Australian Shepherd Fur Type

Question
Hi,

You might not be the right person to ask this, but since you know about dog grooming, you might have noticed this.  I have a merle Australian Shepherd that is still in the late puppy stages.  Her fur is pretty short compared to most australian shepherds I've seen.  Someone told me that the merle aussies do not get the same long fur that Aussie tri's or other Aussies get.  

Have you ever heard this before?  I'm hoping my dog's fur will stay short, but I'm not sure if this is true or not.  She's exactly 12 months old, so I'm not sure whether her fur is done growing out or not?  Do you know whether they continue to get longer fur after they're 1 year old?

Answer
I can only tell you what I know about dog hair generally and that is each dog is individual in it's breed. Don't know where you acquired your dog but if you got it from a breeder who is interested in the breed you are more likely to get the standard. If you know little about where it came from it's anybody's guess what it will look like.
Also dog hair tends to mature around 18 months to 3 years- so you still have time to grow.