I figured it was about time for an update on the Broadway puppies...
The red puppies fascinate me! The female is getting deeper in color all the time, and as her pigment comes in, it looks like she just *may* have black pigment! {I have my fingers crossed on that one} The male puppy, on the other hand, has very little pigment coming in~ and his color is only deepening in splotches; over most of his body he is either white, or cream, or a very pale champagne. His ears are redder, and he has one deeper red spot on one side. It almost looks like a merle pattern-- but without any black, of course!!! Its very strange!!! I am taking lots of photos of the reds, and as soon as I can send the DNA in I will- I am anxious to find out what they "really" are!
The entire litter is very pretty- at two weeks, their eyes are open and their personalities are just starting to come out a bit. Lucy and Laurel are the most reactive- Morgan, so far, is the most laid back. [ Oh- thats the red bitch, the smallest blue dog, and the black dog, respectively] Everyone else is pretty much middle of the road! Oprah looks very much like her mommy did at this age... sigh...I could be so lucky!!
The litter is toddling about, peeking over the whelping box doorway, and starting to paw at each other in slow motion now. They are the best time wasters!! I have the hardest time getting anything done with baby puppies in the house!
Typically, I have had a few people -- pet people-- back out, now that they can send deposits!!! I am actually very happy with that-- since I had way more people on the waiting list than I have puppies! I have a feeling I am going to want to run on more than one of these puppies myself, and don't want to end up feeling forced to put a really lovely puppy in a companion home on a spay/neuter contract!
Hopefully I will have more photo's again soon!
The DNA test for merle was a flop, so sadly, there's no way to test for the merle gene :( it's a shame, as that would have been a LIFE SAVER for merle people with mystery dilute puppies (Like these).
ReplyDeleteTurns out the merle DNA test looked for a marking gene, that's not actually associated with merling, but common in the merle breeds. This was discovered when a litter of merle Pomeranians were DNA tested (To see which were homozygous merled), and came back mm, instead of Mm, and MM. The lab quickly pulled the test, and there's been no more talk about it since.
This is the place had had been doing the merle testing: http://www.genmarkag.com/index.php The best ee red people can do at this point, is if they decide to breed a possible merle dilute, is to not breed to a merle. Unless a true merle DNA test is discovered, then there's no real way to tell if a pink isn't merled if it could be. (Though in the case of your mottled puppy, it is likely merled)
Thanks for the pics, Kathy. Sweet, sweet puppies, and fun to watch them grow. I drool over the merle girls. Someday maybe...
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