RED BORDER COLLIES
The color represented on this page ("bb" in genetic terms) is called "red" in Britain and the United States; but in Australia and elsewhere, it is called "chocolate"; and what in the USA and Britain is known as "tan" (or "ee"--recessive yellow) is known as "red" (or "Australian red" or "Oz red") in Australia and elsewhere. This conflicting terminology can be confusing, but, because this is a US-based website, we are sticking to the American/British teminology. Just to reiterate, we are talking about "bb red" or "brown" or "chocolate".
RECESSIVE YELLOW or TAN BORDER COLLIES
(AUSTRALIAN RED)
Lassie is considered a sable collie, but while her color might be termed "clear sable" by the English Shepherd people, her color is simply called sable by Border Collie people and rough collie people alike. Sable, however, is the same as DOMINANT yellow, and it comes in everything from "clear sable"-- meaning only a very minor amount of black-tipped hairs--to heavily shaded sable--very dark with most of the tan hairs blacked tipped. The operative here is that in order to be considered sable, there must be some black tipped hairs in a dog's coat. But dogs that LOOK clear sable, without any black-tipped hairs, may in fact be RECESSIVE yellow, the Golden Retriever color. These dogs look the same as the clear sable dogs, except they have no black in their coats at all. This color is further confused by being called red (a.k.a.,"Oz Red" or "Australian Red") in Australia. The only way we can tell the difference between dominant yellow and recessive yellow is by searching the coat to see whether there are any black tipped hairs or not. Even by looking, though, you sometimes can't tell the difference because black tipped hairs might be hiding in an obscure area of the body. Be this as it may, we have separated tan dogs from sable dogs and give them a page of their own. The tan we are speaking of can come in every shade from deep, deep, mahogony or reddish-tan, to the very pale, almost pinky-tan like Nick, below, and everything in between.
Vir:
http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/index.html+1