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Historically Non-Merle Breeds that have had the Merle Pattern added to their Gene Pool
Trait not
Allowed in Their Official Standard
The following breeds have had the Merle trait introduced by
way of an outside breed after the stud book was closed.
A closed stud book does not allow for the addition of outside blood/breeds. All
dogs qualifying for registration are descended from the original foundation stock.
The addition of the Merle trait has been accomplished through fraudulent/falsified pedigrees (hung
papers) at some point (either once or multiple times) in the
breed's history. This is achieved when a breeder registers a litter using a
false sire and/or dam's name and registration number.
Many of the breeds listed here have had the Merle trait in the gene pool for
10, 20, 30 years or more, and through back crossing to the original breed population,
now exhibit the standard physical traits of that breed in all ways except the
addition of a pattern that was not historically ever found in the breed.
Typically, these dogs consistently show a 100% match with
their breed when tested using services like Embark or Wisdom Panel, which
specialize in breed identification. This is because the introduction of an
outside breed occurred multiple generations back. In these cases it is very important to note that "Purebred Status" and "Genetic
Ancestry" are completely separate concepts.
"Purebred" status is defined by pedigrees at
registration bodies whereas "Ancestry" looks at segments of shared DNA.
The Working Kelpie breed gets a
special mention here - the breed standard does not allow for the merle trait
and a visible merle pattern is not seen in the breed. However the foundation
dogs used in the development of the breed included historic merle breeds so the
non-expressing alleles of Mc and Mc+ do still exist in the breed.
American Bulldog
American Pit Bull Terrier
American Staffordshire
Beagle
Biewer Terrier
Boerboel
Boston Terrier
Bull Terrier
Cane Corso
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Chow Chow
Cocker Spaniel
Doberman Pinscher
English Bulldog
French Bulldog
German Shepherd
Miniature Schnauzer
Poodle
Pug
Rat Terrier
Siberian Husky
Yorkshire Terrier