Colors and Coats

A rainbow of puppies!

A rainbow of puppies!

Beardies come in four main colors: Black, Blue (dilute black), Brown, and Fawn (dilute brown). Their markings might or might not differ from the standard — or they might have minimal markings. When all four coat colors appear in the same litter, we refer to it as a “rainbow litter.”

The British Bearded Collie Connexion (BCX) website has an excellent discussion on the genetics of coat color. Look under the Breed menu for the Colour Genetics page.

rainbow-litter dunnachie-rainbow-2

Articles About Color

This 1971 edition of the Beardie Bulletin contains an article by Wendy Boorer about color inheritance in the Bearded Collie (see Page 14).

This article by Carol Gold is a reprint from The Bearded Colleague, publication of the Bearded Collie Club of Canada.

Part 2 of Carol Gold’s article discusses the genetics of coat color.

Part 3 of the article discusses pigment and white markings, with drawings.

This article from National Purebred Dog Day discusses rainbow litters in Beardies.

6-17-99 Litter

Photo Galleries

The following links lead you to photo galleries representing all of the colors.

btn-black Black and Stay-Black
btn-brown Brown and Fawn
btn-blue Blue
btn-desing Beardies with Minimal Markings and Tricolor Beardies
btn-custom1 “Custom” Beardies

To download a PDF file containing all of the colors, click here. This PDF file makes a useful reference for shelters, rescues, or people new to the breed. Affiliate clubs and individual members may download, print, and distribute this file.

Note: Set your printer to Best or Presentation Quality for best results when printing.

Rainbow Litter at the milk bar

Rainbow Litter at the milk bar

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