Merle to Merle matings

[Chaz 6]

A useful link

 

Double Merle

[Tiff 36]

when I was involved in breeding sporting types (anything from collies, pits, aussies, staffs etc) found that breeding two "white factored" (which was described to me as white above the knee on any leg) dogs together corresponded with any variety of problems. Each time someone attempted it, there were problems. Eyes were never considered.

[Guest world.hunters]

No i dont want to put storm to a merle bitch i wouldnt take the risk my self i was just purely curious,

 

and to the fact that if you have a dog that is a solid colour from a litter that has one of the parents merle, is it unsafe to breed that dog to a merle even though its a solid colour as it would still carry the merle gene????

 

W.h

[Giro 2,648]

Quite intresting post...

 

And if it read like i bred a merle to a merle i never,just there will be plenty of merle gene in such a long line of collie crosses i was just curiuos...

[miss lurcher bitch 319]

something i would never do is merl to merl as i couldent cope with them being def and blind and it wouldent be fair on dogs and pup and end of the day i wouldent take any riscks on it mlb

[DevoidOvTalent 0]

No i dont want to put storm to a merle bitch i wouldnt take the risk my self i was just purely curious,

 

and to the fact that if you have a dog that is a solid colour from a litter that has one of the parents merle, is it unsafe to breed that dog to a merle even though its a solid colour as it would still carry the merle gene????

 

W.h

 

Merle is a dominant gene. If the dog has the gene, it will be merle. Sometimes you can get what is called a cryptic merle, where the coloring is such that you cannot see the merle markings. Since merle is not recessive it cannot be hidden or 'carried' like a recessive gene; normally colored pups from a merle parent do not have the gene.

 

Any merle to merle breeding is a crap shoot. Statistically, 25% of the pups from a merle to merle breeding will carry two copies of the merle gene and have the potential for defects of the ears and eyes. The genetic cookie crumbles in strange ways, though, and it is entirely possible to get no defective pups or all defective pups. A woman of my acquaintance had an accidental merle to merle breeding of two rough collies; almost all of the pups were blind or bilaterally deaf and had to be euthanized. Would I do a breeding where I KNEW that there was a strong potential for at least 25% of the pups to have a defect and need to be put down? No. I don't feel it's ethical.

[undisputed 1,664]

No i dont want to put storm to a merle bitch i wouldnt take the risk my self i was just purely curious,

 

and to the fact that if you have a dog that is a solid colour from a litter that has one of the parents merle, is it unsafe to breed that dog to a merle even though its a solid colour as it would still carry the merle gene????

 

W.h

 

Mating a non merle dog even if it has a parent with the merle gene to a merle would not be unsafe!

[ACEPACK 5]

not a hunndred % sure there mate

just like your name then anything goes!!

[Guest night time my time]

its the white coat with the pink skin that causes faults,once you have white in a dog, you'll never breed it out,even though white eyes and merle colours are a miner fault in themselves, 2 merles is ok aslong as there both strongly coloured,intresting thred though WH

Edited January 21, 2009 by night time my time

[LunarJim 0]

I have always been told merle to merle is a no go when it comes to breeding dogs but also had people tell me that they have had litters from merle to merle with no problem as long both dogs dont have blue eyes,

 

i have been talking to someone on here just lately aswell and they also told me that

 

"you can do merle to merle long as they as not mainly white and both well coloured merles,its white thats the weak colour,ok on one but not both,,2 blue eyes is not good either"

 

whats other peoples views on this subject.

 

W.h

Your best bet is phone Hancock up and ask him why he dosent do it

[Guest night time my time]

I have always been told merle to merle is a no go when it comes to breeding dogs but also had people tell me that they have had litters from merle to merle with no problem as long both dogs dont have blue eyes,

 

i have been talking to someone on here just lately aswell and they also told me that

 

"you can do merle to merle long as they as not mainly white and both well coloured merles,its white thats the weak colour,ok on one but not both,,2 blue eyes is not good either"

 

whats other peoples views on this subject.

 

W.h

Your best bet is phone Hancock up and ask him why he dosent do it

i have spoken to him about the very suject,one he says the same ,its the white thats the problem, 2, he doesnt have any merle greyhounds,

[Guest chook]

There is a farmer in wales that has tried the merle to merle breeding,

the first litter (dont know how many was in the litter) there ended up 3 leathal whites, the rest as far as i know of was fine,

the second time he tried it he ended up with two leathal whites - all pups was born deaf and blind, he passed them off to rescue,

as he didnt want to deal with the problem, the dogs did get rehomed and a freind of mine has one, shes not the easest of dogs

but she lives her life to the full and has even done agility, since the last pups was born i dont think hes done it again.

 

this site might help with explaining about merle breading.

 

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

[6pack 60]

Merle to merle? not worth the risk. Simple.

Lethal whites are becoming more and more abundant in this country.

Why breed when you know there is such a high chance of abnormalities.