FD Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hi, I bred my two solid/white dogs (one has blue eyes) and I got two merles in the litter. How does this happen?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Yeeeeeearrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh. One of your dogs was merle, just not obviously so. Possibly homozygous merle - these often look like white dogs because the color is so washed out. Most people avoid breeding mostly white dogs together because of possible problems with hearing and sight - watch for this in pups that have little or no pigmentation in the ear and eye area. It would be responsible at this point to arrange BAER (hearing) testing for the litter before selling pups. There's enough excellent working solid and well-colored dogs that it's easy to avoid matching up a nice working dog that happens to have lots of white, with another white factored dog (which many merles also happen to be). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD Posted May 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hi Rebecca, These were not white dogs both were Sable and White traditionally marked. Only thing different is the male has blue eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD Posted May 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 first post was misleading solid/white meant solid dark color and white. Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD Posted May 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Gotcha. Still, one is merle somewhere. Merle is very hard to see on sables since the color is naturally a bit uneven anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 I've seen sable merles who just looked like funny sables. You have to be careful when breeding merles to colors like sable, white and ee red. Do you have pictures of the sire's parents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD Posted May 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Ray sire of the current litter in question... Ray's Mom is Blue Merle, She is by a Blue Merle and Black White Ray's Dad is a Yellow Sable out of a Blue Merle and Sable. Here's Ray at 6 wks Ray at 1year http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i25/thef...oose/Rayat1.jpg Scarlett Female http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i25/thef...oose/Rayat1.jpg Ray/Scarlett litter http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i25/thef...oose/litter.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Then Ray must be a sable merle, case closed. Good thing you found out before you bred him to a merle bitch! He sure is a nice looking boy. Where did you get him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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