Many of our Deaf Dogs Rock Community have double merle deaf and deaf/blind dogs so we wanted to share this information with our community. Do you know what a double merle is or what it means? I have asked Amanda and double merle dog Keller to share their information with all of us so we can also educate others about this unorthodox breeding practice.
What is A Double Merle? by Amanda Fuller
This is Keller. She is a deaf and vision impaired double merle. Don’t know what a double merle is? That’s okay as most people don’t. We have set out to educate people about a dangerous breeding practice that’s creating deaf and blind puppies. It’s happening in many breeds and people really have no idea it is.
A double merle is created when two merle dogs are bred together. It doesn’t matter what color merle or what breed they are. If two merle dogs are bred together, each puppy in the litter has a 25% chance of being born a double merle. A double merle inherits the merle gene twice. One copy of the merle gene causes a marbling effect on the coat and creates lighter spots throughout the solid color coat.
Image 1.
In a double merle, the marbling/lightening effect is doubled and the coat becomes predominantly white. Double merles also have a very high chance of being deaf, blind, or both because they lack pigment where it would normally be.
Image 1. Above: In this image is a merle to merle breeding. Each puppy has a 50% chance of being born merle
Image 2. Below: Is merle to non merle breeding. Each puppy has a 50% chance of being born merle (why breed merle to merle ever?)
To Learn more about DM:
To follow Keller go to Keller and Amanda’s blog: The Life of Keller The Double Merle
Educational website: www.doublemerles.info
