THE Pirol v Enclavehof son I have has three paws with a touch of white  faded color not pur white ,,and I believe that Pirol had a touch on one paw...Cassi v Steffanhaus had none on her.....as far as I know....Never knew what ever happened to her ..she disappeared into thin blue air........kinda weird.....

Most often than not....  more pigment... darker...bigger black areas... darker brown... SPELL-out occurences of white patches.... take   QUAX Danischenhof    as an example...  He is an over done ESKO Danischenhof who was blamed for lack of  BLACK pigment...

Oeps.... if I understand, there still are people who don't blame the breeder when a puppy has with paws ore tones... good, al I already mentioned, in 95% from the litters there are puppy's with white socks ore white paws, if everybody would go to court for this.... we would have a lot off breeders less.... so I am really looking forworth to Shelley S ore Hodie's next litter... maybe I will.... go and...

SG5 (ITALY) Eros delle Antiche Muse

this particular dog now a days is in india.  a very good dog, i must say.  but was surprised to see a big white patch on his chest.  i have a girl (g.daughter of ursus vom batu) to whom I would like to get this dog mated with.  since my girl is richly pigmented, would like to know if white patches can appear on puppies.

regards,

 JohnHe2,

The few pups I have bred had NO white on them because they come from richly pigmented parents with no white on them. I believe you are incorrect in saying that in 95% of litters there are puppies with white paws or white socks. In fact, it is not uncommon for a little bit of white hair to show on a TOE or a nail to be less than black when a pup is very young. But as the pup ages, such small amounts of white generally completely disappear.

I think maybe you ought to go back and read the threads on the "socks" issue, or maybe you are or are friends with the breeder. This was not about a dog having white socks. It was about misrepresentation and further, fraud in trying to stain the paws to pass as something other than white. But I bet you know exactly what this was about......

Since the Spotting Locus is an incompletley dominant Locus, I imagine the white spot on the feet is the phenotypic expression of one of the recessive alleles that causes white on the dogs, most likley the Dominant S paired with the Irish Spotting allele.

In terms of on the chest - I believe even the most dominant spotting gene allows for white up to 10% of the body - in which case the size/heritability of the spot on a dog homozygous for the S allele would have to be caused somewhere else...perhaps a marker gene.  Or it could just be a lesser expression of a recessive gene.

either way - yes - it is genetic and highly heritable.

~Cate

It is possible that sⁱ (irish spotting) is present in the breed, but I think unlkely, or we would be seeing the occasional dog with more extensive white, compatible with the homozygote.  Minor white spotting of feet and chest is infact quite common in the breed and more likely the expression of modifying genes that inhibit the migration of melanocytes (pigment cells) dduring and after foetal development.

As melanocyte migration isn't complete at birth, the white areas often reduce as the pup grows and this can be accomplished by two methods.  The line of pigmentation can encroach onto the white as the tide of melanocytes invade..... and individual hairs in the white area can colour in by means of the dominant T - ticking gene.

 Then we have the phenomenon 'developmental noise' which is a random process which can influence the pattern of migration.  This is the reason for the asymmetry always associated with white markings and also why clones actually show variation too.

So the pattern of white spotting is under some genetic control but also may be influenced by random, non-genetic factors.

 I agree with pod. Excellent understanding of the genetics likely involved.