Not a rabbit, but I have a very bizarre merle puppy...

[MamaSheepdog]

...when she was first born, I almost thought she was my very first red merle. After about I week, I was all but convinced of it.

But then I realized that no-o-o, her spots were black, so she MUST be a blue, because all the merle gene does is randomly dilute the base color of the body. Right?!?

But then there are reds that are so dark that they appear black as well, as seen in the second dog on this page:

http://color.ashgi.org/color/Difficult_calls.html

I have never seen a merle with the rosy cast she has to the body color, and to add yet another tidbit to the mystery- her nose is liver colored in the center (as you would see in a red), but has black pigmentation on the sides.

I am well and truly stumped. :thinking:

Any ideas, oh genetics experts? opcorn:

***Edit*** This pup is 1/8th Border Collie and 7/8th Australian Shepherd. Blue merle dam, black tri sire. Her sire Sherlock does carry red.

 

[FourRingCircus]

I have no idea, but they are beautiful!! I have completely fallen in love with the looks of that breed thanks to your Avi...

 

[alforddm]

I think she is just a highly expressed merle. Merle only affects black (or brown) based pigments, so she has to be black based.

Here is an example of a sable merle

Because merle only affects black (or brown) pigment, it doesn't express as much on sable coats because they don't have as much black pigment in the coat so merle doesn't effect them as much.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I have no idea, but they are beautiful!! I have completely fallen in love with the looks of that breed thanks to your Avi...

Aww, thanks! These pups are out of Switch, Hermione's (avatar dog) sister.

They were such a nice OCD litter like me, too.

In the pic below, they lined themselves up not only by color, but by sex AND coat length!

long haired male, female, female, male, female, female, long haired male
---------------------------long haired male--------------------------

I think she is just a highly expressed merle.

Highly expressed? Can you explain that a bit more?

You don't mean that her merling is in the form of "cheetah spots" as opposed to patches, do you? Because we have pups like that as well, but never this shade.

Fleur is very lightly marked as well, but she is blue, not, umm, pink. :?

 

[Galadriel]

Any ideas, oh genetics experts? opcorn:

I don't suppose "cute" cuts it, huh? :lol: Whatever it is, it's adorable!

 

[Deer Heart]

To me she just looked like a really highly expressed blue merle (I would normally have thought her a double merled dog because of how much area of her coat is merled... but both parents aren't merle and her white areas aren't highly expressed too as they tend to do) it could be the pic is playing tricks on me too but her back still looks grey to me. Just really really light grey because the merle is covering most of her and the "pink" seems exclusive to the areas you'd expect the rust (the legs to just above the knees in back and elbows in front, chest, along sides by belly, and face like a tri) She just lacks any brown areas unaffected by the merle or for some reason her brown is just a hint lighter than usual.

Highly expressed? Can you explain that a bit more?

Merle is basically taking a transluscent blanket with holes on it and tossing it on the true colors. "Highly Expressed" in this way mostly means there's so few holes in that metaphorical blanket that very little of her true color is showing through (which is black tri) and that blanket also appears to be thicker than usual, making the true color even harder to see "through" it.

If not for merle, this dog would be a black tri, possibly with a lighter, non-rust brown.

(and just because aussies yaaassss)

<< >> <<

 

[Dood]

I agree that she looks like a black based sable Merle - Google "sable Merle collie" images and quite a few pop up, I' ve seen them in Corgies as well

She has some other spotting gene giving her an odd pattern

 

[alforddm]

Merle is not a white pattern, but it works a bit like one, and like white patterns there can be a wide range of expression. You can get a "highly expressed" merle like your pup, all the way down to a what is sometimes known as a cryptic merle. A cryptic merle is a dog that is merle genetically but that doesn't express. The nearest correlation in rabbits would be a Vienna carrier that is solid. Another example would be broken expressing all the way from booted to false charlie. There are other modifiers or possible environmental factors that alter expression.

Can you post a few more pictures of the pup? I had assumed the pink tint through her coat was just the result of lighting and the liver spot on her nose is a bit strange. If you could get a picture of her in good lighting but not direct sunlight from the top and side that would be great. Does her blue merle dam have tan trim?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

To me she just looked like a really highly expressed blue merle (I would normally have thought her a double merled dog because of how much area of her coat is merled... but both parents aren't merle and her white areas aren't highly expressed too as they tend to do) it could be the pic is playing tricks on me too but her back still looks grey to me.

I will get some pictures of her with other merles today. I have a pup that is a bit older than her that will be leaving this afternoon (she is going to live on a cattle ranch, but be a beloved pet, not a working dog), as well as a litter of younger pups that are not yet ready for homes.

Just really really light grey because the merle is covering most of her and the "pink" seems exclusive to the areas you'd expect the rust (the legs to just above the knees in back and elbows in front, chest, along sides by belly, and face like a tri) She just lacks any brown areas unaffected by the merle or for some reason her brown is just a hint lighter than usual.

Some of our tris have copper points that are a rich rust color, while others have the lighter "camel colored" points. Her mother has the lighter points.

I agree that she looks like a black based sable Merle - Google "sable Merle collie" images and quite a few pop up, I' ve seen them in Corgies as well

Ahh! This is a distinct possibility! Her dam is a sable but with extended black tipping- she has very little brown undercolor, but is not black to the skin like our true black tris.

The pup's black spots are black to the skin though- no undercolor.

You can get a "highly expressed" merle like your pup, all the way down to a what is sometimes known as a cryptic merle.

Switch is nearly a cryptic merle. The merling affects only a small portion of an ear and part of her forehead, with about three other very small merled patches.

Note the merling on her ear and small blue patch by her rear knee- she has a dilute patch adjacent to it as well. You can also see the undercolor showing through on her hindquarters in this photo:



Sire Sherlock:



An example of the rust colored copper points Colliepup's dog Levi:

<br /><br /> __________ Thu Dec 03, 2015 9:26 am __________ <br /><br /> Beautiful dogs, Sali!

The first pup pictured looks kind of rosy also! Maybe it is just a normal variation in the shade of blue?

 

[JessicaR]

To me she looks like a normal blue merle with very light tan points.
I know this site is about shelties but it has some good info on merle and examples of different colors.
http://www.norcalshelties.org/SheltieColors/color.html

 

[alforddm]

Switch is sable? I never would have guessed that by looking at the pictures. She has such defined tan above her eyes. Since she is sable, then the pup being a lighter sable makes perfect sense. I can't explain the liver nose spot but sometimes odd spots just happen.

 

[TF3]

I say Pink Merle!
And MINE!

LOL ~ sorry, no help, but love all the puppy fluff!