11/12/2024
*EDUCATIONAL POST*
Pictured below are a few dogs, and they all have two very specific things in common. One is that they are merle, and two is that they shouldn’t be. Why is that you ask? Because NONE of these *breeds carry the specific allele required to produce merle coats.
For all you science geeks- Merle is caused by a SINE insertion (Short Interspersed Nuclear Element), a piece of foreign DNA that inserted itself in the PMEL gene (premelanosome protein) on dog chromosome 10 (also known as SILV gene). SINE are believed to have parasitic origins that can basically copy and paste themselves into different genomic locations. **Fun links provided below.
For the rest of us- merle is a coat pattern that only occurs in specific breeds. And these ain’t it.
Recently we have seen an alarming number of dog breeds suddenly appearing with merle coats. Poodles, French and English Bulldogs, American Bullies, Pugs, Boston Terriers, and even Cavaliers, just to name a few. It seems that no breed is safe from human meddling, and often consumers are duped into paying obscene amounts of money for these ✨rare✨ colored dogs. Just, just don’t. I assure you that the micro mini MERLE bernedoodle that you just made a three month mortgage payment on, is more of a mutt than some of the dogs posted for adoption. And will cost you more in vet bills. And for the love of god, Frenchies don’t come in merle!!!! Brachycephalic breeds have been in trouble for years, and now we are introducing all kinds of messed up genetics, and making them fluffy to boot. 😩 I say this with love as i do like frenchies and own another bulldog breed myself.
And this doesn’t even touch on the double merle issue. Because there’s always someone who says it better, again, links provided. But the cliffs notes version is that double merle dogs (a result of two merle dogs being bred together) are often affected with blindness, hearing loss, and other health issues. Yet despite the fact that this is common knowledge, it’s still routinely done. Why? Because pretty coats fetch more money. 😑 Im not even going to touch on other horrible traits seen in some of these dogs now either.
Please do your research if you choose to buy a dog. Check with your breeds parent club. Doodle breeders are notorious for trying to discredit the Poodle Club of America because they vehemently defend the fact that Poodles do NOT come in merle. Many will just say- they Embark as purebred, which literally takes three generations of breedings to do, but doesn’t mean another breed wasn’t introduced further back. (Here’s looking at you ‘silver’ labs)
