the inheritance of color in canines - Page 1

This is an interesting site regarding how colors are inherited in dogs. http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/genetics/colorgen.html

Please be aware that the color inheritance of a GSD is different than most breeds. Where in most breeds the color black is dominant over all other colors, with the GSD the color black is resessive. A good table of color inheritance can be found on http://www.duitseherders.com/vacht2.html The site is dutch only, but the table must be interpretable by all when you know 'zw' stands for black, 'gr' for grey and 'zg' for brown with black saddle. The first column is the gene-pairs of the parents, the second column the color you see on the parents and the third column the color of the pups.

Blitzen, thank you for the link. While some of the statements are not (yet) supported by hard data, they do certainly support themselves for the moment unless further research finds them to be incorrect. And, in the scientific world all axioms began life as postulates. A spreadsheet analysis/theory application would be convenient for a quick view, but for the examples presented was not necessary. It was certainly to the authour's merit that other breeds were represented, for as far as we presently know all canines have a common ancestor. Thanks again for the link, as it was interesting to say the least. Bob-O

You're welcome. Bob-O. I find color inheritance very difficult to understand so I keep hammering away at it. I think this is one of the better articles I've read so far. Fortunatley several members of my Malamute list are very well educated in color genetics and they share websites and information with us dumbells LOL. In the big picture I believe there are far more improtant issues, but sometimes a specific color brings with it some unwanted health issues such as deafness. In those cases it's good to know the mode of inheritance and the indicators. I only learned today that collies and all other "white tail tipped" herding breeds can carry a gene(s) that causes a fatal reaction to some common meds such as certain heartworm preventatives and diarrhea meds like immodium. Interesting, eh? There is a DNA test available to determine whether or not a dog carries that gene. These are the dogs the roll over and die after they eat a Filarabit. Cowgirl, the article agrees with you and states that the GSD inherits the solid black gene differently than most other breeds. It says that it's a simple recessive in GSD's and one other breed which I've already forgotten. Same as the white masking gene. If only all canine traits were inherited via a simple recessive gene................It gives me a headache just thinking about all this complicated genetic stuff LOL.