strange birth defect in puppy

[jenjscott]

He looked like a smallish black dog that looked like a blue heeler cross. Color wasn't quite right, but the coat texture and head were.

 

[Gatorpit]

was he merled at all? Like a heeler?

 

[watchdogps]

was he merled at all? Like a heeler?

To be technical, heelers are not merle, they are roan. Merle is color on color, roan is color on white. Roan pups are born white, merles are born merled.

 

[Gatorpit]

There was a reason I worded the question the way I did...she said "his coloring wasn't quite right" that's what led me to ask in the first place. If she had answerd the question, "He was merled, but not like a heeler." then I could deduce that he was a regular merle. "If she had said "Yes, he did have "mereling" like a blue healer, then regardless of the correctness of the term, we would be able to deduce the dog was marked like a blue heeler, if she had answered "no he was roan" then we would know that the OP did understand the difference and that the dog was roan and not merle.

I've learned not to ask folks specific questions with specific terms, because many have no idea what I'm talking about. If I had asked if he was roan, I may get an answer based on the poster's knowledge of what roan means...which could be nothing. They might answer..."no, he was merle, and just be describing the normal coat color of a heeler, not knowing that that color was, in fact roan, and vice versa. Asking with a specific term invites false positives, and false negatives, depending on the posters personal knowledge of the subject.


As far as current theory on merleing goes, he must have been merle, because merle cannot be produced in a litter unless one parent is merle (supposedly). That's why I asked. I'm not sure if the "roan" genes can produce regular merle or not when crossed with a non roan/non merle animal, or if they're even remotely related in dogs. In mice...roan is thought to be homologous to merle, but the roan genes and their effects and causes etc are different between species. A roan horse has very different color genes than a roan dog or a roan cow.


I'm always on the look out for something that changes or disproves the merle breeding theory in dogs. lol

 

[jenjscott]

The dog appeared to be all black, but had the look of the texture of a heeler, And had a head and body shape similar to a heeler, obviously those traits could have come from some other breed, heelers are fairly common in these parts as are their crosses. However, catahoulas and their progeny are also around here, and of course, there is always the possibility there was a suitor I don't know about, but I don't think so. The other pups are black and brindle.

 

[watchdogps]

As far as current theory on merleing goes, he must have been merle, because merle cannot be produced in a litter unless one parent is merle (supposedly).

Not entirely true. Scroll down next to the pic of the chihuahua here:
http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/merle.html

 

[Gatorpit]

Not entirely true. Scroll down next to the pic of the chihuahua here:
http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/merle.html

Ha! Awesome! Thank you for this! You have no idea how long I've been debating hte potential for merle to exist in the APBT breed without outcrossing.

 

[Gatorpit]

I kept bringing up the possibility of a "cryptic" type merle...as in, one who carries a merle gene that does not show up visibly.