showyness

[Herd4fun]

I know a few years ago it was considered showy and frowned upon to have a dog that wasnt the correct Irish coloring but would have the white going more up one leg than up the other, is this still considered a bad thing to have in the conf ring?

And out of curiosity where did that idea of it being too showy come from anyway?

 

[Lightplum]

Not quite sure what your referring to, as in a conformation show they are judging structure as opposed to coloring. Granted if you have 2 dogs infront of you that are equal in structure and one is marked more pleasing to the eye they may get it over the other one, but we dont see that happening to much. Besides Shelties come in a variety of colors, they all arent sable and white and look like "little Lassies".

 

[Justicemom]

Maybe I'm just naive or too much of a newbie, but I thought the amount of white didn't matter as long as they were not over 50% white or didn't have obvious white body spots.

I have seen some heavily white factored dogs that you could argue that they are over 50% white if you look at the collar,legs, blazes and white going up the stifle and along the abdomen/up the sides. Maybe that's it.

 

[BarbV]

I know a few years ago it was considered showy and frowned upon to have a dog that wasnt the correct Irish coloring but would have the white going more up one leg than up the other, is this still considered a bad thing to have in the conf ring?

And out of curiosity where did that idea of it being too showy come from anyway?

Not sure what you mean about correct Irish colouring???? Ummm! Shelties are not from Ireland?

 

[SheltieGuy]

show us some pics??????????

 

[Justicemom]

Not sure what you mean about correct Irish colouring???? Ummm! Shelties are not from Ireland?

The Irish pattern is the white collar, white legs and feet, white tip on the tail and the white on the face. Amount of white varies from alittle to alot. But is it always there in some shape or form. The more white the flashier or showier some people call the dog.

 

[Herd4fun]

Not quite sure what your referring to, as in a conformation show they are judging structure as opposed to coloring. Granted if you have 2 dogs infront of you that are equal in structure and one is marked more pleasing to the eye they may get it over the other one, but we dont see that happening to much. Besides Shelties come in a variety of colors, they all arent sable and white and look like "little Lassies".

I know they have the AOCs but what I'm referring to is with the irish coloring in the sables, sometimes one paw is white on one front let, and half the leg is white on the other. It may also not have been in the US, the person I was talking to about it also shows in Europe as well so maybe its more of an EU thing.

 

[tofu pup]

I've never heard of this bias. Besides, there is no "correct" Irish pattern (though I suppose you could describe a full white collar, blaze, four white legs, and white on the tip of the tail and belly as typical of the pattern). If anything, I think a dog with more white is preferred, just for being flashier, though the Standard is silent on that (except for the "no-more-than-50%-white" stipulation).

As has been pointed out, there are many, many things that should come before color on the list of what to judge in a dog.

 

[RonandJan]

So when you state "white factored" do you mean more than 50% white.

And this Irish Colouring, is that the same?

McKinley is white factored, correct? Both front paws and clear around the ruff are white, both back paws and one hind leg up and around the stifle are white, also the tip of the tail and his freckled nose.

And funny enough, we are told all the time he is "showy." I think he looks like a little boy in white pajammies!

 

[tofu pup]

So when you state "white factored" do you mean more than 50% white.

Ah, no, "white factored" refers to the amount of white, but a white factored dog (while generally having more white than a non-WF'ed dog) would still be less than 50% white.

And this Irish Colouring, is that the same?

The Irish marking pattern is actually pretty common in dogs. It's just the name of the "white feet, white belly, white collar, white blaze, white tail-tip" pattern. It can be only somewhat present (as in a dog with just white toes, white nose, and white on the chest and tummy), or very much present - as in a dog that has a colored head and predominantly white body (in Shelties and Collies, this is called a color-headed white).