Why risk the health of your line with Merle genes?

[2Painless2btrue 11]

It seems the majority of lurchermen and women are keen to improve their stock, travelling miles to use the best stud dogs. Speed, stamina, drive, brains, feet etc are all important. Breeding "the best to the best" is trotted out time and time again, That being the case, why would anyone in their right mind want to use a dog carrying the Merle gene which can cause deafness, blindness, sterility and even dead pups? Is it just coz Brian Plummer wrote about one, and David Hancock seems to favour them? Whatever happened to the old adage "a good dog can't be a bad colour"? Any thoughts anyone?

[toby1066 413]

the merle gene only causes that if you breed merles together. if you cross a merle collie with a greyhound your not going to get health problems you get hybrid vigour. its only if you start mixing merle collies to merle collies and merle lurchers togehter. dont like the colour much myself but some people do

[whippet 99 2,613]

pal ive never heard about the merle gene doing any damage to breeding, i think its aload of rubbish talk. in fact thinking about it im sure its bull shit

[whippet 99 2,613]

the merle gene only causes that if you breed merles together. if you cross a merle collie with a greyhound your not going to get health problems you get hybrid vigour. its only if you start mixing merle collies to merle collies and merle lurchers togehter. dont like the colour much myself but some people do

the merle gene only causes that if you breed merles together. if you cross a merle collie with a greyhound your not going to get health problems you get hybrid vigour. its only if you start mixing merle collies to merle collies and merle lurchers togehter. dont like the colour much myself but some people do

correct me if im wrong but is the merle gene synario getting mixed up with the inbreeding, which of course could happen to any dog closely bred or is this merle - merle breeding a fact for deformaties.

if so i stand to be corrected

[socks 32,253]

Merle to Merle can cause problems fact .........

[2Painless2btrue 11]

Just google it and you'll see what damage it does in a variety of breeds. Be honest, many breeders are kennel blind and won't advertise health problems in their own breeding. The strength of a kennel lies as much in the dogs beneath the ground (culled!) as those above it! And don't think for one minute that someone hasn't tried breeding 2 merles together either, the fact that you never heard about it proves my point!

[whippet 99 2,613]

Merle to Merle can cause problems fact .........

thank you

[BrianSteven72 369]

It seems the majority of lurchermen and women are keen to improve their stock, travelling miles to use the best stud dogs. Speed, stamina, drive, brains, feet etc are all important. Breeding "the best to the best" is trotted out time and time again, That being the case, why would anyams to favour them? Whatever happened to the old adage "a good dog can't be a bad colour"? Any thoughts anyone?

ive heard about the merel gene loads of times before doing exactly what you say but never seen it myself or heard it from a reliable sorce and ive seen loads of merle dogs , so in my experience its not that common if at all !

[2Painless2btrue 11]

Hybrid vigour we all know about, but why not use a Collie that doesn't carry a potentially lethal gene? If it looks like Bull shit, smells like Bull shit it's usually Bull shit! Trouble is some people call it Bull shit when it's actually serious 'Shit'!

[2Painless2btrue 11]

Seems to me that you wouldn't parade a deaf or blind pup around, more likely not to be reared at all imo! It has been reported to be a problem by serious breeders in pedigree dogs so surely we should learn by their mistakes? Denying a potantial problem is crazy! I've seen ads that state "carries the merle gene" ffs!

[johnny boy68 11,726]

In reality you could be taking a chance everytime you breed collie x's, wouldn't it not be in the genes?

[2Painless2btrue 11]

I agree that some Collies carry merle genes, either in a single or a double dose, My point is that the least we can do is publicise the danger in double dosing. Whippet 99 was adamant that even saying it is rubbish! If you are aware of the potential danger of putting 2 merles together coz you like the colour, you might be saved some heart-ache. As BS72 said, there are lots of merle lurchers around since they became fashionable in the 70s and 80s. The more there are, the greater the risk of putting 2 together in ignorance.

[Mink 6]

The attached link has some info about breeding 2 merles together.

 

http://www.lethalwhites.com/doublemerle.html

[birddog 1,354]

it has been done quite often in the past and some not all pups have been affected by problems like deafness and blindness and the seemingly unaffected pups whether displaying the colour or not can carry the gene. but imo this is one of the lesser evils in lurcher breeding, i could probably go into it with lots of breeds but i'll stick to my collie type favourites that iv'e got a wee bit knowledge of. border collies especially can be affected by a number of problems, they've had allsorts of eye troubles for decades sensible breeders and governing bodies have screened for many years and slowly things are improving. a far worse problem for me is the fact that some borders can carry the gene for hip dysplasia without showing any obvious outward signs, even those that have problems they don't show the symptoms till later in life, now sensible breeders (hancock included i think he was the first) in the lurcher world are hip scoring potential stud dogs as they reach maturity before using them

[Sherlock 42]

Merle is a Dominant inherited gene and cannot be carried in a hidden form. A dog is either merle or it is not. Providing only one of the parents is merle you will not have any problems, otherwise Mr Hancock would have gone to the wall years ago.