Did you send in your dog’s genetic sample, waited weeks, finally received the long-awaited results… only to realize that you have no idea what your dog’s color genetics mean??
You’re not the only one!
Dog genetics can be complicated and confusing. Let’s break it down into a simple and easy to understand format for anyone to accurately understand!
Choosing your Color Genetics Test
First thing’s first. Which company should I select for my dog’s genetics test?
Some breeders dislike Embark for their “one and done” approach. I actually like it for color genetics- it is easy and very affordable and I get more information than I could possibly need in one test.
As for accuracy, I’ve never had a problem with Embark’s tests… unless I didn’t isolate each dog in my home before swabbing their mouth prior to the test. Why? The swab can gather DNA from other dogs if they are together, so a couple hours apart before the test swab is always a great move!
Now is Embark the best solution for health questions? There are more reputable (although more expensive) companies such as GenSol, Wisdom Pannel, or even AKC Genetics. Check reviews for a wide variety of experiences from a wide variety of dog breeders and make the best decision for you!
For today’s post, we’re going to skip over genetic health results (different from OFA’s or a vet wellness check up before breeding and VERY vital to making educated pairings of the best parents). We’re focusing on color only!
In Embark results, you’ll look under the section titled “Traits”.
Quick Review from Science Class
Before we begin- let’s brush up on our middle school science. We’ll keep it very basic, there are complicated variations of this- but basic is good!
Each parent has 2 copies of any given gene- one inherited from their mother, the other inherited from their father.
When two dogs reproduce, the offspring inherit one of mom’s 2 genes and one of dad’s 2 genes on each genome- giving the pup 2 genes of his own. Lots of possible combinations leading to lots of possible looks!
Dominant genes mean you only need one copy of the gene to override the other. A dominant gene is often (but not always) represented by a capital letter.
A recessive gene is “submissive” to a dominant gene, so it will not express itself if it is paired with a dominant gene. If there are two copies of a recessive gene, it expresses itself in the dog’s appearance.
More complex genes can blend instead of one overpowering the other. For example, in flowers- a red flower and a white flower may share pollen/seed, producing a pink flower. The colors red and white blend into pink instead of one dominating the other.
Once we know both mom and dad’s genetics, it’s simple to find out what color of puppies they can produce using a Punnett Square!
In case you need a reminder about Punnett Squares- this will jog your memory. This example shows a mother with brown eyes, but carries recessive blue eyes, and a dad with brown eyes but he carries recessive blue eyes. You can see the possible combinations of genes that their children could inherit!
Just plug in mom’s alleles on one side, and dad’s alleles on the other side. Then carry over one gene from dad and one gene from mom in each row and column to create the possible combinations!
B Locus- The Base of the Dog’s Color Genetics
The first question to be answered in your dog’s color genetics mystery is, “What is my dog’s base color?” You might not need a genetics test to answer this- just look at your dog’s nose or the pads of his paws.
Are they brown or black?
Capital B stands for black (which is the dominant base color- meaning that dogs who are BB or Bb have a black nose), lowercase b stands for brown (which is a recessive base color- you’d need two copies for the brown to be expressed, meaning that dogs who are bb have a brown nose).
Technically, the dog’s base color is apparent in his hair and skin as well as his nose and paws, however the next gene (e locus) has the power to “turn off” the black or brown in the dog’s coat!
Check it out!
Quick detour- If your dog is brown or you hope to produce puppies that are brown, also check out the CoCo allele! It works similarly to the B locus but on a different genetic location.
“Nco” means no brown, the physical appearance of the dog is black (Dominant- you only need one copy for black to be expressed. A parent may carry one dominant “Nco” but also carry the recessive “Co”- which means he could pass “Co” on to children).
“Co” means brown (recessive- need 2 copies for it to be expressed in the dog’s coat).
E Locus- Red, Apricot, Cream, and White
I think the E locus is my favorite locus in all of color genetics.
“E” is dominant and stands for “dark pigment”- meaning the dog’s fur contains black or brown. If you want a fancier word, the dog’s fur produces eumelanin- the pigment that darkens fur.
A variation on the dominant “E” is the slightly related gene and also dominant “Em”- which means that the dog will have an adorable dark mask on his face only- see the pictures!
“Eg”-another variation of the dominant “E”- refers to grizzle. Embark describes grizzle as “darker color on the head and top with a melanistic “widow’s peak” and a lighter underside, commonly seen in the Afghan Hound and Borzoi and also referred to as “domino”.”
Here’s a picture!
Lowercase “e” is recessive and stands for a lack of dark pigment- meaning the dog’s fur simply cannot create the pigment needed for black or brown, even though the base coat (nose, pads of the paws) may be black or brown as seen on the “B” locus. Without dark pigment, these dogs appear red, apricot, cream, or white. Fancier word for their pigment- phaeomelanin.
Mind blown!
How do we know if the dog will be cherry red or snow white?
That’s called the dog’s intensity- a measurement on a scale of 1-10 of how vibrant the dog’s redness is. That 1-10 scale literally measures 5 loci within the “e” genome. Of course, each dog has two genes on each loci, one inherited from each parent, so that adds up to 10 genes. To determine your dog’s intensity, simply count!
Here’s an example:
Look under “Genetic Result”. Each “red” is worth 1 point. Each “cream” is 0. This dog has 6 reds, so his intensity is 6/10. He is moderately red- appearing apricot in color.
A dog with a 1 or a 2 out of 10 will appear white or cream.
A dog with a 3-4 may appear yellow.
8, 9, or 10 and your dog’s dep red will rival Amy Adams!
Now- the “e” locus continues to amaze. Because it deletes any dark pigment that WOULD have been in the dog’s coat, it can literally hide genetic conditions that will be identified by other genetic markers that we will look at today.
A dog can be red, but carry hidden phantom, brindle, or sable- among many other things!
The DANGEROUS one is when a red dog carries hidden merle. The merle gene is a mutation which is harmless if the dog only has 1 copy- in which case it only affects the color resulting in a unique blotchy look. But if a dog inherits 2 copies, the mutation expands to more important parts of the body- especially mutated ears and eyes, causing blindness and deafness or other birth defects, and could lead to the death of the puppy.
When breeding a dog who is white, cream, apricot, or red, color testing is very important to identify possible hidden dangers. Watch out for that hidden merle!
K Locus- The Key to More Color Genetics Options
Ok- you’re getting great at reading your dog’s color genetics already! Now you can identify if your dog has a base coat color of brown or black.
You can identify if your dog produces dark pigment or NO dark pigment. (If your dog is ee, the K and A locus will be “hidden” since these patterns require dark pigment to express themselves.)
Now we get to the nitty gritty!
The K locus is like a key- it can turn the next locus- A locus- on or off, locked or unlocked.
“Kb” is dominant and it means SOLID! If your dog is “KbKb” or “KbKy”, he’ll be solidly red or cream or brown or black. The “A” locus is turned off by even one copy of “Kb”- all of the cool options there are off the table, locked tight. However, a dog who is “KbKy” can pass both options on to his puppies, producing many possible color combinations!
“Ky” is recessive and it means cool options are turned ON on the “A” locus! But since it’s recessive… you have to have two copies of the “Ky” gene for that switch to be on. If your dog is “KyKy”, the “A” locus is unlocked.
A Locus- Now We’re Cooking with Peanut Oil
Is your dog “KyKy”?? Then let’s dive into the now “On” light switch of the “A” locus!
Your dog’s color genetics come with many options here…
“Aw” is wolf sable.
“Ay” is sable or fawn.
“At” is tan points, also called phantom or tri color. You may also see saddle tan expressed on this gene.
“A” is like rolling the dice and losing- back to solid color. Awwww. Better luck next time.
Brindle is also found on the “A” locus, but is a complex gene and not offered by all genetics companies. Some genetics tests will search for it, and it is usually marked by “Abr”.
Want pictures of each? Check out Embark’s awesome post here with images to show the difference.
Wait a sec… with so many options, how do we know which one is dominant? The “A” locus has its own dominance hierarchy. “Ay” is the strongest and most dominant, then “Aw”, then “At”, then “A” at the bottom.
If my dog had “KyKy” and “AyAt”, the dog would appear sable- because the “KyKy” switch is on, and “Ay” is more dominant than “At”. Make sense? (Naturally, as we mentioned, the dog’s “K” locus must match up here or the “A” locus is obsolete.)
The “A” locus is one of the exciting ones that we are still learning about and some interesting color genetics can happen here- so don’t be too surprised if one of your puppies defy the genetic odds! It’s because our knowledge of this Locus is still a work in progress.
D Locus- Tricky and Deceptive
The “D” locus is often called the dilute gene- meaning that a black dog will lighten to silver or a brown dog to cafe, or a red dog to apricot.
I don’t like this one. It’s a hole in our understanding of dog color genetics.
Why? Although some of my dogs do NOT have this gene, they still lighten as they age. It’s common in poodles, but I wish there were a better genetic marker for me to predict it!
Anyways, if a dog had 2 copies of lowercase and recessive “d”, he’s guaranteed to lighten.
Tying the Last Few Pieces of Your Dog’s Color Genetics
Now you have a really solid grasp on things!
You can find your dog’s base color genetics on the “B” locus, then use the “e” locus to find out if your dog has dark pigment or not, then find out if the “K” locus key is turned on or off, then use the “K” key to unlock the many possibilities on the “A” locus- where are the fun happens!
And the silly “D” locus, it’s in there too. I still don’t like that one.
A few more things you need to know…
Any of the following genes can be a “cherry on top” to the genetics that you already know.
It’s like the color genetics we have discussed earlier form the cake- the foundation- and these last few genes are like icing. There are lots of different ways to frost a cake, and so these color genes can affect the final phenotype (physical looks) of the pup in question in many different ways.
Merle- Fun but Potentially Dangerous
“M” is for merle. I briefly mentioned it earlier- a red or cream dog can hide merle. This is very important to know because only 1 copy of the merle mutation is safe for dogs. 2 copies means birth defects and possibly death.
1 copy of merle creates pretty blotching of dark pigment- meaning it can express itself in brown or black dogs. That’s how it hides in red or cream dogs! It needs dark pigment to be seen in the dog’s coat, but the gene can still exist in the dog’s genotype.
Brown merle is often called “chocolate merle”. Here’s a picture of each!
S Locus- Let the Parti Begin
The “S” locus determines if your dog has white added to whatever color genetics you’ve already worked out.
“Sp” is dominant and indicates that the dog has some white somewhere on his body. If there is only one copy of “Sp”, the dog is likely to have white coloration on less than 50% of his body- often called abstract. Even if it’s just one spot of white on the dog’s chest, he’s an abstract.
If the dog has two copies of “Sp”, the dog is likely to have white coloration on more than 50% of his body. In different breeds, this can have different names, but in poodles we call this “Parti”. These dogs have patches of color on a field of white. Sometimes, the color is very little- such as a small patch of black over one eye. That dog is still parti.
“S” is the recessive solid gene on this locus.
H Locus- Easy Peasy Ending
We’ll end off on a super easy one- the “H” locus.
It’s as simple as can be! Capital “H” is dominant for harlequin. Lowercase “h” is recessive- no harlequin.
What’s harlequin? It reminds me of merle but a little different. Merle is a light brown background with patches of darker brown (or black, as the case may be). Harlequin is patches of dark pigment on a white background. See image.
And there we have it!
You’re officially an expert!
Just plug both parents’ genetics into a Punnett Square (you remember- from like 8th grade) and you’ll know all the possible color combos of the puppies you’ll produce!
Compare different pairings to find the most ideal pups. But never forget- colors are NOWHERE near as important as health! Always have your parents health tested genetically, through OFA’s, and vet wellness exams.
With complete testing, you’re in the driver’s seat to improve the breed through your responsible practices!
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