A little bit about coat colors

Coat color is one of the most obvious and therefore most confusing things when trying to determine if a dog is a Border Collie or an Australian Shepherd or an English Shepherd.

Traditionally, when people see a black and white herding dog they think "oh, look, a Border Collie" while a blue merle dog is identified as an Australian Shepherd and a black and tan dog is either an English Shepherd or some sort of collie dog cross.

But it's not that easy. These breeds are all closely related and there is no color for one breed that can not show up in the other two. And, because crosses are not only possible but common it's pretty much impossible to identify a dog based on color. But, with that said, here are brief descriptions of the colour differences between these dogs


Border Collies

Most often black with white collie markings of collar, blaze,socks & tip of tail; very rarely without any white; can be all white w/black ears, eye patches, or other black markings. Many are tri-colored, that is, black & white with varying amounts of tan. Can be red, blue (grey), blue or red merle, brindle, or sable, all with varying amounts of white, and sometimes tan as well


Australian Shepherd

The recognized colors are blue merle, red (liver) merle, solid black and solid red (liver) all with or without white markings and/or tan (copper) points. There are other colors which crop up, these include sable, brown merles, brindle, gray/slate, diluted red, and blond. All white, or mostly white Aussies are uncommon, because of genetic health problems, but not unheard of.


English Shepherd

English Shepherds come in black and white, black and tan, and sable and white - in all three combos the first color is the primary one and the second color can range from almost non-existant to covering a third of the dog. They also come as tri-colors which which can range from a little white on a black and tan to white feet, ruffs, and blazes. Tri-colors can also appear as sables with black shadings or to black saddles.
Return to the breed comparison chart.