FYI: If you make a purchase via a link on this site, I may receive a commission from various affiliate programs, and as an Amazon Associate and Chewy affiliate I also earn commissions from qualifying purchases—at NO extra cost to you. See the Disclosure page for more information. Thank you!

Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

Home

Is This A Double Merle Puppy?

by Nik
(Utah, USA)

Is this a double merle puppy?

Comments for Is This A Double Merle Puppy?

Click here to add your own comments

Parents?
by: Anonymous

Were both his parents merles? Is he registered? If so check his pedigree? If all else fails, there is a DNA test that will tell you if the puppy carries the MM on the patterning gene. If he is healthy and has no vision or hear impairments there’s really no need to test him, unless you are thinking of breeding him. If he is a double merle you probably should not breed him. He is a beautiful boy! Good luck and God Bless!

Double merle
by: Anonymous

It’s me again. He does not look like a double merle to me. Yes he has some excess lightness, but if there is any hint of reddish brown to the light colored areas, these will darken as he ages. The true white will stay white. Because he has color around both eyes and I assume on both ears, I would say he is not a double merle. Nobody would really know without his registration pedigree and/or the dna test. Have his eyes and hearing checked at your vet to be sure he is healthy, but he looks great to me. I’ve had pups with more white than him, and I never bred two merles.

White right ear
by: Anonymous

Make sure vet checks his hearing really good in the right ear, as it looks white in the picture. He might have some impairment there, but I doubt it. Even if he does, he can probably compensate for that in his left ear.

Good News
by: Nik

I was able to get back in touch with the breeders and both of her parents were Red Tri-colored aussies. The dad is AKC registered, the mom is not. Had I known mostly white aussies end up having problems (if they’re double merle), I would have asked the question before purchasing. Now I know. Thank you all!

Merle parent
by: Anonymous

I’m sorry but they are not being truthful. In order to have a merle one of his parents MUST be a merle. Merling is a dominant patterning, and the only way to produce a merle puppy is if at least one parent is a merle. If this puppy came to you from a breeder that had one parent registered with AKC and the other one not registered at all, then I would be very suspicious of that breeder. I’m not a fan of AKC because they are infamous for inbreeding to produce popular colored and particularly merled dogs. Many times the inbreeding produces excessive whiting on the pups. If the inbreeding is very close, then the puppies cannot be registered in AKC. We are talking parent dog bred to one of their children, which produces desired traits by potential buyers, but often with extra white and lifetime health problems. I think I would contact the breeder and question them about this pup’s parentage. If I did not like what they said, I might contact AKC about them. AKC will recognize some in-line breeding but it has to be distanced by a couple of generations, but again AKC only recognizes pups from the original club line, which means they have to line breed to keep it going. But you end up with puppies that tend to be sickly and do not have very long lives. For that reason, I do not buy AKC dogs. My registries will not accept in bred pups even from registered parents unless they are many generations, like 6+ apart. But, again, it is genetically impossible for two nonmerles to produce merle offspring! Something is not ringing true with your breeder.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Australian Shepherd Q & A.

Have Dog Training Questions?

Check out these introductory dog training videos...

I want my dog to stop being aggressive.

I want some help training my new puppy.

I want my dog to stop barking at everything.

I want my dog to walk nicely and calmly on the leash.

I want my dog to listen and come every time I call!

Back to Home

⌃ TOP ⌃

All Content Copyright © 2006-2024 by Anton Hout,
Australian-Shepherd-Lovers.com. All rights reserved.

Disclosure: If you make a purchase via a link on this site, I may receive a commission from various affiliate programs, and as an Amazon Associate and Chewy affiliate I also earn commissions from qualifying purchases—at NO extra cost to you. See the Disclosure page for more information. Thank you!

As stated in our Privacy Policy, Australian-Shepherd-Lovers.com
does not sell your personal information.