Hi Everybody,

I urge all of my friends and fellow collie lovers to vote on the ballot that you have recently received in the mail and to submit the poll that will be included in the next CCA newsletter.

I plan to vote "Yes" for standard revision to include the sable merle. I hope you will join me in supporting clarification for judges & breeders. Two recently publicized wrongful excusal/ribbon withholding incidents at shows simply join previous incidents of discrimination against normal sable-merle collies that occur in our breed with regularity. I have seen judges pull collies' eyes open repeatedly when simply looking in a collie's face should be sufficient.  If a judge must repeatedly pull open a collie's eye to determine if there is blue in it, then apparently the blue is not affecting the expression appreciably!

I believe a few words of revision can be made without harming the integrity of our Standard and would actually be beneficial to the long-term health and beauty of our breed. The change would de-stigmatize sable merles expanding the gene pool. Eye color is randomly inherited in all merles (blue or sable).  Over the past 58 years, having blue merles identified in our Standard has helped rather than harmed our breed – even those with blue in their eyes! 

For the 35 years that I have exhibited collies, the Collie Club of America has visited and revisited the issue of sable merles and our standard. It's time to determine what the full membership desires. If their desire is to leave the Collie Standard as it is, then the status quo will survive until some future time. If they desire a change, then that change needs to be made after thoughtful consideration to its wording and another vote by the membership.

If you are a CCA member, please vote!

Kathy Moll
www.deeprivercollies.com