pingo

I totally agree with your criteria for breeding and checking on CERF and DNA CEA. Hmm. I've had dogs from breeders and dogs from rescues. Both sources have their pros and cons. My thought process for choosing a breeder vs. rescue in this circumstance is something I do not want to open to debate in an online forum. I think that is a topic that can polarize people and I'd rather just avoid that kind of conflict.

I don't mind the discussion on genetics. I study cancer genetics. In genome science courses, they always use cats as examples. I would have probably received better grades if the examples were dogs. Far more interesting to me.

I'm looking for the smooth coat. My BC had smooth coat. I was always amazed at how well she repelled whatever weather she encountered.

The literature I have read indicates that the smooth coat genetic variant is dominant, whereas the rough coat variant is homozygous recessive. It is like Geoni Banner said... if you only have genetic rough coats in a breeding program you will only breed rough coats--it is impossible to get a smooth coat from 2 rough coated parents. You can, however, get rough coats from two smooth coat parents (assuming they are heterozygous). You can see how this dominant/recessive coat gene plays out because of the abundance of rough coated BCs. If you have ever owned a smooth coat, you would experience the repeated crazy question/comments "What kind of dog is that?" and "Oh, I didn't know they could have short hair." I would speculate that density of coat, as well as lengths of rough coats can be explained how the allelic differences are expressed phenotypically, which could be an interaction between gene and environment. In any case, I am not looking for a dog that strikes my fancy in terms of looks! I'm looking for the (apparently harder to find) form of a BC coat that will better fit our lifestyle and environment over the next 15+ years. I don't think that's unreasonable. Was really hoping to not elicit any strong reactions like those I have read in the forums in previous posts where people get very judgmental about someone wanting a type of "look" in a BC, and the ensuing comments about how BCs are not bred for looks, etc. What I was hoping for was if someone had seen a breeder that had any smooth coats, they would refer me to them.

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Thank you for the tip! P

Semantics. I will purchase a dog from a breeder. I was referring to the broader sense of my adopting a dog as a lifelong responsibility. I never meant to imply that someone would *only* breed smooth coat dogs. Of course I want a good dog, I'm just saying that I would like to get one with a smooth coat. I appreciate the rescue links, but as I said, I am looking for breeders.

Hi everyone! I am new to the forums and happy to see such a wealth of information on BCs on the intertubes. I had a smooth coat border collie that I got from a cattle ranch in Eastern Oregon. She passed away in 2011, but I was lucky to have her for 16.5 years. I am looking to adopt another smooth coat border collie pup sometime over the next year, to raise as a companion. We will do a lot of outdoor activities. I like the wipe-and-go smooth coat for convenience year round, but in my experience the short dense coat fares MUCH better than long hair when outside in snow. That can be as much as 2/3 of the year in Alaska, where I intend to move back in the future. I had an australian mix that had a light-density rough coat (she also passed in 2011 , at 13.5 years ) and she: became a silly morose soggy dog in the rain would get colder quicker in the winter than my smooth coat BC would accumulate pitiful hard snowballs on her underside unless she wore a jacket (she was not thrilled about that) endured me clipping her paw hair so snow didn't clump in between her toes, OR had to wear booties (THAT did not go over well), OR had to wear vaseline in between her toes (not fun for either of us) I loved my aussie and we managed her lustrous hair problem. However, I was thinking that perhaps I should avoid the whole snow/rain discomfort issue and stick to smooth coats in the future. I live in Seattle and I am wondering does anyone know of any breeders of smooth coat BCs within the Pacific Northwest? Thank you for your time, P