Australian Shepherds come in lots of beautiful colors, including the red merle. Similar in their markings to the blue merles, red merles have mottled patches of liver and cream. They may also have patches of white or copper. They have a merle gene that can change their eye color to either pale blue or odd-colored eyes.
Is a red merle rare?
Red is a recessive gene, so that means it is a rarer coat color than the other Aussie colors. Aussies can inherit one of two coat patterns.
How much is a red merle?
What’s the price point you can expect for a merle dog? The quick answer is – somewhere between $800 and $2,000, with an average of $1,300.
What is the difference between a red merle and a blue merle?
A blue merle is a black dog with the merle pattern; a red merle is a liver dog with the merle pattern. All the merle gene does is determine whether or not a dog is merle. This gene is an incomplete dominant. Two dominant copies produce a “double merle” which will most likely have serious eye defects and may be deaf.
Do merle dogs have more health problems?
Yes – merle dogs can be just as healthy as dogs that have a solid color. They have the same life expectancy, they are just as strong and athletic and smart as their counterparts without the merle gene. In lines with responsible merle breedings, all offspring will be healthy and live a long life.
Is merle a genetic defect?
Merle is actually a heterozygote of an incompletely dominant gene. If two such dogs are mated, on the average one quarter of the puppies will be “double merles”, which is the common term for dogs homozygous for merle, and a high percentage of these double merle puppies could have eye defects and/or be deaf.
Do red merles darken with age?
Red merle Aussies may darken with age, as well, and they have a marbled reddish coat. Red merle puppies can be very light in color, but the red in their fur will usually turn a rich, brownish-red by adulthood.
What breeds carry the merle gene?
The Merle pattern can be seen in various breeds, such as the Australian Shepherd Dog, Australian Koolie, Border Collie, Dachshund, French Bulldog, Louisiana Catahoula, Labradoodle, Miniature American Shepherd, Miniature Australian Shepherd, Pyrenean Shepherd, Rough Collie, Shetland Sheepdog, Welsh Sheepdog, Cardigan …
Is merle recognized by AKC?
Are Merle French Bulldogs Recognized by the AKC? Can They Be AKC Registered? Most merle French bulldogs can be registered by the AKC, but they aren’t considered a standard breed color. Despite this, the AKC still recognizes them.
Is blue merle or red merle more rare?
Red merles are far less common than blue merles because the red-colored gene is recessive in dogs, meaning both parents have to have it for their offspring to inherit the coat. Red is the rarest color in Aussies generally, although the red merle coat is one of the more common red-colored coats in the breed.
What makes a merle bully?
Can a red merle have a black nose?
Aside from the issue of pink on the nose, generally seen only in merles and addressed above, black and blue merle dogs can only have black noses and red/red merle dogs can only have liver noses.
Can you breed a red merle with a black tri?
Breeding merle to merle is unacceptable as each puppy has a chance of being born blind & deaf as a result. Breeding tri to tri produces all tri’s therefore, the preferred color crosses are blue merle to black tri, blue merle to red tri, red merle to black tri, & red merle to red tri.
Some dogs do not look to have a merle pattern but genetically are merle. These merle dogs are called cryptic, phantom, or hidden merles. Merle pattern can be masked by other genes or heavy patching. Each gene has it’s own labeling including the recessive red (“ee”) and clear sable (ay).
Are all merle dogs deaf?
Results: Deafness prevalence in merles overall was 4.6% unilaterally deaf and 4.6% bilaterally deaf. There was a significant association between hearing status and heterozygous versus homozygous merle genotype. For single merles (Mm), 2.7% were unilaterally deaf and 0.9% were bilaterally deaf.
What causes a dog to be merle?
Merle dogs can come in a range of colours, but the pattern is usually a splash of darker shades, marbled against a lighter background. This type of coat is inherited, and the gene that causes this pattern can also affect the colour of a dog’s eyes and some parts of their skin, usually their nose or paw pads.
Can you breed 2 merles together?
If two merle dogs are bred together, each puppy in the litter has a 25% chance of being born a double merle. A double merle inherits the merle gene twice. One copy of the merle gene causes a marbling effect on the coat and creates lighter spots throughout the solid color coat.
What problems do merle dogs have?
When inherited in the homozygous state, the merle mutation causes dogs to be white and have an even greater incidence of deafness, blindness and sterility. The auditory and ophthalmologic abnormalities linked to merle are similar to those observed for the human auditory-pigmentation disorder Waardenburg syndrome.
Is brindle the same as merle?
Like merle, brindle is also a coat color pattern, it is often described as being “tiger-striped.” The stripes are irregular and dark against a lighter base color that is often fawn, brown or gray. The brindle coat pattern is found in several dog breeds including great danes, bulldogs and boxers.
Can you breed a white dog with a merle?
If you plan to breed a dog with the merle gene, you should not breed it with another of similar genetic makeup. If lucky, the dog will be colorful and healthy, but there is a substantial chance that the double merle gene offspring could be blind, deaf or both. In other words, don’t do it.
What is the difference between merle and dapple?
The merle (also called dapple) pattern is the pattern in which random splotches of dark pigment are overlaid over a lighter shade of the same color.
Can red merles have green eyes?
It requires the presence of a second gene, such as the merle gene, for a dog to have blue, green, or amber eyes; the merle gene creates patches with reduced eumelanin. Dogs with green eyes have a small amount of eumelanin while dogs with blue eyes have none.
Do merle puppies change color?
Merle Dog Puppies Merle coloring can become darker with age. So, be aware that those white areas on your merle puppy may start to look grayer as your dog ages. But other than that, a merle dog puppy will have all the attributes of an adult of the breed.
How do I know if my dog is a double merle?
Dogs with the double merle gene may be/have: All white in color, or have patches of merle/mottled coloring on the top half of their body – their head, back, and base of the tail. Light-colored paw pads. Have light blue, green or brown eyes, perhaps even eyes that are different colors.
Can the merle gene skip a generation?
The merle mutation is a bit of inserted DNA called a SINE (short interspersed nucleotide element) that can change in length from one generation to the next.