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double Merle border collies


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i have a double merle border collie he is a blue and brown merle and has a lot of white on him i just want to see if anyone new anything about them like health ect they are great dogs he is very caring full of engery and loves to be loved and give back love he is there when you need him and love to be loved and for some ression he love beds and blankets a lot he is good with other dogs and kids of all ages that is all from just being around him please let me know if there is any thing else about them

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Here are some links for you. FWIW, and no offense intended, IMO (snd I am not alone on this), there is NO reason to breed for a double merle (which means the dog has to have had two merle parents). Here are some links that discuss the issues of double merles. The first is an aussie site, but the gentics and potential genetic problems are the same.

 

http://www.lethalwhites.com/doublemerle.html

 

From the USBCC (host of the BC Boards):

http://www.bordercollie.org/kpmerle.html

 

http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/Genetics/Merle.html

 

That should get you started. If I were you, I would probably at least have an opthalmologist examine his eyes for any defects.

 

By the way, color has nothing to do with whether or not a dog is great, loving, or anything else. The only thing double merle says to me is irresponsible breeding (which isn't the same as saying you have a bad dog--but what sort of breeder you got him from is another story).

 

J.

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Welcome,

I also have a double merle pup. He is a blue merle with a tiny bit of tan in his undercoat.

He has a white head and is DEAF as a post. He also has the erractic eyes but his vision seems to be fine.

He's a great liitle dog. Please check the health and genetics section for some more info.

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I have a double merle rescue here - sable no less. Thank God he seems to have escaped total deafness and his eyes appear to be functional. He's a beautiful dog but I know that odds are that the irresponsible breeding that produced him also produced multiple defective or dead puppies. That makes me very sad.

 

Double merles are usually produced on purpose when a breeder wants to create a dog that will throw 100% merles in the next generation. Then any viable pups from that breeding can be matched with rare candy colors to produce candy color merles.

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  • 5 years later...

Unless you know the breeding, and in the absence of deafness or eye anomalies, how would one determine if a dog is MM? It is easier in a breed such as Dachshunds where (unless piebald) white is not part of the color/pattern. Interesting this came up as I'm actually doing a journal review on this: http://www.pnas.org/content/103/5/1376.full for a class I'm taking.

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