merles

The Merle Issue

Many people want to know where the first merles came from and honestly, I cannot tell you.

In the U.K. (were I am from and ashamed that my country of origin were a huge part of starting this sad ball rolling) Malcolm Willis, has said it is time to put a halt to the merle Chihuahua. Even in his own words he writes that all breeds carry the merle gene, but most have the non merle M+ in duplicate and are thus homozygous for non merle But he knows - being that he has studied genes, that mutations can occur, and do. But, because his wife is into Chihuahua's................................ He also knows that it can stay hidden for generations, as long as the coat color is the right color. Most Chihuahua puppies end up in pet homes where they are never bred. Also with such small litters, it is very, very , likely it's been here all along.

If a gene is carried it just takes that one time for a mutation to occur. Even a human Dr. can tell you this, ask them all about the different things that occur in humans for unknown reasons, and then never being able to explain to you why it happened and is documented as being a freak accident.

There are some saying that they do not fit the standard and didn't want them being shown with the so called normal colors, when in the standard of our breed it reads ALL colors are allowed. ALL colors means that, there are no variations to make a color or pattern the wrong color.

So where did the brindle color come from or the spotted on white (piebald's) Those are patterns too. And was it accepted at first, it sure was not, and the tongue waggers were right there saying there had to be another breed introduced to provide that color. But the reason the standard reads ALL colors allowed was because all colors are there and can occur.

We have those pig tails popping up and something was introduced somewhere along the line to get a thicker coat, also a shorter muzzle than what was the true looking Mexican Chihuahua. Man has made the Chihuahua look like it does now. What we call "type" today was not the case of the Chihuahua in the beginning. There are few show breeders today that would want that look of the original Chihuahua's of yesterday in their dog's looks today. But those looks of yesterday do and will pop up no matter what one does cause it's there in the genes. Is it the wrong look? No, but will it win in the show ring, No. Why? Because it's not the type that show people like. Those non "type" puppies are placed in pet homes. Although I love all my puppies and one is not better than the other, I do prefer the "type" with the shorter muzzles and more domed head, in a tiny body myself. I like a cobby little Chihuahua, with a baby doll face :)!!

There is a very good book, old and hard to come by, called Who's Who In Chihuahua's, by S.M. Dickerson. it is filled with many old picture's of how Chihuahua's look and why there are variations of "type" in the Chihuahua breed.

For those of us that want to produce show quality Chihuahua's in every litter we do our best not to double up on bad genes, that goes for all the bad stuff that is carried in Chihuahua's not just because those two dog's will produce a certain color. Those of us that like to show want to breed dogs that are healthy foremost, I would hope everyone does, then favorite colors that are produced in those litter's, is the cherry on top. My goal is for every puppy to be able to be shown and get it's championship, if the owner wants that of the Chihuahua they get from us, if it goes on to be a cuddle bug in someone's arms never to step foot in the ring, that is even better. I want the best for our puppies, and that is a life time filled with love.

If you so choose to breed with the merle pattern, don't breed merle to merle, unless you are willing to take ALL of the responsibility of the puppies produced from that litter. There could be sight and hearing problems. My own feelings about breeding merle is to always breed to black, black tri, chocolate, chocolate and tan, Blue and blue and tan and preferrably the ones with the tan markings. I would stay away from sable, spotted on white dog's,and the rest of the chihuahua colors as it can easily hide in those colored coats and if you are not carefully looking and recording your puppies you may have a hidden merle and sell it unknowingly, also stay away from Chihuahua's that have ticking, these are just my opinions, All one can do is educate others on how things work from the experiences they have had, good and bad.

In one's breeding program, every single time, you put two dog's together, you take a risk, I don't care how responsible you are and if you have been breeding Chihuahua's for 100 years!! You can have two beautiful Champions that have proven to everyone their right to be the best producer out there, yet the whole litter is a disapointment............or a total blessing. But the risk was taken, for the hope of what it would produce.

Culling a puppy because it's the wrong color, was born with only 3 legs, or some other deformation, is wrong, that life deserves to live, if it can health wise. And those of you that are breeding merle of any breed where you have puppies born deaf or blind yet otherwise healthy, that puppy deserves it's life, and YOU have to be responsible in keeping and training that puppy so it can have a full happy life. Or make very sure it is placed in a home where that will happen. Otherwise, I repeat, you have no business in breeding at all. You are the breeder responsible for letting your dogs breed, because you wanted puppies, so you have to also be responsable for them having lives that they deserve, deformed or perfectly normal, and I am not talking just about the merles here, that is for all dog's all life for that matter!!

Don't just believe what people write, hold them accountable with the proof of test results. The anti-merle campaigners provide pictures and make claims based on those pictures, but make sure they are backing them up with facts, because so far, they haven't. So many of my associates are testing and certifying their merles and they are coming up 100% chi's every time!!.

One of my friends online (to be found on one of the links provided) had her champion solid colored Chi' tested along side her merles and that exact situation happened! ALL her merles came up 100% chihuahua, and her champion did not!!!! But the anti merle campaigners dont want certification compulsary - why - because they are afraid that the impurities are going to show in their champion solid colors and they will lose ground on their argument. Yet the merle breeders are the opposite, certifying their merles to proove purity and they are coming up pure chi' over and over...... There is plenty of propaganda out there, but... it is the merle breeders who are providing the research and the facts to back them up.... They are indeed fighting to have certification of show dogs made the rule so that the solid color dogs have to stand up to the same testing that we are prepared to committ to. Interesting don't you think?!!

Merle puppies have always been considered perfectly normal, but when CCA formed the committee to vote on whether or not to keep the standard as read, all of a sudden the issues arose that the puppies have problems. Pictures of puppies with blue patterned eyes they were claiming were blind - yet interestingly enough the one picture they did put out there the dog is looking DIRECTLY at the camera - so definately not blind!!

The pattern of color in the eye's can be deceiving, and what may look to be something wrong could be just where the color was placed. Making the pupil seem out of place, but in fact it is just the color of the eye, making it look off centered.

If you really want the facts, any breed of dog, of any kind no matter what color eye's or coat color they have, if in a breeding program, if you are really striving for the best genetically sound dogs, ALL should be CERF'ed

Breeders of dog's with the merle pattern have been breeding them for decades, and if they can manage nice healthy dog's going on to be champions over the years, I don't see how those of us that breed Chihuahua's cannot do the same in our own breeding programs. It just takes more dedication and care.

If the color was introduced by mixing a Chihuahua with another breed, with the lines we used, it happened over 20 years ago, it didn't happen recently within the last 10 years, like some are saying, but because the Internet was not the same 20 years ago as it is today we did not have access to view the dogs around the world. I do know that in most cases one parent has to be a merle to get merle offspring, but the chance of a mutation is not impossible either.

http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/dem.html

One of my favorite sites for merle facts and discussion is:

NOW DONT YOU THINK THIS IS AN

INTERESTING PICTURE!

NOT SURE WHAT THE ORIGINATION

ON THIS PICTURE IS

BUT IT IS FROM WORLD WAR I

APPROXIMATELY, DOESN'T THIS LOOK

LIKE A MERLE? IT CERTAINLY LOOKS

ALOT LIKE MY BLUE MERLE,

CHA CHA'S COLORING!!!