Jake at 4 months

[*jody*]

4 months today (or 18 weeks and 3 days  )

How he's changed  





(btw I think I have mutant grass, I only cut it the other day  )

and one of Jess who's staying with us this weekend  

[Foxisle_crazy]

He's stunning!  Lovely colour 

[kerrie and stan]

awww bless hes such a hansome lad

[.dodger.]

wow he's grown so much! what a gorgeous coat

[*jody*]

Thank you everyone!

Laura I think I need to pinch some of your photography skills 

[SuzAndTheDiva]

Awww lovely - pretty collie too 

[Val]

He's a cutie his ears are going in the right direction coat not so good 

[*jody*]

Oh no whats wrong with his coat   

[Val]

It's not a good merle, as we discussed at Bournemouth 

Oh no whats wrong with his coat   

[TobyTeaCosy and Angela]

He's a beauty, really cute with a sweet little face, is he a blue merle?

[.dodger.]

Thank you everyone!

Laura I think I need to pinch some of your photography skills 

only if i can pinch some of your drawing skills

[travis]

He's growing into a gorgeous boy

[Rough]

Brilliant ears and a lovely long tail!    Stop is difficult to judge at 4 months as he might be starting to teeth. 

The breed standard for blue merle colour is
"Blue Merle: clear silvery blue, splashed and marbled with black. Rich tan marking preferred but absence not penalised. Heavy black markings, slate or rusty tinge in either top or undercoat highly undesirable; general effect must be blue."
Merle is a corruption of marbled and so the black marking should be marbled rather than big patches, although some winners have a black patch.

[jaydex]

Val did show me a cracking merle at Bournemouth so I can see what they mean but he still looks adorable, enjoy him

[*jody*]

I feel he could still change a bit, as when we first got him the black areas were very distinct and large, already the area on the side shown has broken up more and in all the other areas there are patches of silver coming through.

I guess Merle is a funny one, I was looking for some similar merles earier, and he's quite close Ch. Pepperhill Blue Fizz who was a breed record holder with 21 C.C.s, with the darker merling (although admittadly not quite as large black patches).  I have a picture here but not sure if I can post it.