Pennylane Collies

What is the collie eye and shape, what does it mean, what do I look for, what makes a good Collie head? These are the most common questions I get from beginners and this page is designed to help you BEGIN to realize what you are looking at and why.

You read about what the ‘STANDARD’ says the eye should look like, now lets see what that means, and remember, this is my opinion only. What makes a dog show a competition is that others may interpret the standard differently and therefore see something other that what I do in the same dog. What I tell beginners is to listen to everyone…look at everything..keep what you think is right and discard the rest. You need to educate yourself enough to form YOUR OWN opinion.

In simple words… The Collie Eye should be almond in shape and set into the head. This means that it should not be placed on the face, but indented into the face. In order for that to occur there must be a receptacle for the eyeball and the eyeball is recessed into that receptacle. Here is a good picture that shows this.

You will see the recepticale for the eye in this picture very clearly. It seems that the face was carved out to hold this eye in place …this is a puppy. Also notice the dark, liquid look. This is most desirable. When you look at the eye..head on..you will see what is meant by the “three-cornered look” so coveted by breeders.

This is an adult dog showing the same depth to the eye. To me, this eye is almost perfect in size and shape.

This is also an extremely good eye..as you can see, these are different dogs with slightly different angles of the head. Notice how the stop appears different due to the angles presented.

Now I want you to look at a rounder eye..lacking the depth and almond shape. This normal-eyed dog is also a Champion. It is my opinion that being normal-eyed does detract somewhat from the perfect shape. However, this is still a nice eye..just not what I would call perfect and not what I prefer.

Now look at these two eyes side by side and you can really start to see the difference.

They are almost the same angle, but you will see one eye is rounder and the other eye is showing the almond shape and appears deeper set into the head. This slight difference can be enough to make a show dog up for any competition…or a pet.

The eye is a most important part of TYPE…what makes a Collie a Collie..TYPE. This is what I look for in selecting breeding animals..one that exemplifies TYPE. When looking at a Collie, another key word you will need to learn to see is BALANCE. All parts must blend together to give the dog a pleasing appearance as a whole. I am not a pieces and parts kinda person, but need to see the whole picture. The head and body need to balance and the parts of the head need to balance. Backskull (the area from the top of the eyes to the ears) and muzzle (the part from the bottom of the eyes to the nose) also need to balance. This is what also gives that soft expression. Here are two good pictures showing balance in a lovely head. Note the flat backskulls and the rounded muzzles. The lipline is also clean without alot of extra lip hanging down. I like that.

One of the fads of today’s Collies that I hope does not become engrained in the breed is the tendency to have muzzles that are square rather than round. You should not be able to see or feel ridges or corners on the muzzle. Fad #2 that bothers me is having too pronounced a stop ( the slight indentation on the top of the muzzle right below the eyes. On a Collie, it should be “a very slight, but perceptible stop or break” as quoted from the standard. A Sheltie has a very pronounced stop, like a strair-step..a Collie should not, but this seems to be a rage at the moment..that and the dish-face which is even more distracting.

When it all comes together, you have a Collie that is pleasing in outline, balanced both in body and head, and gives you that…takes my breath away….feeling. Here is my favorite picture denoting balance. Now, look at every Collie you see from here on out with these two words in mind…

TYPE…and…BALANCE.

and remember, this is only the beginning

Pennylane Collies is very sad to give you a long awaited update on Alfenloch Pennylane’s Hero.

Many breeders have contacted me with regards to using him, and I have simply stated that he is still too young to evaluate. The truth is that he is unsuitable to be used in anyone’s breeding program.

This page is an attempt to show other Collie owners what they may be dealing with when they breed or purchase a dog that has Demodectic Mange. This is a long-term problem and is never pleasant.

The above picture is of Hero’s head as he begins his battle with demodectic mange. It was at this point, when he was six or seven months old, that I contacted his breeder, Diane Fitzpatrick, and informed her that the ‘top-quality show puppy’ that she sold me for $2000.00 not only was not quality enough to be shown due to his major faults, but that he had demodex and that I would not be wanting to keep him for my breeding program. He really was beautiful as a youngster, but quickly progressed to pet quality even without all his health issues.

The above pictures were taken roughly two/three months later as this progressed to what was diagnosed as generalized demodectic mange. His body was riddled with lesions from Demodex and the unrelenting staph infections in spite of aggressive therapy and medications .

In the fall of 2002, after trying multiple treatments, it was decided that he would live at the vet clinic where he could get daily treatment in hopes of saving his life. After more conversation with Diane Fitzpatrick explaining that I wanted to return him to her, she told me to put him down, it would be too expensive for her to pay to ship him back to her. I requested that I be allowed to keep him as a pet and try to save him and still get a replacement puppy. She agreed.

Now it is February 16th of 2003, and I still have Hero, he is getting worse week by week in spite of continued treatments. I still have no money back and no replacement puppy. She has offered me a replacement puppy that I agreed to take, only to tell me at the last minute that she sold them all. This is a terrible thing to do to a fellow breeder who dealt with her in good faith. I did see an attorney and questioned legal action, but with her in another country, I was told that even if I won, it would cost me a tremendous amount in legal fees and a judgement would be to expensive to pursue.

Below, you will see pictures of him taken in February,after his bath now that he is home. He is still suffering from Generalized Demodex. He has a white crust around his ears and some crust around his muzzle as you can see. We are in the process of testing him for Dermatomyositis as that is now suspected given his overall appearance. He was one year old on December 4th. His birthday was celebrated in his vet’s clinic where he was living.

As I write this, I want you all to know that I am a responsible breeder. A breeder that cares about the health of my Collies and Collies in general. I respect life in all forms which is why Hero has not been killed per his breeder’s request. I am still attempting to assure him of some kind of life free from the disease that has been a part of his life for nearly a year. There have been muscle biopsey sent to Texas A&M; University to be assessed for DM.

UPDATE MARCH 10, 2003 After much discussion with several vets, Hero was put to sleep. Perhaps now, he can rest in comfort. Goodbye Hero. I’ll never forget you.

UPDATE ON THE LEGAL ACTION

My lawyer has written to Diane and has left multiple message on her voice mail. She has chosen to ignore us completely. After much discussion with my lawyer, we have agreed that we will not pursue this legal action against her. Bringing a lawsuit against her here will win me a judgement, but would be almost impossible to collect. This is something to keep in mind when dealing with other breeders who live out of our country. Almost all of the Breeders in Canada are above reproach in their bussiness dealings. Be sure to ask around and deal with these breeders. Would I hesitate to purchase from Canada, or another country again? No, I would do it in a minute, BUT I would be sure to deal with those breeders I know to be true to their breed.

Let me tell you something else that has happened. Several breeders who have dogs of this pedigree have contacted me by e-mail, letter, and by phone. Most all of them have offered to replace this dog with a puppy of their own breeding free of charge. Not out of obligation, but out of honor for their pedigrees and honor for their country. They feel as bad about what happened as I do. So if you are hesitating to purchase out of country, know that there are breeders in Canada that stand behind their dogs 150%. Be sure to check with other breeders for personal recommendations. Both DM and Generalized Demodex are familial in the mode of inheritence. It may not show up in every generation, but it is there.

Although legal procedings have been stopped, I have not received any money back, any partial refund, nor have I been offered another puppy to replace this one as would be expected from any breeder.

There is no shame in having health problems in your line, it’s what you do regarding the people you deal with that brings shame or disrespect to your reputation. Generalized Demodectic Mange or Dermatomyositis is not something that any reputable breeder would ever want to deal with. These are pictures of Hero taken February 16, 2003.

His dam is Osez Rever Monet Alfenloch and his sire is Ch. Alfenloch Artpiece Cornerstone. This tightly line-bred young male will be never be incorporated into our breeding program or anyone else’s.

“Hero” was an absolutely stunning tri puppy at 7 and 10 weeks, with a beautiful eye, expression, body structure; full round smooth muzzle, tons of underjaw and was very flashy.

Aladdinn” was one of his breeder’s favorite “Masterpiece” sons, and he is in “Hero’s” pedigree twice, once on the sire’s side and once on the dam’s side. Also, he has three sisters to “Aladdinn” in his pedigree – Ch.Alfenloch The Time of My Life, Alfenloch Fantasyworld and Jap.Ch. Alfenloch One Moment In Time.

“Fantasyworld” is also there twice on the sire’s side, “Aladdinn’s” brother, Ch. Alfenloch The President, is also in the pedigree. All these dogs are from the “Masterpiece” x “Thriller” breeding. “Hero” is linebred back to “Masterpiece” 9 times.

Here are some links to medical infomation for those who are looking.

Familial Canine Dermatomyositis: Patient (Picture) http://www.neurovet.org/Shelton1/nmfig18cap.htm

dermatomyositis http://www.upei.ca/~cidd/Diseases/dermatology/dermatomyositis.htm

Dermatitis http://www.gsdhelpline.com/spots.htm

DESCRIPTION:

Canine Cyclic Neutropenia is a stem cell disorder that occurs in collies. Puppies are usually smaller and weaker than their litter mates and by 8 to 12 weeks of age they develop clinical signs such as fever, diarrhea, joint pain, or other signs associated with eye, respiratory, or skin infections. The disorder is caused by an abnormality of the stem cells in the bone marrow, from which all blood cells are developed. The result is a cyclic fluctuation in blood cell numbers. Every 10 to 12 days the number of neutrophils drops dramatically, and then rebounds.

There is an increased susceptibility to infection corresponding to the dip in neutrophil numbers. Affected dogs are subject to severe recurring bacterial infections, primarily of the respiratory or gastrointestinal tract. These dogs are also prone to bleeding episodes due to the drop in blood cells numbers. This is a serious genetic disorder. Even with the best of care, affected dogs rarely live beyond 2 or 3 years of age. Most die within the first few weeks.

The disease occurs in all gray Collies. (not related to the blue merle collie in any way) Affected puppies have a silver gray hair coat that ranges in color from very light, to darkish pewter grey, sometimes with a slight yellowing due to a mixture of light beige and light gray hair. No matter what color variation or type, all Collies have black noses EXCEPT those with gray collie syndrome. If the nose continues to come in gray, then that is pathognomonic (absolutely diagnostic) for “gray collie syndrome”. Sable “gray collie syndrome” dogs have brown or pale sable noses, but never black noses as they should have.

You will be able to pick out the one dark gray puppy in this litter, as well as the lighter gray. The darker appears to be a Tri-colored Gray Collie. He is a different hue from the rest of the babies. As you can see, this can usually be identified at birth.

Here you can pick out the abnormal Gray puppy, even though there are several Blue Merles with it.

As well as the nose pigment, another sure sign is the lack of complete tan markings on the face. A normal Blue Merle or Tri will have typical tan markings on the face.

Questions?

If you have a carrier, your dog will be perfectly healthy in every respect and you should not fear for him. BUT if you bred to another dog that carries this same gene, you not only run the risk of producing an Affected Gray puppy, you will be sure to produce other carriers.

We now have another tool to use when planning our breedings. GCS is not long gone as many breeders think it is. It’s alive and kicking butt in many of today’s major breeding kennels. Where did it come from? It came from everywhere in the beginning. Many breeders had to test breed and eliminate the known producers while they continued to use siblings that were carriers without even knowing it.

Are they at fault? Yes and No. They did the best with what they had, but they had no test and they only had half the information on the mode of inheritance. We are living in a different age now. We have DNA markers that tell us exactly where we stand with our breeding dogs. Useful information that will take us even further that we ever thought possible in the continued battle against genetic problems. What can we do now? We can test and going forward, clear our lines of this lethal gene.

Does this mean that no carrier should ever be bred? No, that’s not what we are saying. There are many magnificent show dogs that excel in qualities that signify what a Collie Should be. We can’t limit the gene pool from these great dogs. What we can do is take a non-carrier to this dog, select the resulting get carefully and test the ones that carry on those virtues. You can then use the non-carriers back into the breeding program. All those not kept should be spayed/neutered and placed in good companion homes. Remember, the carriers themselves are perfectly healthy.

However; now that OFA has added GCS to their data base, we should be able to find similar dogs that do not carry this gene and just be done with it. As for me personally, I’ve spent over a thousand dollars testing all my breeding dogs and I’ll never again have to breed without knowing the status of the partners. As long as I am careful in my selection of partners, breeding non-carriers or carriers as signified by the DNA status, I should never have to worry about producing a Gray. Of course the best solution is to only breed those dogs that are clear. I would rather spend the money once and start with cleared breeding dogs, than to continue to worry about this generation after generation. All our puppies and adults offered for breeding are from DNA-non carrier dogs.

Visit HealthGene and get the whole story on the mode of inheritence and the testing that they offer.

These are the terms you need to know.

The ‘bend of stifle‘ includes the entire front portion of the leg. The ‘point of hock‘ is the back of the hock where it reaches it’s top-most point. The ‘tail insertion’ indicates just what is says, the point where the tail comes off the spine. The ‘croup‘ is the area on the top from the hip bones down to where the back side of the leg begins.

When you are looking at a dog’s rear assembly, their are multiple points to look at. BUT, they cannot be viewed as seperate points. They have to be viewed as one assembly and how it fits together. You will see in picture 1, the puppy has a very nice rear. His hocks are straight and not overly long which is good. This is the same puppy in picture 2, you can see where the line is drawn in picture 2 that shows you where you see one of the angles we are discussing here. This is what is commonly referred to as a ‘well let-down hock’. The musculature of the stifle extends itself beyond the point of the hock. This slight difference will enable the puppy to achieve greater drive off his rear at maturity.

Puppy 1 has a better angle than puppy two. Puppy two’s musculature at the stifle stops almost at the point of the hock when you draw your line. Puppy 1’s musculature extends down beyond the point of the hock. You will see puppy 1 has a much better ‘turn of stifle’. When you look at the stifle, you have to look at the entire front of the leg. This should be a nice, deep curve that does not stop until it is beyond the point of the hock. Let your eye travel from the beginning of the front of the leg all the way to the top of the toe. On puppy one, it is a nice long curve. This is what you want to see. On puppy 2, it is not nearly so pronounced nor does it extend as far. Puppy 1 also has a much better croup. It is slightly rounded as opposed to the straightness of puppy 2. The tail insertion is better as well due to the nice round coup. Puppy 1 is almost ideal when you add all those things togther. AND of course this nice rear is topped off by beautiful toes. They are tight and well arched and being so, will give the puppy extra spring in his step. I personally cannot abide a flat foot. If the foot is not a tight, well-rounded foot (cat-foot), the puppy will not ever achive superior movement.

Now visualize that same lines drawn on these two puppies until you can really see the difference. (HINT) Try printing the page and drawing the lines in yourself until you truly understand what you are looking at. This is part of ‘developing an eye’ for the Collie structure.

And this is a Perfect Ending! When you view a dog from this angle, you should see the well-developed musculature on both the inside and outside of the leg. The hocks should be perpendicular with no turning in or out. Again, the foot should be well padded. Take a close look at the toe pads from this angle. You can see this puppy will be a real mover based on the musculature and the position of the hocks in reference to the rear. What you do not want to see is a lack of muscles on either the inside or the outside of the leg from this angle.

On the rough dogs, it does get a little harder without putting ‘hands on’ and feeling the structure underneath. You can tell some things though. On this dog, you can see he does appear to have adaquate angulation. You can see how deep the bend is through the stifle. What I also see are toes pointing slightly east/west rather than pointing forward. It may be that he is hunkering down, but I would first think he is a little close in hocks and that would cause the toes to point out. You can also see a very nice rounded coup. This dog should have nice extension on side movement, but I would think watching him going away would show his weakness.

First thing I saw in this picture, was a too straight stifle, too long a hock and a significiant drop off of the croup lacking a nice round curve. The toes also appear to be pointing in which means the hocks are slightly pointing out. Again, this dog would lack the necessary extenion on the side movment and no drive or pushing off the rear legs.

Going and coming though, he would look very nice based on this picture.

At first glance, this also looks like a very nice rear. Toes are pointing in the right direction and this dog has a lovely curve to the croup. BUT when you look at the angle of the stifle, it is very straight and does not continue though the point of the hock. This dog would lack extension on side movement.

I will leave you with this picture of a very nice rear. There is good angulation, short hock, and all toes are pointing in the correct direction. Looking is not the same as feeling, but this is at least a start. Good luck on your continued education!