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Heredity Of Dalamatian Spots


raineth
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I had no idea they had such specific dietary requirements.

Yes! Basically low-moderate purine foods eg feed chicken and salmon rather than beef, lamb, liver (bad!) or tuna. Every Dally is recessive for the propensity to produce urine high in uric acid and thus bladder stones. A bit like gout in humans. There do seem to be other factors involved as well such as obesity. There are LUA Dals being bred in the US and UK after being out crossed to a Pointer but they haven't made it to Australia yet. A lot of resistance to the idea but I think it's a great step forward.

Squeeeee for puppy pics :love:

Edited by The Spotted Devil
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Yes Raineth, Nala is my liver and Cleo is my black. Thank you for the kind words, as different as they are I find them both so beautiful in their own ways. As random as spotting can be, there are patterns that almost seem to be hereditary, such as Cleo's face pattern with the dark eyes, ears and nose - her sister has the same. Many others do as well, but then other dals can have a "clean" face like Nala which Nala got off her dad (Nala's mum is Cleo's sister) so who knows!!!

Airedaler, surprisingly not always. When it comes to dals, as much as good spotting is something to strive for, and we all want a moderately spotted dog with no spots running together it isn't the make or break (unless we're talking so many spots the dog is black, or vice versa, or it has patches).

Today, Cleo took out neuter in group and beat two other neutered dals to get there :) She's also won a neuter in show before. Spots are important, but they are the icing on the conformation cake.

I've found Cleo is winning more this year and I would think it is her maturity and muscle tone after training for the ET - she's ripped ;)

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Yes Raineth, Nala is my liver and Cleo is my black. Thank you for the kind words, as different as they are I find them both so beautiful in their own ways. As random as spotting can be, there are patterns that almost seem to be hereditary, such as Cleo's face pattern with the dark eyes, ears and nose - her sister has the same. Many others do as well, but then other dals can have a "clean" face like Nala which Nala got off her dad (Nala's mum is Cleo's sister) so who knows!!!

Airedaler, surprisingly not always. When it comes to dals, as much as good spotting is something to strive for, and we all want a moderately spotted dog with no spots running together it isn't the make or break (unless we're talking so many spots the dog is black, or vice versa, or it has patches).

Today, Cleo took out neuter in group and beat two other neutered dals to get there :) She's also won a neuter in show before. Spots are important, but they are the icing on the conformation cake.

I've found Cleo is winning more this year and I would think it is her maturity and muscle tone after training for the ET - she's ripped ;)

Thanks for the explaination on spots and blotches. Like everything it needs to be kept in perspective.

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I wonder if the spotting is similar to the patches of a Harlequin Great Dane. Our babies aren't born white though and then develop patches, they have them from day dot but they do develop more and get bigger.

Harlequins do not breed true, so you could breed heavy marked to heavy marked (as long as they were genetically Harles not cryptic Merles) and get a well marked Harle.

In terms of the show ring, I know nothing about Dallies but you do see a range of them in the show ring here in Sydney from very lightly marked with big windows to very heavily marked and I've seen both do well.

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Patches are interesting...they pop up in Dals sometimes and they are apparent at birth. They do seem to run in lines but are associated with lower deafness. Some breeders also don't mind a few patched puppies as you seem to get better colour (both the spots and the white) in the rest of your pups. In Springers the patches are there at birth and the flecking/spotting develops in the white hair as the pup grows - same but different!

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I wonder if the spotting is similar to the patches of a Harlequin Great Dane. Our babies aren't born white though and then develop patches, they have them from day dot but they do develop more and get bigger.

Harlequins do not breed true, so you could breed heavy marked to heavy marked (as long as they were genetically Harles not cryptic Merles) and get a well marked Harle.

In terms of the show ring, I know nothing about Dallies but you do see a range of them in the show ring here in Sydney from very lightly marked with big windows to very heavily marked and I've seen both do well.

Yep it was what I knew about harl markings that made me interested in Dal markings :)

Edite: I forgot to say how pretty Georgie is, Perrin. That photo of her and your son is precious :)

Edited by raineth
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Dalmatians are believed to be extreme white piebald dogs with ticking but there is some sort of modifier in the breed that makes the ticking appear as spots rather than tiny splashes like it does on all other breed with ticking. The modifier probably also determines the size and distribution of the spots so would be hereditary to some extent. Aust Cattle Dogs are the most extreme example of ticking on a dog that is also born white (except for solid patches) and in them the ticking all runs together to form the roan look. English Setters have more evenly spaced ticking while Spaniels and Border Collies can have a little or a lot of ticking develop in their whites. All the breeds it occurs on are genetically piebald except for Border Collies who have Irish Spotting pattern whites. In BCs the amount of ticking is definitely hereditary as most only have a few spots but breeding from a dog with heavy ticking will result in a whole line of dogs with heavy ticking.

Harliquin Danes are the result of a gene that alters the merle gene, so totally different to ticking. Ticking develops on white. Merle and harliquin fade out patches on a dark coat.

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