#can't believe he'll be 12 this June 😭😭😭

[purplesaline]

Lance may look like he's a sable collie but he's actually a sable merle! It was much harder to see his merle pattern when he was younger but as his colour fades toward grey the brown areas affected by the merle gene (it blocks some of the coloring from coming through for example black will look silver.) have very little colour left to them so the unaffected areas stand out a lot more than they used to.

It was always more noticeable on his ears but you used to have to look closely to see it. Now it's quite easy!

I've always loved his colouring. I'm a big fan of the redder sable and he's got a perfect unbroken rough. The little white forehead line used to end just where the white for his rough began too (can't really see it now with all the grey). Very symmetrical, it pleased my OCD lol.