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. It has been my observation that most breeders tend to use their own studs almost exclusively, and when they have bred themselves into a dead end, they purchase a new stud from England. I might be wrong here. The AKC registration is sufficient for exhibiting, but not for breeding your dog in Germany. In addition, at the bottom the Kormeister will note what kind of stud or bitch is recommended to suit your Sheltie.