Post by Clifford on Apr 6, 2012 5:10:10 GMT -6
This color thing, concerning Lacy dogs, has really become interesting to me. Over the past year, I have witnessed various matings blue to blue, red to red, and red to blue, which produced litters no one expected...
Blue to blue produced a litter of only reds, which included mostly creams.
Red to red produced a litter of only reds, some of which had slight blue markings.
Red to blue produced a litter of only blues, and some of them started with blue markings, including the darker tail.
Now, a repeat breeding of the same red to blue has produced another litter of blue pups, which upon close inspection all exhibit an obvious darker tail.
The red dogs that start with that same marking appear to gradually lose it as they get older, ending up with mostly just a darker tip. On the blue dogs, you just cannot notice it as much, but it is starting to become obvious that this coloration is a part of the Lacy breed, and probably goes all the way back to the time when a wild canine was bred into the mix, because both wolves and coyotes have the same markings.
It has also become very apparent that the summer and winter coats on Lacys can be quite different in color too! Jones, in particular, replaces the darker hair with an almost silvery color, giving him a frosty appearance, during the cooler months.
Genetics predict what you can have in a litter, not what you must have, when you are breeding dogs which have such a varied makeup in their history. It's my best guess that we are not even close to setting color for type at this point, with only the three general categories red, blue, or tri as classifications, because each Lacy dog breeding can produce such unpredictable litter coloration.
Blue to blue produced a litter of only reds, which included mostly creams.
Red to red produced a litter of only reds, some of which had slight blue markings.
Red to blue produced a litter of only blues, and some of them started with blue markings, including the darker tail.
Now, a repeat breeding of the same red to blue has produced another litter of blue pups, which upon close inspection all exhibit an obvious darker tail.
The red dogs that start with that same marking appear to gradually lose it as they get older, ending up with mostly just a darker tip. On the blue dogs, you just cannot notice it as much, but it is starting to become obvious that this coloration is a part of the Lacy breed, and probably goes all the way back to the time when a wild canine was bred into the mix, because both wolves and coyotes have the same markings.
It has also become very apparent that the summer and winter coats on Lacys can be quite different in color too! Jones, in particular, replaces the darker hair with an almost silvery color, giving him a frosty appearance, during the cooler months.
Genetics predict what you can have in a litter, not what you must have, when you are breeding dogs which have such a varied makeup in their history. It's my best guess that we are not even close to setting color for type at this point, with only the three general categories red, blue, or tri as classifications, because each Lacy dog breeding can produce such unpredictable litter coloration.
