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I Have A Female Black Tri That I Bred With A Male Red-tri And She Had 8 Blue Merles. How Could This Happen?

I have a female Black Tri that I bred with a male Red-Tri and she had 8 Blue Merles, 5 females and 3 males. She also had one black-tri that died at birth. How could this happen getting all blue merles?

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Comments for I Have A Female Black Tri That I Bred With A Male Red-tri And She Had 8 Blue Merles. How Could This Happen?

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Does the milkman have blond hair?
by: jcrply

That's a lot of puppies! Hope they are all doing well and that you are enjoying them. Either your female or the male carries the blue merle gene. I'm betting that your female had a blue merle parent. To produce red puppies, either red tri or red merle, BOTH parents must be red factored, not red in color, but they must carry a red gene. In a breeding where one parent is NOT red factored, the litter will only produce blue merle & black tri. So your female may not have a red gene, but even if both parents are red factored, you can still have a litter with no reds. Any puppy that has a red parent IS red factored as a red gene is all a red parent has to offer so even in litters where there are no red puppies, if one parent is red in color, ALL the puppies in your litter are red factored meaning they can produce red puppies when bred to a red or red factored mate.

Blue Merle puppies
by: Nonnie / Dee Cutshall

Arent you the lucky one ?!?!?! Blue merle's are so pretty. I love the blue merle's and the black tri's!!

I'm sure there is someone in this community that can answer your question.

Breeding 2 tris together
by: Anne

Hi,
One of your Tris is genetically a merle. I have one of those. It is called a "Phantom" merle or "Cryptic" merle. They look like a tri, but are genetically a merle. I think this happens more often than we think. Does either one of you tris have a blue eye?
Here is some more information on "Phantom" merles for you
http://www.ashgi.org/color/Cryptic_Merles.html
Please if you need more information or have any questions, please e-mail me.

Anne Calmes
Gold Ring Aussies
goldringkennel@aol.com
Louisiana, USA

Just curious...
by: Anonymous

I would like to know too. Hope someone can explain...

merles
by: Gayle-- Big Run Aussies

Apparently one of the dogs that were bred is a merle, or some other merle dog got in with your female. You can check the DNA parentage with testing. Look up genetics on the ASHGI website.

Blue Merles
by: Anonymous

Don't know but I love my blue merles!! I personally think they are the most sought after aussies. You will have no trouble selling them.

phantom merle
by: jcrply

Although there were no blue merle areas visible on our black-tri pup when we got her, she gradually started showing small areas of blue merle. At a small distance they are not visible unless you ruffle back the hair in those areas. She has blue merle areas on both shoulders (withers) and just in front of both hips... fairly symmetrical side-to-side. I have read that if you want to breed a black-tri who turns out to be a phantom merle (cryptic merle) that you should have her/his registration changed to merle... and also should not breed that dog to a merle.

Your Merle pups
by: Anonymous

Could one of the dogs have a blue eye if so then it is considered to be bred as a Merle although it has a solid coat. That is why u got some Merle puppies but be careful because this is when u get the lethal merle

Color Genetics
by: Anonymous

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

Blue eyes
by: Aussie Ollie

Wow...very interesting...i would agree that one of the dogs is a cryptic Merle. Sometimes it is only visible on the tail, which is docked soon after birth. But even with a tri/Merle breeding, 75% Merle is the most Merles one will get...100% is amazing!

Curious about a blue eyed tri being a Merle...???

Cute!!
by: Anonymous

I was always told that if you breed a tri with a tri or a murle with a murle that the puppies would be deformed. But I guess they were wrong! You won't have trouble selling them😀

Blue Merle puppies
by: Anonymous

If one of your dogs has a blue eye they breed as Merle's even though they r solid color.... They would still be consider solid except when it comes to breeding then they will breed as Merle's..

Genetics
by: Anonymous

Merle gene is not a color it is a pattern that affects the dogs genetic color and dilutes it were it is showing through. There is a thing called "Cryptic Merle" it is when a dog that carries the Merle gene has either such a small spot of Merle it is hard to see or it produces a strange pattern that does not look like Merle and sometimes these Merle spots are on the tail and get removed when the tail is docked. Either way the dog is mistaken as a solid or tri dog and not a Merle. These dogs should be tested for the Merle gene and carefully bred to prevent being accidentally bred to a Merle or another "Cryptic Merle". These dogs can only be identified with a DNA test. So it is suggested in breeds that carry Merle that all dogs be tested to prevent double Merle crosses and the health problems that can accompany them.

Blue merles
by: Anonymous

If any ones of those two dogs have a blue eye they breed as a Merle...Although they r a solid color they breed as merles.

Confused
by: Anonymous

I have a tri with brown eyes that has some blue markings and I wanted to breed him to my blue merle.

Do not breed untested dogs
by: Anonymous

Merle gene is not a color it is a pattern that affects the dogs genetic color and dilutes it were it is showing through. There is a thing called "Cryptic Merle" it is when a dog that carries the Merle gene has either such a small spot of Merle it is hard to see or it produces a strange pattern that does not look like Merle and sometimes these Merle spots are on the tail and get removed when the tail is docked. Either way the dog is mistaken as a solid or tri dog and not a Merle. These dogs should be tested for the Merle gene and carefully bred to prevent being accidentally bred to a Merle or another "Cryptic Merle". These dogs can only be identified with a DNA test. So it is suggested in breeds that carry Merle that all dogs be tested to prevent double Merle crosses and the health problems that can accompany them.

Not true
by: Anonymous

I just had a litter of mini aussies born from a blue merle female and a red tri, and though most pups were black, there was one red merle out of the six pups. The others consisted of 4 black tri (one might be a cryptic merle) and one blue/black merle. So you CAN end up with a red if both parents are not red.

Blue merle bred to red tri
by: Anonymous

I just had a litter of mini aussies born from a blue merle female and a red tri, and though most pups were black, there was one red merle out of the six pups. The others consisted of 4 black tri (one might be a cryptic merle) and one blue/black merle. So you CAN end up with a red if both parents are not red. It is rare but can happen. Usually the red is a recessive gene and black is dominant. However, if the blue merle carries a red recessive with the black dominant, she could throw the red recessive to pair with the red tri which can only throw the recessive red, and therefore produce a red tri, bi, or merle. Merling is not a recessive to solid, and usually if a merle and tri/bi are bred, then there is a 50% chance than any individual puppy could be merle. Your litter went with merle, which while highly unusual is possible. Just curious, is there a possibility that your red is a cryptic merle and you have therefore got all merles, possibly some lethal merles?

the real
by: Anonymous

it is safe to breed a tri to a tri it is just color. and the only way to produce tris. with a merle there is no such thing as a merle carrier either the dog is merle or it isn't most of the time if you breed a merle to a regular colored dog half of the pups would be merle. if you breed a tri merle to a tri half the pups should be tri merle and the other half should be tri.

Curious
by: Anonymous

I agree that one parent is a cryptic merle, if the mother was in no way around another dog which was merely when she was in heat. There could be as little as 1 merle hair, and it could be be under a white marking, on a docked tail... a dog can be merle without looking it. Testing is the only way to know- and if she were my dog, I'd do it to prevent a possible merle/merle breeding in the future, which statistically can produce 25% defective merle/'white' merle homozygous pups. Merle is a dominant gene, you must have a merle parent to have red pups, you just may not know it's a merle by looking at it.

Speaking of statistics, 1 litter may not give you the expected numbers. It just isn't a big enough sample.

Your girl is probably not red factored (carrying the recessive red gene), since you had no reds, but once again one litter isn't a big enough sample to know.

A blue eyed tri/bi might be a cryptic merle, but the trait can also be caused by another unrelated gene. It should be tested for the merle gene before breeding, but some lines throw blue eyed solids. Note all the blue eyed Border collies (where merle is not real common), Huskies and Dalmatians (which don't have the merle gene). It's rather rare in Aussies, but the gene is present in the breed. A blue eyed tri might be just that.

Merle?
by: Anonymous

I have a black tri. His tan feet have black spots on them, could he be merle?

Don’t breed without genetic testing
by: Anonymous

No one should be breeding Aussies without genetic testing. Cryptic Merles are a thing, and you could accidentally breed two Merles together without knowing it if you don’t do genetic testing on the parents before breeding. Not testing is just irresponsible breeding. This is how we end up with blind and deaf babies in shelters.

Blue eyes not always Merle
by: Brandym7

Just to clarify. Because a black Tri has blue eyes does not mean the dog has a Merle gene. Some Aussie simply have a recessive blue eye gene. Such is my black Tri Aussie. Genetically she is a black Tri with no Merle gene.
She just bread with a blue Merrill who has blue eyes, so likely her puppies will have blue eyes. Although my red tri also bred with her right after he was castrated.
The vet said, after the fact, it was possible for him to still be carrying sperm up to 30 days after the castration.
So we will wait and see if any amber eyed pups with Merle marking arrive. He has the red Merle gene. Fun fun fun

Black Tri to Blue Merle - 3 Red Merle Pups
by: Anonymous

While my female is black tri, supposedly with no red factor - per the gene test - I bred her with a blue merle and three puppies are red merle blue eyed. She was never left alone where other dogs could get to her, except a red merle male who’d been castrated the month before. Could he still be the daddy to those three? Yowza

I have a black and white puppy from a black tri and red merle
by: Anonymous

I have a litter of 8 puppies I have red tri, black tri, red merle, and blue merle, but one of the puppies is a bicolor black-and-white just wondering if this is normal?

The mother is a black tri and the father is a red merle.

Blue Merle Aussie x Pom to a red Tri
by: Anonymous

I have a litter, All puppies are beautiful and healthy, however One of my blue Merle puppies out of 7 has a completely white face with blue eyes and very little colour around his ears. I had all puppies to the vet and all the pup were given a clean bill of health. He is just stunning and everyone thinks he is the most beautiful pup of all the pups with colour. Should I be worried about anything when I sell him. As beautiful and as healthy a he is… I am a little concerned what might happen if someone breeds him what may happen with his puppies.

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