# Which trait is dominent?



## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

Saddel back or blanket back?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Neither, both are controled by the same gene. 

However, the blanket back will have an additional gene that expresses more black overall than the saddle.


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## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

So if i had a pretty dark and rich blanket back that almost looks bicolor, and a very light and washed out tan saddle back, what would that give me? if the blanket back has an additional gene, would that show up on the pups?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I think it could be either - but others may have more understanding of how it works.


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## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

ok :] thank you!!! and i have one more question x] sorry!! Can you determine the pattern of the german shepherd when its 8 weeks? im new at this stuff x]


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## BR870 (May 15, 2011)

maureen_mickel said:


> ok :] thank you!!! and i have one more question x] sorry!! Can you determine the pattern of the german shepherd when its 8 weeks? im new at this stuff x]


You won't totally know until their adult coat comes in. They tend to get lighter as the get older. 

At 8 weeks most B&Ts will be significantly darker than what they will be as adults.


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## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

Thank you :] my shepherd puppy (look in my gallery if you wish) has a very derk coat with little tan rather then the ones that i usually see that would have the traditional look. ive seen some shepherds who have this coat as a puppy lighten up or stay the same. i was just curious to what it would do.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Hard to tell at that age, but from the amount of tan your pup has at this young age, I'd say she will be lighter than her sire, though don't know how much lighter. Might just end up somewhere between the two parents.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

My guess is a he'll be a blanket back.


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## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

Castlemaid said:


> Hard to tell at that age, but from the amount of tan your pup has at this young age, I'd say she will be lighter than her sire, though don't know how much lighter. Might just end up somewhere between the two parents.


Thats what i was thinking. I thought more of an extended blanket back but not as much as the sire's. I like to get other opinions though cause i always doubt mine x] thank you very much everyone for helping!


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## BlackthornGSD (Feb 25, 2010)

maureen_mickel said:


> So if i had a pretty dark and rich blanket back that almost looks bicolor, and a very light and washed out tan saddle back, what would that give me? if the blanket back has an additional gene, would that show up on the pups?


You would get some pups with the blanket and some without. I think the blanket back dogs usually are black-tan with a black or bicolor recessive. So, say you are breeding bt/bt to bt/bl, you'd get 50% of the pups with the black recessive, giving them the blanket saddles.

The washed out saddle--where a saddle actually fades away as the dog ages is a different gene--I don't know how it interacts with the black recessive.


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## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

BlackthornGSD said:


> You would get some pups with the blanket and some without. I think the blanket back dogs usually are black-tan with a black or bicolor recessive. So, say you are breeding bt/bt to bt/bl, you'd get 50% of the pups with the black recessive, giving them the blanket saddles.
> 
> The washed out saddle--where a saddle actually fades away as the dog ages is a different gene--I don't know how it interacts with the black recessive.


That makes sense. One of the puppies in the litter was all black so one of the parents (guessing sire for the dams mother was all white)

EDIT:

Is there any chance that she would look exactly like her sire?


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## BlackthornGSD (Feb 25, 2010)

maureen_mickel said:


> That makes sense. One of the puppies in the litter was all black so one of the parents (guessing sire for the dams mother was all white)
> 
> EDIT:
> 
> Is there any chance that she would look exactly like her sire?


Wait, one of the pups in your puppy's litter was all black? That means that both parents carry the black recessive.

If you know that one of the parents carries the white gene, then all sorts of color predictions will be skewed. 

If your puppy is lighter than her dad now, she will not get darker to look like her. Pretty much, the black/saddle areas on a dog do not expand as the dog grows. They always shrink.


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## maureen_mickel (Jul 17, 2011)

BlackthornGSD said:


> Wait, one of the pups in your puppy's litter was all black? That means that both parents carry the black recessive.
> 
> If you know that one of the parents carries the white gene, then all sorts of color predictions will be skewed.
> 
> If your puppy is lighter than her dad now, she will not get darker to look like her. Pretty much, the black/saddle areas on a dog do not expand as the dog grows. They always shrink.


ok! thank you so much!!! like i said earlier, i have seen some puppies with the same pattern as her change (ex. 



) or stay the same 
(ex. 



). Im just a curious person, and i think genes are quite interesting though i clearly dont know that much about them.


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