A friend of mine saw some puppies in a petfinder ad. The ad is down now
(they were quickly adopted). Anyway, it's obvious one of the parents was
a lab. Most of the dogs were yellow. One or two were...they had
coloration kind of like a GSD mix, and their ears were floppy and more lab
shaped (like they wouldn't become prick). Or actually maybe more like
a husky. They had that widow's peak like a collie has, and the darker
coloration on them was not distinct and it was pretty light overall,
and it was obvious that the undercoat was lab yellow. The rest almost all
had a blaze on their faces, and some had white on their chests. We couldn't
see their toes or their tails.

What sort of dog would let that blaze be inherited? None had particularly
long hair. They looked like normal lab puppy coats. They didn't look
especially fuzzy like a collie puppy or a husky (they were...12 weeks?
something like that).

Additionally, now that I can actually get the books, which ones are
necessary to study coat color in dogs, and which ones are recommended as
well? I forget the name of the one by Malcolm Willis.

natlaie

--

What fresh hell is this?
--- Dorothy Parker

Natalie Rigertas wrote in
:

A friend of mine saw some puppies in a petfinder ad. The ad is down
now (they were quickly adopted). Anyway, it's obvious one of the
parents was a lab. Most of the dogs were yellow. One or two
were...they had coloration kind of like a GSD mix, and their ears were
floppy and more lab shaped (like they wouldn't become prick). Or
actually maybe more like a husky. They had that widow's peak like a
collie has, and the darker coloration on them was not distinct and it
was pretty light overall, and it was obvious that the undercoat was lab
yellow. The rest almost all had a blaze on their faces, and some had
white on their chests. We couldn't see their toes or their tails.

Without a photo it is hard to figure out what kind of pattern you are
describing. And if it wasn't sure that one of the parents is a purebred
Labrador, there is no reason to assume that it would be. Many pups can be
very Lab-looking even when they don't have any retriever blood in them, and
many rescue people seem to be very bad in figuring out breeds.

Most GSDs are saddle patterned, and so you might be describing that pattern
- although it is very, very rare in Siberian Huskies. Or perhaps you are
describing shaded sable?

What sort of dog would let that blaze be inherited?

Any dog with a wide white blaze.

Additionally, now that I can actually get the books, which ones are
necessary to study coat color in dogs, and which ones are recommended
as well? I forget the name of the one by Malcolm Willis.

No books are very good, as I don't think that there are any up-to-date
books which would for example know that dominant black isn't in A locus and
brindle isn't in E locus. Willis' book is called Genetics of the Dog, but
its color chapter is sligthly worse than in Robinson's Genetics for Dog
Breeders.

But you can start learning by browsing through these web sites:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/link/canlinks.html

Liisa