Coat Color Questions

Some color patterns are easy to understand. Some are not so easy. With the Red Brindle gene, why are some dogs more heavily brindled than others? Is their brindle pattern a separate unknown modifier gene or is it simply random how the dogs color out? The dogs below are genetically identical red brindle-yet one is obviously much darker than the other. In show terms the dog on the left is called a Red Brindle and the dog on the right is called a Black Brindle.


Left-DC Aragon Autumn Storm CDX TDX RA SC VCX (Apollo)
Right- BISS DC Aragon Night Frost VCD1 CDX TDX RE OJP SC VCX (Spirit)

The same is true with the Blue Brindle(Dilution gene added to the Red Brindle). The dog on the far right has very little blue brindling and for some reason is called a reverse Blue Brindle. The dog in the center is the more typical Blue Brindle. The dog on the far left is the Red Brindle.


Left-Ch Aragon Black Ice
Middle-Aragon Mystic Pearl
Right-Ch Aragon Aroi Silver Lining

Another question that has always puzzled me is the amount of color expressed in a Parti color dog. All three dogs below are called Parti colored but the amount of color is dramatically different. Why? The first dog is almost all white with a spot of red on his ear. He is registered as a red and white parti and will throw the parti gene and the red gene.


Ch Jets The Boy Next Door

The next dog shows a typical amount of coloring for a Parti dog


Ch Aragon Lunar Eclipse VCD1 MX MXJ RE JC

And the last shows an extreme amount of coloring



Ch Aragon Silver Oak

All three partis will throw their base color(the above three dogs Red Black and Brindle) +/- dilution gene and the Parti gene

Thats all for color genetics in the greyhound. Next posts will be back to the dogs.

Coat Color in Greyhounds

When breeding a greyhound litter it is always exciting to see what colors the puppies are. With a few basic rules of genetics, the majority of the time colors can be predicted. Three basic colors are present in the breed.

Black

BISS Ch Helios Sun King

Red Brindle

BISS DC Aragon Night Frost VCD1 CDX TDX OJP RE SC VCX

and Red

BISS Ch Aryal Aroi Stoney Ridge CD TD RE NAJ SC

Dogs receive a color gene from each parent meaning if they receive a black gene from one parent and a red gene from the other the dog will be black. If they receive a brindle gene and a red gene the dog will be brindle.

Next comes the modifier genes. The first one is the dilution color. It is recessive so a dog must receive a dilute gene from each parent. If they only have one dilution gene the dog will a nondilute color. So the dilution gene on a black dog gives a

Blue

U-Ch Chaparral Toblerone RN TT CGC

The dilution gene on a brindle creates a blue brindle


Ch Aragon Silver Cloud CDX TDX

The dilution gene on a red creates a blue fawn

Windrock Sin City Playboy RA JC

And last is the Parti gene. This gene allows only part of the base color to be expressed. Once again this modifier gene is recessive meaning the dog has to get the gene from both parents. If it only gets one it is a solid colored dog.

Black+Parti

Ch Aragon Lunar Eclipse VCD1 MX MXJ RE JC

If the dilute gene is present it would be a blue and white parti color(no photo).

Brindle+Parti would be a red brindle(No photo)
if+Dilute would be a blue brindle parti

Ch Aragon Silver Oak

And lastly Red+Parti would be a red and white color

Ch Gaia Best Mate

if+Dilute would be Blue Fawn Parti

DC Windrock Luck Be A Lady

This covers about 99% of the coat colors, some rarer colors such as liver or chocolate or EE Red are not covered but infrequently seen.