# Coat Color Prediction Game



## Kelly_Jean (Oct 25, 2017)

Coat color genetics has always fascinated me! Anyone want to play along and take a guess as to what colored pups these two dogs will produce? Just when I think I have the coat color genetics figured out, I don't! There's always more to learn...Please forgive me if I come off as ignorant, but this has always seemed to be a guess for me and it's fun!

Okay, so here goes...

(Dog A) Sire: Black
(Dog B) Dam: Bicolor

Sire's (Dog A) Parents:

(Dog C) Sire: White
(Dog D) Dam: Black

Dam's (Dog B) Parents:

(Dog E) Sire: Sable
(Dog F) Dam: Black

What color pups will dogs A & B produce?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Kelly_Jean said:


> Coat color genetics has always fascinated me! Anyone want to play along and take a guess as to what colored pups these two dogs will produce? Just when I think I have the coat color genetics figured out, I don't! There's always more to learn...Please forgive me if I come off as ignorant, but this has always seemed to be a guess for me and it's fun!
> 
> Okay, so here goes...
> 
> ...


What are the parents of the sire and dam? They each have one gene from each parent. The black is a/a. What is the bi-color? What is the white? What is the sable?

For instance, my dogs parents are
dam: aw/a
sire: a/a
His litter was all blacks and sables because those are the only letters in play. There can only be a black if the other parent carries an "a" gene because that color is recessive. Sable is dominant so can only be produced if one of the parents is "aw".

And then the white. White is not a color. White is a masking gene that makes their colors white. So the dog could genetically be a black. Or a black/tan. Or a sable. And has that gene that masks all the colors. AND...then add in if there is a dilute gene that will turn them liver or blue! 


You have to many unknowns in your question.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Agreed - too many unknowns...

 Color Genetics in German Shepherds


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## Kelly_Jean (Oct 25, 2017)

Oh man! Thank you! I never had this much trouble with Lab coat colors, lol. German Shepherd colors are really interesting.

Dog C sire is white, dam is black/tan
Dog D sire is sable, dam is black/tan
Dog E sire is sable, dam is sable
Dog F sire is black/red, dam is black/silver


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Dog B can not be a bi-color. That dog would have parents that are
dam: aw/aw
Sire: a/a

That dog can ONLY be a sable. "aw" is dominant. "a" is recessive.

In order for A to be black then the White in the equation has to carry a gene for black. So the white is still partially an unknown.


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## Kelly_Jean (Oct 25, 2017)

Jax08 said:


> Dog B can not be a bi-color. That dog would have parents that are
> dam: aw/aw
> Sire: a/a
> 
> ...


My mistake, they have Dog B listed as a bicolor...would she be black & tan? (Pictured) I'm confused...


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

so if dog B is a sable, you are down to a litter like the one my dog came from with...

Dam: aw/a
sire: a/a

They will produce only blacks and sables. One gene from each parent


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

the color of your puppy is not in question. It's the colors of the ancestry that doesn't make sense on the dam's side. E and F can not produce a bi-color. Look at the chart that Fodder posted.

Wait....I could be wrong on that. What is beyond Dog E after the sables? One of those sables could carry the bi-color gene.


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

Dog B could still be black and tan or even bicolor if the Sable parent carried a recessive black and tan or bicolor gene, which could have come from either of its Sable parents.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I need more coffee for this. Assuming Dam's lineage has a bi-color somewhere back there 
and the Sire can only be a/a

Sire: a/a
Dam: at/a 
The litter has the potential to produce bi-colors and blacks only


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## willoglen (Aug 4, 2013)

Actually, Dog B CAN be a bicolor if Dog E is aw/at. Sable is dominant to bicolor, so Dog E expresses phenotypically as sable. Dog B inherited the at gene from the sire and the a gene from the dam, making it genetically at/a. Bicolor is dominant to black, so Dog B is bicolor. Genetics, I understand; common terminology of phenotypical expression, I’m still working on.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

willoglen said:


> Actually, Dog B CAN be a bicolor if Dog E is aw/at. Sable is dominant to bicolor, so Dog E expresses phenotypically as sable. Dog B inherited the at gene from the sire and the a gene from the dam, making it genetically at/a. Bicolor is dominant to black, so Dog B is bicolor. Genetics, I understand; common terminology of phenotypical expression, I’m still working on.


You didn't read the whole thread, did you? I've already corrected myself above.


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## willoglen (Aug 4, 2013)

So sorry — at the point I hit “post,” I was responding to your previous comment before all the clarifications. I’m technically supposed to be “working,” so there was a delay in my response .


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## willoglen (Aug 4, 2013)

I am a nerd. I cannot resist discussions on genetics....


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

hmmmm.... 



Genetics are pretty fascinating. Next conversation is on facebook with regards to the first Britons being black. Well....duhhhh....white people didn't just pop up out of a tree.


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