[ SHOWGSD-L ] How "white" GSD come about
- From: Scharo777@xxxxxxx
- To: cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx, showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:28:08 EDT
In a message dated 8/26/2007 12:04:17 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
It is not at all uncommon. White in GSDs is a "masking" gene. So underneath
that white (genetically speaking) is another color. In the case of these
pups it was obviously sable for at least one of the parents.
I asked Sherry Wallis about this. She was in shepherds for years and then
went on to Northern dogs. She is the best expert on coat color I know and has
given many programs on the inheritance of color in different breeds.>It is
not at all uncommon. White in GSDs is a "masking" gene. So underneath
>that white (genetically speaking) is another color. In the case of these
>pups it was obviously sable for at least one of the parents.
>
>
>
>I have recently heard white referred to as a "masking" gene, with another
color under it. So I am going to my expert source VBG
>
>Carol Moore
Well, yes and no. White is actually available through two
pathways...spotting and dilution. The white in GSDs is a
dilution....look at it as if it is a constant bleaching process. If
you bleach red hair with x amount of bleach, it's going to be
platinum, right? OTOH, if you bleach black hair with the same x
amount, it's probably going to be more yellow, right?
So the hair is continually being the genetic equivalent of
bleached. If the bleaching process stops, IOW, if the next
generation doesn't inherit that gene, then whatever the hair was
originally will be shown.
The tell-tale equivalent of "roots" is the buff or biscuit in the
dog's coat. The white I had that had puppies was a genetic sable,
and she had a dark buff line down her back. After the sable puppies
were born, from a b&t parent, I realized that the buff was a dorsal
stripe. Most sables have this, darker color on the back, and my
white was no exception.
In Akitas, I see a lot of this. FI, I have a friend whose white dog
has a spot on her face that is actually more red that buff, but not
the same red that you'd see in a normal pinto. Looks more like a
dusting of red powder. The dog is genetically a white, but her
mother was what we call a mismark, that is she had a solid black head
and then no color on her body. Well, that black was too hard to
bleach to white, I guess, so it's that kind of dusty red. You can
see lots of pix of white Akitas that demonstrate these principles,
without getting into the white GSD controversy on my website if you
look at the article under Dog Information called Pandoras Box of Noses.
This is a simplistic explanation but it works for all practicle
purposes. I actually have a paper on the genetic mechanism of what
are called "creams" but which are the white from this dilution
pathway. BTW, spotting can also result in whites. This isn't
something that I'd think you'd ever see in GSDs but is found in
Akitas and other breeds as well, like Aussies and Shelties,
etc. Dogs that are white from spotting can be deaf IF the embryonic
melanocytes don't form pigmented cells in the ear structure. Same
reason they can be blind, although this is less common. One
difference between the two whites is that the dilution whites don't
have black in their coats, while the others may well. Not hard and
fast, but possible. Hope this answer your questions.
Sherry E. Wallis
sherry@xxxxxxxxxx
www.sherob.com
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