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Pam Crump Shih Tzu |
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Breeding for Rare Colors |
AKC
recognizes for the Shih Tzu two colors that come from recessive genes:
Blue and Liver
Breeders
add to this list, the color Chocolate, which is just a darker shade of the
Liver color.
Also the
tan markings (that are located similarly to the markings of a Doberman
Pinscher) comes from recessive genes.
This marking is referred to by breeders as the “Dobie” marking.
These
colors and marking are relatively rare since they come from recessive genes,
meaning that both parents of a puppy must “carry” that recessive gene for the
puppy to have that color or marking.
The
color of the hair is not crucial to
classifying a dog as Blue or Liver color.
More significant would be the color of the “points” (eyes, nose, lips,
paw pads) and skin. If these features
are Liver
rather than Black (except for the
skin) then the dog is Liver.
If these features are Blue, then the dog is Blue, regardless of what the hair
color may appear. Conversely, if these
features are Black (except for the
skin), then the dog is not Blue or
Liver
even if the hair appears to be Blue or Liver.
One of
the breeding objectives of some breeders is to produce the rare colors and
marking, since there is generally more demand than supply. Knowledge of color genetics is vital to
success in these breeding plans. The
following summary should give a working understanding of recessive gene
genetics.
For this
analysis, all Shih Tzu will be classified as to color (or marking) as one of
the following:
1.
Recessive COLOR
(and thus a recessive gene carrier)
2.
Recessive gene
CARRIER (but not a recessive color)
3.
Recessive gene
NON-CARRIER (and thus not a recessive color)
All
possible combinations of two parents are presented in the table below, which shows
the recessive gene results of the breeding.
|
Parent # 1 |
Parent # 2 |
Puppies |
|
|
COLOR |
COLOR |
COLOR |
100 % |
|
COLOR |
CARRIER |
COLOR CARRIER |
50 % 50 % |
|
COLOR |
NON-CARRIER |
CARRIER |
100 % |
|
CARRIER |
CARRIER |
COLOR CARRIER NON-CARRIER |
25 % 50 % 25 % |
|
CARRIER |
NON-CARRIER |
CARRIER NON-CARRIER |
50 % 50 % |
|
NON-CARRIER |
NON-CARRIER |
NON-CARRIER |
100 % |