reason your kennel name did not come up on that earlier post is that you had started the reply but took too long and you lost your connection although it still allows the post as an unknown "Basic". You would not be able to edit that post if you wanted to.


If I am taking a long time with a post, I will open another ShowDog window and refresh in that one before I post. If the refresh fails to open in my account I log in again from that window and then when I post the "novel" in the first it works just fine.

Advice from the notoriously verbose - lol!

(By the way, I'm Gaylan too. The Canmore Group is a temprary (I hope) expansion to deal with totally out of control over flow in the other ten accounts.)

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Last edited by Canmore Kennels on 9/25/2020 2:01:43 PM

Ahh, that makes sense. That's what I get for being so long winded! LOL!