Dogs with cryptic merle (also called phantom or ghost merle) typically display little to no merle pattern and some may be misclassified as non-merles. The cryptic merle alleles occur in the lower end of the range (typically from 200-255, however, this range and designation varies by study).
A phantom merle or cryptic merle is one with such small patches of merling, or none at all, that it appears to be a non-merle.
A Phantom is described as having two colors, this includes a single coat color (black or brown) accompanied by tan points that can present themselves on the cheeks or snout, above the eyes, chest, legs, and rear. A Phantom will have little to no white markings.
A standard merle coat has two characteristics: a diluted base color and random patches of full pigmentation. In recent years, two spontaneous variations of merle have been recognized: dilute and harlequin. Dilute merles have a milder coat dilution with no patches.
Cryptic (phantom) merles are merles that have no visible blue or light red, yet they can produce merles when bred to nonmerles. They can also produce homozygous merles if bred to a merle. This can be quite a surprise to the breeder, when two seemingly black tris produce a litter that contains merles as well.
Harlequin is a pattern seen in Great Danes resulting from the complex interaction of the Merle (PMEL17) and Harlequin (PSMB7) genes on black pigment. The dominant Merle gene by itself produces dark spots on a dilute background on eumelanistic dogs.
A cryptic or phantom merle is a dog which phenotypically appears to be a non-merle (solid-colored) or a dog that has very faint patches of merle that can go unnoticed. Animals that do not present the merle phenotype may possess the merle genotype and subsequently produce merle offspring.
No. Mating two merle dogs together increases the risk of their puppies having health issues and could have a serious impact on their health and welfare. For this reason, we do not register dogs from merle-to-merle mating. Any mating that could produce affected puppies should never knowingly be carried out.
Why are merle dogs so expensive? In a nutshell, merle dogs are expensive because puppy buyers are willing to pay a lot of money for them. The pattern is very sought-after, and the more demand there is, the higher breeders can set their prices. In addition, merle breedings can be quite rare in some breeds.
Dogs with cryptic merle (also called phantom or ghost merle) typically display little to no merle pattern and some may be misclassified as non-merles. The cryptic merle alleles occur in the lower end of the range (typically from 200-255, however, this range and designation varies by study).
Merle mosaic occurs to a large extent in many dog breeds. It is the presence of two or more cells with different genotypes within the body of a given individual. The mosaic can occur early in embryonic development when the length of the SINE insertion polyA tail changes within a single cell.
The phantom in “phantom blue merle” means this puppy has generous amounts of copper (tan) on it's face, eyebrows, legs and chest. The phantom blue merle is one of our most requested colors.
A Ghost Merle English Bulldog (AKA Cryptic Merle English Bulldog or Phantom Merle English Bulldog) is an English Bulldog that has very small patches of merle or none at all. These English Bulldogs appear to be non-merle however they carry the merle genotype and produce merle offspring.
Cryptic merles are either liver or black, usually with one or a few small areas of merle. However, since you can't see what color coat would have been anywhere there are white markings, there will be some cryptics which appear to be non-merle.
Atypical merle (Ma and Ma+)
Dogs with the atypical merle allele have a slightly longer SINE insertion, which means a slighty greater effect on pigment production than Mc. Just one copy of the allele can result in a range of markings from no visible merle at all (as with an Mc dog), to a slight visible patterning.
Merle is actually a heterozygote of an incompletely dominant gene. If two such dogs are mated, on the average one quarter of the puppies will be "double merles". A phantom merle is one with such small patches of merle—or none at all—that it appears to be a non-merle.
WHAT IS THE RAREST COLOR OF A FRENCH BULLDOG? The blue merle is the rarest of colors that exist in the Frenchie breed. They are best described as gray with spots or how we like to call them cookies N' cream.
While most Frenchies are brindle, white, fawn or tan-colored, the blue merle French Bulldog is the most uncommon color of all in the breed group. It's rare to see a merle English Bulldog but they do exist.
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. The auditory and ophthalmologic abnormalities linked to merle are similar to those observed for the human auditory-pigmentation disorder Waardenburg syndrome.
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.
Double merles have large amounts of white in their coat and deafness and eye abnormalities are common. All merles may have blue or partially blue eyes, and pink or partially pink noses. Merle can be completely hidden by recessive red, as recessive red dogs can't make eumelanin pigment and merle only affects eumelanin.
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.
Harlequin dogs have white between the darker patches of merle. Merle dogs often look “marbled.” They have grey coloration alongside black spots. Harlequin dogs also have the merle gene. However, instead of the larger grey patches, their harlequin gene makes their base coat entirely white.
Double Merle (Homozygous Merle) is the common term for a dog with two copies of the Merle gene. Double Merles are a result of bad breeding practices, most commonly known as spot x spot breeding.