Blue merle Australian Shepherds have a multicolored coat, usually with mixtures of grey, white, black, and tan or red. The exact pattern is individual to each dog, but they often have a white bib and muzzle, with colored patches around one or both eyes.
Merle is a genetic mutation.
The Australian shepherd is known for this specific mutation. The gene effects the pigmentation of the dog's fur and skin, rendering its coat spotty and dotty. A more poetic way of describing it is marbling – spots of various sizes on a solid background.
Merle, also known as dapple in some breeds, is a distinctive pattern of colours used to describe the coat of some dogs. Merle dogs can come in a range of colours, but the pattern is usually a splash of darker shades, marbled against a lighter background.
Similarly, only about one in five dogs in the Aussie breed will be born with a merle coat. The merle coat is a similarly recessive gene, although the merle gene mutation does not carry the same dire effects.
In case you're not familiar with the world, “merle” means a marbled coat, where lighter and darker shades are layered to create a rich blended pattern. Merle Aussies can be black or red, but when a black Australian Shepherd has the merle gene, it's called a blue merle instead.
The bottom line. Merle dogs of any breed are likely to be more expensive than solid-colored dogs, even though a lot of responsible breeders try to change that. Depending on how rare the merle pattern is in the breed and how much the standard price for a puppy is, your merle dog might cost up to $3,000.
An autosomal, incompletely dominant trait, merle coat coloring predisposes dogs to inherited deafness. 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.
Merle is sometimes introduced to other purebred dog breeds through crossbreeding, but these dogs are not purebred and cannot be registered with any reputable kennel club.
A puppy may inherit a single merle gene from their parent and then be merle. Dogs with two dominant genes will also be merle. Of course, if the dog doesn't inherit any merle gene, then they will have whatever coat they would have otherwise. The merle gene covers up other coat colors.
It is a common misconception that a dog with a merle coat must have hearing and seeing issues. The only time the merle gene causes a concern for health is when a dog is homozygous for merle, meaning “double merle.” The only way to get a homozygeous merle dog is to breed two merles together.
Regardless, it's best to avoid breeding a merle to a merle. Because both parents will have the Mm genotype, on average only half the offspring will be merle (Mm). More importantly, you're likely to produce a quarter that are double-merle (MM). An example on a punnet square between two merles.
Many people are unaware, but when two merles (of any breed) are bred together, each puppy has a 25% chance of being born as a double merle. These puppies have excessive white coloration – lack of pigment – and this coloration causes loss of hearing, vision, or any combination of the two impairments.
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.
Merle French Bulldogs are rare, exotic and expensive. Expect prices to start at $7,500 and go up to $20,000. Be wary of breeders that have 'cheap' French Bulldogs because there are many French Bulldog scams out there and backyard breeders.
While blue merle Australian Shepherds are undoubtedly beautiful, they're not particularly rare. The blue merle color pattern is surprisingly common in this breed, being more frequent than the red merle. However, even if their color isn't unique, their markings and personality will certainly be one-of-a-kind!
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.
Merles are flashy and sought-after, leading many greedy backyard breeders to pair them together in hopes of throwing a litter of all merle. Mating merle to merle gives each puppy produced a ¼ chance of being solid colored, a ½ chance of being merle, and a ¼ chance of being what we call a double merle.
Merle Labradoodle dogs can come in a variety of colors, chocolate merle, blue merle, black merle, etc. A blue merle is a Labradoodle black dog with the black broken up into irregularly shaped patches by gray. Merle is the gray or lighter part of the coat's coloring, not the black patches.
As merle is not a coat colour recognised as historically occurring in Poodles as well as most other breeds, and there is a precedent of refusing registration applications in at least ten other breeds, the Kennel Club Board has agreed that it will not accept the registration of any merle dogs with immediate effect, ...
What is a double merle? A dog that inherits two dominant versions of M is a double merle. In Australian Shepherds these dogs usually will have excessive amounts of white, be deaf in one or both ears, and have serious and generally blinding eye defects. In a few severe cases the eyes have been missing altogether.
The distinctive blue eye color is caused by the lack of pigment in one or both eyes, albinism, or genetics. What is this? Breeds with merle coats, such as Australian shepherds often have blue eyes since the merle gene affects the coat and eye color.
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.
An inheritance of the Merle gene from both parents results in a puppy that severely lacks pigment (responsible for colour). That lack of pigment produces a predominantly white coat and usually blue eyes, but it's that same lack of pigment that is responsible for these dogs being Deaf, Blind or Both.
Double Merle dogs are highly likely to suffer from hearing and vision impairments and in some cases complete blindness and deafness. Deafness and hearing impairment happens due to lack of hair pigment produced in the inner ear. Double Merles can also be blind or have vision problems due to congenital eye defects.