In this essay, I will talk about the topic “What Is A Merle Sheltie?,” and I will do my absolute best to incorporate as much pertinent information as I possibly can.
A
blue merle sheltie
is a Shetland Sheepdog with tonal grey and
blue fur
alongside their black, white, and tan patches of color This breed is a small but
hardy herding dog
with a lot of love for families. They are often gentle and shy, though they require a lot of exercise to remain happy.
Do Shelties come in merle?
Shelties:
Blue Merle Shelties There’s also the white and tan distribution of a regular Tri Color. Unlike the
coat colors
seen so far, Blue Merles are not produced by color genes. Instead, they are created by a color modifier gene which affects the base color of the dog.
Blue Merle Sheltie: How do you make a blue merle Sheltie
Blue merle shelties are produced when one parent has the merle gene The blue merle color pattern is not blue; the dog’s
black pigment
is diluted, making the hair appear silver or grey. The darker color usually appears as mottled spots on the dog’s coat. A
blue merle sheltie
will have some tan points in the coat.
Double Merle Sheltie: What is a double merle Sheltie
The way genetics work is that a puppy inherits one colour gene from each parent, this means that puppies in a merle x merle litter could be normal merles (Mm), non-merles (mm) or double merles (MM). There is a one in four chance that each puppy will inherit two merle (M) genes , thus making them a double merle.
White Tipped Tails: Do all Shelties have white tipped tails
Genetics In A Nutshell In Shelties, the dominant is the so-called Irish pattern, which produces
typical white markings
on the chest, face, neck, legs, undersides, and tip of tail A heterozygous, or white-factored dog, has more extensive white markings, and typically has white up the front of the stifle.
Shaded Sheltie: What is a shaded Sheltie
Sable Shelties Some Shelties are clear sables, with minimum amounts of black-tipping, except on the facial mask. Others have very heavy black tipping on the body hair , and are commonly called “shaded sables” by Sheltie fanciers. Shaded sables are NOT tricolors, no matter how much black is in their coats.
Sable Merle: What color is sable merle
Sable & Sable Merles. Sable is markedly similar to yellow, in that it changes the color of the hair from black (or red) to yellow In sable dogs, a percentage of the hairs will have black (or red) tips. Sometimes it’s just a “dusting” of black tips, but other times the dog can look almost solid black.
What is a blaze on a dog?
Blaze:
Blaze: a white strip in the center of the dog’s face usually between the dog’s eyes Kiss Marks: tan spots found on a dog’s cheeks and over the eyes. Mask: a dark shading on the dog’s front portion of the skull. Here are some dog breeds with a melanistic mask.
Can you breed a merle with a sable?
Merle:
If you breed a Pure Sable to a Merle you can only get Sable Merles and some Sables If you breed a Tri factored Sable to a Merle you could get Merles, Tricolors and Tri factored Sables.
Blue Merle: Can you breed a blue merle to a blue merle
They are thrown away and even killed for being born with disabilities. A double merle is created when two merle dogs are bred together. It doesn’t matter what color merle or what breed they are If two merle dogs are bred together, each puppy in the litter has a 25% chance of being born a double merle.
Merle Dogs Unhealthy: Are merle dogs unhealthy
Yes – merle dogs can be just as healthy as dogs that have a solid color They have the same life expectancy, they are just as strong and athletic and smart as their counterparts without the merle gene. In lines with responsible merle breedings, all offspring will be healthy and live a long life.
How do I know if my dog is merle?
Merle:
The merle gene modifies the dark pigment in the eyes, occasionally changing dark eyes to blue, or part of the eye to be colored blue. Since merle causes random modifications, however, both dark-eyed, blue-eyed, and odd-colored eyes are possible. Pigmentation on paw pads and nose may be mottled by pink.
Health Problems: Do merle dogs have health problems
When inherited in the homozygous state, the merle mutation causes dogs to be white and have an even greater incidence of deafness, blindness and sterility The auditory and ophthalmologic abnormalities linked to merle are similar to those observed for the human auditory-pigmentation disorder Waardenburg syndrome.
How expensive is a Sheltie?
Expensive:
$500-$1,500 Going through a breeder is both the easiest and most expensive way to get your hands on a purebred Sheltie. The costs will depend on the breeder’s reputation and whether you’re willing to pay top-dollar for premium bloodlines, but typically, a Shetland Sheepdog costs between $500 and $1,500.
Non White Factored Sheltie: What is non white factored Sheltie
Unlike the S series postulated by Clarence Little, this gene appears at present to have only two alleles. Shelties who are SS (non white-factored) have the usual Irish markings: white undersides, legs, chest, with varying amounts of white around the neck and on the face.
Harlequin Merle: What is a Harlequin merle
Harlequin is a pattern seen in Great Danes resulting from the complex interaction of the Merle (PMEL17) and Harlequin (PSMB7) genes on black pigment The dominant Merle gene by itself produces dark spots on a dilute background on eumelanistic dogs.
Merle Puppies: Do merle puppies change color
Merle Dog Puppies Merle coloring can become darker with age So, be aware that those white areas on your merle puppy may start to look grayer as your dog ages. But other than that, a merle dog puppy will have all the attributes of an adult of the breed.
Merle Dog: How do you get a merle dog
Double Merle pups are born when both of the parents are merle It doesn’t matter what color merle, how much merle the parents have, how little (or how much) white trim, what breed they are, or even that the parents are the same breed. Statistically, 25% of the pups from two merle parents will be Double Merles.
Sable Sheltie: What is a sable Sheltie
Sable is a tan coloring overlaid with varying amounts of black The entire guard hair may be black, or it may be black only at the tip. Some sable Shelties have relatively little black overlay. These can appear as gold or red sables, depending on the shade of tan.
White Sheltie: What is color headed white Sheltie
A unique coloration of the Shetland Sheepdog , where there is a heavy white factor in the gene pool that produces a white dominate coloring.
Shaded Sable: What is a shaded sable
Shaded sables overlap with tipped sables and are red dogs with brown and black hairs covering the top of the head, ears and back , in a distinctive pattern similar to the pattern seen on dogs with creeping tan (see below).
Do Shelties shed?
Shelties:
Shelties have a long, dense, furry coat and shed heavily Lots of people don’t realize just how much loose fur they’re letting themselves in for, and many Shelties are given up to rescue groups every year because they shed.
Are Brindle and merle the same?
Brindle:
Like merle, brindle is also a coat color pattern , it is often described as being “tiger-striped.” The stripes are irregular and dark against a lighter base color that is often fawn, brown or gray. The brindle coat pattern is found in several dog breeds including great danes, bulldogs and boxers.
What is the difference between merle and sable?
Difference:
Merle can only affect black pigment, called ‘Eumelanin’, whereas Sable is caused by red/brown pigment, called ‘Pheomelanin’ Because of this, Merle can’t affect the majority of the Sable coat, and very often the Merle is not visible at all on Sable Merles.
Chocolate Merle: What color is chocolate merle
It is a solid base color (usually red/brown or black) with lighter blue/gray or
reddish patches
, which gives a mottled or uneven speckled effect.
Haggerty Spot: What is a Haggerty spot
The Haggerty Spot or Dot is a marking found on only a select few Boston’s where they have a spot on top of their heads This particular marking can trace its origins back to the Haggerty family of the early 1900s. #.
White Patch: What does a white patch on a dog’s chest mean
A very small amount of white on the chest, toes or tail may occur when the pigment doesn’t migrate fully as the embryo develops This is known as residual white and can sometimes be caused by minor illness in the mother or in the embryo, or may have no obvious cause at all.
White Puppy: Can two black dogs have a white puppy
Sometimes genetics dictates that light-colored dogs will never have black puppies This is the case with purebred dogs whose breed standards assert the only color to be white, as with Westies and bichon frise. These dogs, if truly purebred, are always white even though their noses and eyes are black.
Hidden Merle: What is a hidden merle
Some dogs do not look to have a merle pattern but genetically are merle. These merle dogs are called cryptic, phantom, or hidden merles. Merle pattern can be masked by other genes or heavy patching Each gene has it’s own labeling including the recessive red (“ee”) and clear sable (a y ).
What color should you breed with a merle?
Color:
Breeding merle to merle is unacceptable as each puppy has a chance of being born blind & deaf as a result Breeding tri to tri produces all tri’s therefore, the preferred color crosses are blue merle to black tri, blue merle to red tri, red merle to black tri, & red merle to red tri.
Merle Gene: Can a dog carry the merle gene
Sometimes a recessive red merle will have blue or partially blue eyes, but otherwise there may be no indication that the merle gene is present These dogs are sometimes called “phantom” merles. Recessive red and merle can be a dangerous combo, simply because you may not know that a recessive red dog is a merle.
Merle Dogs: Why are merle dogs more expensive
In a nutshell, merle dogs are expensive because puppy buyers are willing to pay a lot of money for them The pattern is very sought-after, and the more demand there is, the higher breeders can set their prices. In addition, merle breedings can be quite rare in some breeds.
Double Merle: How do I know if my puppy is double merle
There are a few ways to tell if your dog might be a double merle by looking at the dog. Dogs with the double merle gene may be/have: All white in color, or have patches of merle/mottled coloring on the top half of their body – their head, back, and base of the tail Light-colored paw pads.
Merle Gene: What breeds carry the merle gene
The Merle pattern can be seen in various breeds, such as the Australian Shepherd Dog, Australian Koolie, Border Collie, Dachshund, French Bulldog, Louisiana Catahoula, Labradoodle, Miniature American Shepherd, Miniature Australian Shepherd, Pyrenean Shepherd, Rough Collie, Shetland Sheepdog, Welsh Sheepdog, Cardigan.
Sources
https://www.yankee-shelties.com/blue-merle-sheltie.html
http://www.lnd-shelties.com/skye.html
https://pethelpful.com/dogs/What-is-a-Double-Merle-Dog-The-Dangers-of-Merle-to-Merle-Breeding