But let us look a bit closer. Forty others had between two and four litters. Only 19 breeders averaged two or more litters per year in this time span, and of these, only seven had three or more litters per year. The fact is, breeding Shelties in Germany is done as a hobby-for enjoyment, not to make money. The opinion is that those who want to breed dogs for profit do not breed Shelties.
Expenses are too high and litter sizes too small.
Others breed only Shelties, but on a small scale, as the statistics show. Thus we are left with some thirty-odd breeders who do produce at least one or more litters a year. Second best is to use a stud that he himself has bred from a British import. Sable merles are taboo, as is the merle to merle breeding. When I asked Mr. R6mpert for figures, he mentioned that between 5 to 10 percent of the Sheities born in Germany are blue merle, between 15 to 20 percent are tri color, and the rest are sable and white, most of these being a gold-sable in color.