The amazing world of genetic color testing

“E” Locus

Alleles (in order of dominance):

Em - Masked (if “A” locus is allowed to show)
E - “normal”, the coat can contain eumelanin or pheomelanin (depending on A locus)
1. If A locus is not allowed to show, then coat will be eumelanin only
2. If A locus is allowed to show, coat can contain pheomelanin as well
e - “recessive red”- coat will only contain pheomelanin

Genotypes:

E/E - the dog does NOT carry for nor can it produce cream spectrum puppies (red, apricot, cream, white)
E/e - the dog carries one copy of “recessive red”. This dog, depending on what it is bred with, can produce cream spectrum puppies (red, apricot, cream, white).
e/e - The dog is pheomelanin only. The dog is shade of “recessive red” (red, apricot, cream, white).
Em - is dominant to all and can cause masking on a dog with A locus pattern. Just because a dog has one or even two copies does not mean there will necessarily be a mask. Intensity of masking seems to run in familial lines.

Things to Know:

e/e covers all other colors and patterns. A “red” dog can genetically be merle, phantom or any other pattern. There’s no way to visually see it though due to no eumelanin in the coat.
The actual sahe of an e/e dog is determined by the Intensity gene. So a dog that is e/e can be any shade from dark mahogany red to ice white.

“K” Locus

Alleles (in order of dominance):

KB - Dominant black
Kbr - Brindle
ky - non-solid, allows patterns to show (unless “a/a”)

Genotypes

KB/KB - The dog is dominant black. It has a solid coat (unless merle). This dog cannot produce patterned puppies.
KB/Kbr - The dog is dominant black. It has a solid coat (unless merle). Depend on what it is bred with this dog is capable of producing solid and brindle puppies.
KB/ky - This dog is dominant black. It is a a solid coat. Depending on what this dog is bred with it is capable of producing solid and patterned puppies
Kbr/Kbr - This dog is visually brindle/brindlepoint. It has two copies of brindle. Depending on what it is bred with it is capable of producing brindle/brindlepointed puppies.
Kbr/ky - This dog is visually brindle/bridlepoint. It only has one copy of brindle. Depending on what it is bred with it is capable of producing both brindle/brindlepoint and patterned puppies
ky/ky - This dog is patterned. Whatever it has on its “A” locus is showing through. Depending on what it is bred with this dog will produce patterned puppies.

Thing to know:

Kbr is not testable. Most often brindle dogs come back as Kb/ky when tested. Brindle exhibits properties of both KB and ky so thus the test cannot differentiate

“A” LOCUS

Alleles (in order of dominance):

1. Ay – Sable

2. aw – Agouti

3. at – Tan Point, Phantom, Brindlepoint

4. a – Recessive Black, (Non Patterned)

Genotypes (assuming the dog is ky/ky):

1. Ay/ Ay – The dog is sable. It has two copies of sable. If bred with another ky/ky dog, it will produce sables.

2. Ay/aw – The dog is sable. It also carries agouti.

3. Ay/at – The dog is sable. It also carries phantom (tan point). Sometimes these dogs exhibit pseudo tan points as puppies before the coat clears

4. Ay/a – The dog is sable. It also carries recessive black.

5. aw/aw – The dog is agouti. It has two copies of agouti.

6. aw/at – The dog is agouti. It also carries phantom (tan point).

7. aw/a– The dog is agouti. It also carries recessive black.

8. at/ at – The dog is phantom (tan point). It has two copies of phantom

9. at/a– The dog is phantom (tan point). It also carries recessive black.

Things to know:

1. The ability for A locus to show on the coat is determined by the K locus! Look at the K locus first. The dog MUST be Kbr/ky or ky/ky to be patterned and MUST be KB/ky, KBr/KBr, or ky/ky to produce patterned pups. (Brindle/Carriers can also produce patterned pups).

2. Sable and Phantom are two different alleles! There is no such thing as a sable phantom

3. Recessive black will show NO pattern! a/a dogs will look exactly like they would if they were KB/-. These dogs can be good in breeding programs because paired with a ky/ky, at/at they will produce all phantoms. The produce the pattern they are bred with.

“B” Locus

Alleles (in order of dominance):

Black
Brown (Note: Chocolate is not a correct Poodle Term)

Genotypes:

B/B - The dog is black based with black pigment. this dog can only produce black based puppies
B/b - The dog is black based with black pigment. This dog carries for brown pigment. So depending on what it is bred with it can produce both black and brown based puppies.
b/b - The dog is brown based and has brown pigment. Depending on what it is bred with it can produce both black and brown based puppies.

Things to know:

Brown pigment can be referred to as “red” especially in Australian Shepherds and Aussiedoodles. This is still a brown based dog.
If uncertain of the dog’s base color, look at the eyelids, nose, and lips to determine color. If black the dog is black based, if brown the dog is brown based.

“S” Locus

Alleles (in order of dominance):

S - Solid, no white
si - Irish Spotting (not testable and may not exist. Theoretical at this time)
sp - Piebald, White Spotted

Genotypes:

S/S - the dog has no white markings. It cannot produce “parti”/piebald puppies.
S/sp - The dog has no white markings. It carries “parti”.Depending on what it is bred with the dog can produce solid, abstract and “parti” puppies.
sp/sp - The dog is piebald. Over 50% of its body is covered white

Things to know:

True Irish Spotting is only found in certain breeds (Aussies, Bernese Mountain Dogs).It is not found in poodles. Pseudo irish spotting is possible in poodles but it is still created by piebald
Small white markings are not always caused by piebald. “Residual white” can cause small white dots on the chest, white toes, or white tipped tails. This is caused by how the pigment spreads in utero and is completely random (non genetic). Most of the time this fills in with age.

“M” Locus

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE FACEBOOK GROUP: MERLE - SINE INSERTION FROM MC TO MH- THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF MERLE. THIS IS A COMPLICATED GENE AND BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS SYNOPSIS.

Alleles (in order of dominance):

Mh (269 - 280) - Harlequin Merle
M (265 - 268)- Merle
Ma+ (255 - 264)- Atypical Merle
Ma (247 - 254)- Atypical Merle
Mc+ (231 - 246)- Cryptic Merle (Not visually merle)
MC (200 - 230)- Cryptic Merle (not visually merle)
m- Non Merle

Genotypes:

M/M - The dog has two copies of merle. Further testing (if not already done) to determine the length of the merle alleles is necessary
M/m - The dog has one copy of merle. Further testing (if not already one) to determine the length of the merle is necessary.
m/m - The dog has no copies of the merle gene.
There are additional combinations, however their explanation is beyond the scope of this writing

Things to know:

At Valaurah Farms will never breed two Merle Dogs together.

There are many more combinations of merle possible than those listed above. Some of the combinations are safe to bred together (M to MC) while others will increase the odds of impaired puppies
The ONLY impairments caused from merle are visual and auditory. ANY OTHER HEALTH CONDITION HAS ANOTHER SOURCE
Merle is “hidden” by pheomelanin. So e/e and Sable dogs can be merle, but not show the pattern.
1. we do full coat tests on all puppies produced by a merle parent, regardless of VISIBILITY. we will either do these test through embark or Canine health check (an offshoot of paw print genetics.
There is a difference between “hidden” and “cryptic” merle. Hidden is explained above. Cryptic refers to a merle length that has shortened to the point no pattern is produced. These dogs breed like any other non-merle.
The merle gene in poodles is a hotly debated topic. You can find our beliefs regarding the gene here.