# color patterns rare or hype?



## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

I know about all the blue hype but i was wondering about multi color dogs being rare like a apbt with 4 colors and not brindle. has any one ever seen one? in my grand parents kennel(who raise show poodles) they prize them as party poodles.


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## tonios (Jul 24, 2009)

I read this awhile ago that scientist took a couple of small primates and genetically altered them so now... Believe or not, these things glow in the dark...I kid you not! So I guess anything is possible thanks to science.


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## PBN (Aug 1, 2009)

I have never seen a pit with 4 colors. I think tri colored pit bulls are kind of rare( correct me if I'm wrong here).


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## tonios (Jul 24, 2009)

mmm! 4 colors and glows in the dark, who wants one? The New fad


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

I'll take 2!


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## mygirlmaile (Mar 26, 2009)

Bahhaha. Its be AWESOME if my black Chihuahua glowed in the dark...I can never see her when shes outside at night!


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

mygirlmaile said:


> Bahhaha. Its be AWESOME if my black Chihuahua glowed in the dark...I can never see her when shes outside at night!


get a collar with a flashing led light.


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## meganc66 (Mar 6, 2009)

i love parti poodles  especially standard ones w/ black and white....

k im done >> <<


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## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

I was wondering.. because my pups mom was white with black and copper patches on her body.. and I'm pretty sure she was mixed...


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## American_Pit13 (Apr 23, 2007)

There are no rare colors in the APBT or American bully. Some of the tri shades and Champagne are about as close as you get to rare colors, but even those aren't really rare just not as often seen. Colors that tend to get labeled as rare are colors that are just starting to show up due to crosses ( not mean breeds, but color crosses) however color fades pick up fast and anything that is "rare" will not be within a year of it becoming popular. 


Now getting dogs that are correct and bred to standard in these colors are rare. Usually these fancier colors have come about with a serious lack in body type being considered during the breedings.


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## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

I've never seen a black/tan pit bull in person. I didn't even know they existed until I saw them on the net. I guess they are the ones people think are mixed with Rottweiler.


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

that's what i think when i look at them.


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## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

I think they are gorgeous! But it would be hard to convince people that it wasn't a Rott or a mix! lol You know the type of just have to tell you what kind of dog you have.. and then disagree with you.


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## Patch-O-Pits (Jan 12, 2008)

I believe you are describing Merle... Merle is noit a color that can appear in APBTs that are purebred. It is beleived this coloration comes from mixing with dogs such as catahoulas, catahoula leopard dog ...
Catahoula Leopard Dog (Catahoula Cur)

Link about Merle:
American Pit Bull Terrier Network Merle and the Pit Bull


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## SEO (Jul 7, 2009)

tonios said:


> mmm! 4 colors and glows in the dark, who wants one? The New fad


!!Glow in the dark!!

That's hot, I want one!!:clap:


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## Sadie's Dad (Jul 9, 2009)

mygirlmaile said:


> Bahhaha. Its be AWESOME if my black Chihuahua glowed in the dark...I can never see her when shes outside at night!


I hear you I have to let Sadie out with a flashlight because of her brindle color I can't see her when she gets in the corner of the yard away from light house light LOL


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## SEO (Jul 7, 2009)

My dog glows in the dark now that I think about it. He is all white. 

Corny, I know

Sorry

lol


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## tonios (Jul 24, 2009)

Patch-O-Pits said:


> I believe you are describing Merle... Merle is noit a color that can appear in APBTs that are purebred. It is beleived this coloration comes from mixing with dogs such as catahoulas, catahoula leopard dog ...
> Catahoula Leopard Dog (Catahoula Cur)
> 
> Link about Merle:
> American Pit Bull Terrier Network Merle and the Pit Bull


So you are telling us newbies to stay far away form Merle colored dogs?


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## SEO (Jul 7, 2009)

I am a newbie. and yes stay away from the merle color, it is not a color pattern of an apbt or amstff. I believe it is associated with health defects. I really don’t want to mention them cuz it has been a long time since I have read about it, but I have.


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## Indigo Bully Connection (Dec 21, 2006)

tonios said:


> So you are telling us newbies to stay far away form Merle colored dogs?


yep, the merle pattern was never a part of our breed. Buyer beware.


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## SEO (Jul 7, 2009)

Indigo Bully Connection

I love that pic of your doggy. She (I believe it is a she) is very nice, looks very fit.


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## Indigo Bully Connection (Dec 21, 2006)

Thank you very much SEO  I miss my little Pig already!


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

American Pit Bull Terrier Network Merle and the Pit Bull
that is a merle dog.
What are the health problems associated with the merle allele?

The merle allele like a couple other dilution factors when expressed in a homozygous state is correlated to psychological, neurological, and usually immunological issues. Here I will mention a few of the issues. The first are eye development problems that are superficial in nature affecting appearance such as heterochromia iridis (A difference of color between the iris of one eye and the other), thus a dog with one brown and one blue eye has heterochromia iridis. Note that this defect is not necessarily or always indicative of having the merle gene because it can also be found in dogs with extreme piebald or double blue dilution for example. In addition to superficial indicators there are also major effects such as absence of tapetum lucidum. Tapetum lucidum is a reflective substance that lines the back of the dogs eyes. This reflective structure acts like a mirror and reflects light back through the retina, like a satellite dish giving the retina two chances to catch the light. Dogs that lack tapetum licidum have night blindness or reduced ability to see in low light. Another defect is lack of retinal pigment and microphthalmia. Microopthalmia (smaller than normal eye) is described as dogs having prominent third eyelids and seemingly small eyes which appear recessed in the eye socket (enophthalmos). Another problem known as coloboma is actually a physical cleft in a portion of the eye, particularly the iris . In addition to the eyes which are a key indicator of neurological defects, there is also evidence for effects on the ears that result in reduction in auditory sensitivity or complete deafness because the merle color locus exerts epistatic effects on ear development. Excessive white or dilution in a dog of any color can be a warning sign of potential hearing problems. If there is no pigment in the inner ear the dog will be deaf; white ears are more likely to lack inner ear pigment.

More technically, what is the genetic explanation of the merle pattern?

The merle allele is considered to be caused by a transposon or transposable element. A transposon is a piece of DNA that has the potential to actually jump out of, or excise from the gene it has infected (disrupted), during cellular division and genetic DNA replication. This means that while melanocytes are migrating from the neuronal crest during embryonic development the merle transposon can remove itself from the gene in some of the melanocytes when they are derived and produce normal coloration on those parts of the coat to which they migrate. Thus, the merle allele acts to cause eumelanic areas in the coat, to become diluted, but other areas to be fully and intensely pigmented. Such fully colored areas occur in scattered patches throughout the body. The merle locus is autosomal (not carried on one of the sex chromosomes) acting as a dominant mutation (it is expressed in all dogs that carry this gene). It should also be noted that genetically such transposons do not arise spontaneously but must be passed from sire and/or dam to offspring. This means that if the APBT did not carry this allele to begin with, then only through outcrossing to another breed, that does carry this transposon, could it be integrated into the APBT genome.

Thus, we as members of the National American Pit Bull Association are presented with the issue of a dilution pattern that may have been introduced into the breed by unethical conduct. As stewards of the breed we have to choose to continue to honor our current standard and allow this color pattern or to change the standard to reflect that merle is not an acceptable color pattern for the breed.


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## Trapboi103 (Dec 14, 2008)

glow in the dark bullies for everyone!!!!!


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

sweet let me know when they are ready. I want two.


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

American Dog Breeders Association

this is the adba's thoughts about the Merle color pattern


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## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

Mixed "pit bulls" in merle are pretty in my opinion.. I don't agree with breeding them or buying them. But I would take a freebie!


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## BLUE PIT BULL MAN (May 22, 2009)

well if any of these pups that come out of this group are Merle you can have one. if you want.


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