Having a hard time figuring out what the heck it is, never mind the
genetics. We had a one year old Dane at the dog park yesterday. Totally
goofy and adorable, and that lethal weapon of a tail was working overtime.
It's his coat color that has me puzzled. His coat is a dark brown, darker
than fawn, lighter than chocolate (maybe a little grey mixed into the
brown?), and has black patches, like you'd see in Merle. No white patches,
but there is a distribution of white hair all over (like people having grey
hair ). Doesn't look like a fawn merle (unofficial name) because the base
is really a whole lot darker than fawn. So, what do you suppose it is, and
how did it come about?

He is a shelter dog so parentage is not known, but looks to be pretty much
all Dane (I'd guess 33-34" at the withers, 125 pounds).

Suja

"Suja" wrote in
news:xU_Lg.13759$SZ3.9497@dukeread04:

Having a hard time figuring out what the heck it is, never mind the
genetics. We had a one year old Dane at the dog park yesterday.
Totally goofy and adorable, and that lethal weapon of a tail was
working overtime. It's his coat color that has me puzzled. His coat is
a dark brown, darker than fawn, lighter than chocolate (maybe a little
grey mixed into the brown?), and has black patches, like you'd see in
Merle. No white patches, but there is a distribution of white hair all
over (like people having grey hair ). Doesn't look like a fawn merle
(unofficial name) because the base is really a whole lot darker than
fawn. So, what do you suppose it is, and how did it come about?

Sounds like a seal merle! It is just like regular merle, and the base color
is black. In this case the dog just isn't jet black, but seal aka "bad
black". It is most likely that is it genetically heterozygous black, and
the underlying sable (called "fawn" in this breed) can be partially seen
"through" the black.

For some reason merling makes the hidden sable pattern more visible than it
would be otherwise. Normal merles have pure grey coat areas, but a seal
merle has clearly brownish patches instead of grey/silver. Black patches
are more or less true black in both cases.

Fawn + merle would give just a fawn Dane with perhaps some merling visible
on mask. There wouldn't be any change in the yellow coat areas. Merle gene
doesn't add any dark patches, it only dilutes randomly some parts of the
eumelanin (dark) coat. If you see merling all over a dog, it means that the
base pattern allows eumelanin to cover all of the dog in the first place so
that merle can dilute it here and there all over.

This Italian Greyhound is a seal:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/koi...alianoseal.jpg

It is "very" seal, and in good light it really looks more like dark brown
than real black. Just the face, where the black mask is, is jet black. Most
seal dogs are not this clearly brownish but much blacker. And if this was
merle, the paler patches would be some shade of brownish beige and not
grey/silver.

And this Estonian rescue is a saddle merle:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/koi...jumerlesat.jpg

As you can see, merling is visible just on saddle and all the tan coat
areas are just as tan as they would be without merle gene.

Liisa

"Suja" spanaval wrote in
news:xU_Lg.13759$SZ3.9497@dukeread04:

Having a hard time figuring out what the heck it is, never mind the
genetics. We had a one year old Dane at the dog park yesterday.
Totally goofy and adorable, and that lethal weapon of a tail was
working overtime. It's his coat color that has me puzzled. His coat
is
a dark brown, darker than fawn, lighter than chocolate (maybe a
little
grey mixed into the brown?), and has black patches, like you'd see
in
Merle. No white patches, but there is a distribution of white hair
all
over (like people having grey hair ). Doesn't look like a fawn
merle
(unofficial name) because the base is really a whole lot darker than
fawn. So, what do you suppose it is, and how did it come about?

Sounds like a seal merle! It is just like regular merle, and the base
color
is black. In this case the dog just isn't jet black, but seal aka
"bad
black". It is most likely that is it genetically heterozygous
black, and
the underlying sable (called "fawn" in this breed) can be
partially seen
"through" the black.

For some reason merling makes the hidden sable pattern more visible
than it
would be otherwise. Normal merles have pure grey coat areas, but a
seal
merle has clearly brownish patches instead of grey/silver. Black
patches
are more or less true black in both cases.

Fawn + merle would give just a fawn Dane with perhaps some merling
visible
on mask. There wouldn't be any change in the yellow coat areas. Merle
gene
doesn't add any dark patches, it only dilutes randomly some parts of
the
eumelanin (dark) coat. If you see merling all over a dog, it means
that the
base pattern allows eumelanin to cover all of the dog in the first
place so
that merle can dilute it here and there all over.

This Italian Greyhound is a seal:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/koi...alianoseal.jpg

It is "very" seal, and in good light it really looks more
like dark brown
than real black. Just the face, where the black mask is, is jet black.
Most
seal dogs are not this clearly brownish but much blacker. And if this
was
merle, the paler patches would be some shade of brownish beige and not

grey/silver.

And this Estonian rescue is a saddle merle:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/koi...jumerlesat.jpg

As you can see, merling is visible just on saddle and all the tan coat

areas are just as tan as they would be without merle gene.

Liisa
Sent via http://Pets-99.com , http://AnimalForum.ws & http://AnimalBlog.org

"Liisa Sarakontu" wrote in message:

Snip...Liisa being right on the mark

This Italian Greyhound is a seal:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/koi...alianoseal.jpg

That's what he looks like, only Merle.

It is "very" seal, and in good light it really looks more like dark brown
than real black. Just the face, where the black mask is, is jet black.
Most
seal dogs are not this clearly brownish but much blacker. And if this was
merle, the paler patches would be some shade of brownish beige and not
grey/silver.

Makes sense. I think I need to take pictures. If he'll stand still long
enough.

And this Estonian rescue is a saddle merle:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sarakontu/koi...jumerlesat.jpg

Very cool looking.

As you can see, merling is visible just on saddle and all the tan coat
areas are just as tan as they would be without merle gene.

Thank you, Liisa. The Dane people are calling him just plain Merle (which
he is, officially) - hope you don't mind if I share your explanation with
them.

Suja

"Suja" wrote in
news:BHeMg.20189$SZ3.15077@dukeread04:

I think I need to take pictures. If he'll stand still
long enough.

That would be nice!

The Dane people are calling him just plain Merle
(which he is, officially) - hope you don't mind if I share your
explanation with them.

Calling him just merle is totally correct, this "seal merle" versus "merle
with jet black base color" is just nitpicking. And sure, just go ahead and
tell them about the color.

Liisa