This shows the genetic possibilities of EACH puppy in a litter bred from two merle dogs. As you can see each puppy has a 50% chance of being born merle, a 25% of being solid/non merle, and a 25% chance of being a double merle. As you can see, there is no risk of double merles when breeding a solid dog to a merle.
Each dog has two copies of every gene; one that they inherit from their mother and one they inherit from their father. The merle gene variant is dominant, which means that a dog only needs one copy, inherited from either of their parents, to have a merle coat.
Knowledgeable and responsible breeders who want to produce merle puppies mate a merle with a non-merle dog; roughly half the puppies will be merles, and none will have the vision or hearing defects associated with double merle dogs.
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.
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.
The extreme lack of pigmentation is what makes these dogs unhealthy and prone to multiple conditions. It goes along with: Hearing impairment – ranging from light deficits to complete deafness. Vision impairment – up to complete blindness.
Testing Summary
The M Locus (Merle) coat color test reliably determines if a dog carries the M (merle insertion variant) Allele of the PMEL gene. If present, this test will also determine the approximate size (+/- 1 base pair) of the M allele(s).
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 dog breeds are more expensive for a number of reasons. For one, genetic testing is needed in every merle breeding to prevent a double-merle litter. Secondly, breeders may charge pet owners a premium for such an in-demand coat color.
Are all Double Merle's Deaf/Blind/Both? No. It is possible for a Double Merle dog to not have hearing or vision issue but it is very uncommon.
Also known as dapple, merle is characterized by irregular blotches of fur set on a lighter background of the same pigment, such as solid black on gray (called blue merle) or solid brown on tan (red merle). Blue and partially blue eyes are often seen with the merle pattern, as well.
With respect to ocular effects, the Merle gene's most minor manifestation is a blue iris (or irides). The blue appearance may also be as an 'inclusion' or as a partial segment of another wise brown eye (heterochromia iridis).
A double merle is created when two merle dogs are bred together. It doesn't matter what color merle or what breed they are. 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.
The merle gene is quite rare among Dachshunds, and not seen too often. It can appear in all three coat varieties: long, short and wire-haired. The AKC breed standard specifically states that merle is an allowed coloring. The smaller and more even the spots are, the higher these dogs score in conformation shows.
Is the Merle Coat Rare? Blue merle is one of the rarest colors of a Border Collier. That depends entirely on the breed in question. For some breeds, red or blue merle is one of the most common coat patterns.
English: Merle is a colour combination in dogs' coats. It is a solid base color (usually red/brown or black) with lighter blue/gray or reddish patches, which gives a mottled or uneven speckled effect. Some percentage of merle puppies could have eye defects and/or could be deaf.
The Merle pattern can be seen in various breeds, such as the Australian Shepherd Dog, Australian Koolie, Border Collie, Dachshund, French Bulldog, Louisiana Catahoula, Labradoodle, Miniature American Shepherd, Miniature Australian Shepherd, Pyrenean Shepherd, Rough Collie, Shetland Sheepdog, Welsh Sheepdog, Cardigan ...
The merle gene is responsible for creating mottled patches of color in a dog's coat and blue or odd-colored eyes. However, merle is an incompletely dominant gene, so not every merle dog will have blue eyes. And while merle dogs often have blue eyes, they can also have one brown and one blue eye.
The quick answer is – somewhere between $800 and $2,000, with an average of $1,300. Where exactly your puppy falls in this range will depend on his breed, pedigree, health and other factors. Let's look at what determines the cost of a merle dog, and why they are so expensive!
As stated above, deafness can be associated with the merle (dapple) gene, which produces a mingled or patchwork combination of dark and light areas overlayed on the basic coat color. This gene (M) is dominant so that affected dogs (Mm) show the pigmentation pattern, which is desirable in many breeds.
American Bullies with merle coats are easy to identify due to the patches of hair in their coat with a unique pattern of diluted colors (pigments). While some might call American Bullies with the merle mutation by several different colors, there are basically three (as of this writing) that are most common.
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.
Merle cannot be carried, it is a dominant gene (although incompletely dominant). This means that a dog is either Merle or they aren't - it cannot lay hidden and be produced down the line in offspring, from non-Merle parents.
A double merle can only be bred from two merles, as it requires an M gene from each parent. As merle is dominant, no dogs can be carriers of it - any dog with one M gene will be a merle.
It is fairly common, though not universal, for merles to darken with age. A puppy that starts out powder blue can be a deep pewter by 7 or 8 years of age. By the age of 10 some individuals resemble black tris in dim light because the blue has darkened so much. This type of color change is common.