albino dogs

[poeluvr]

what do you guys think of them. i heard ppl put them down when their pups cuz they can have health problems?

[Renee750il]

In the Aussie breed there's a gene that carries the blue merle color. The color is highly prized, but it also carries blindness and deafness with it as well as other potential health problems. Some very unethical breeders will breed two blue merles together in hopes of getting blue merle pups. Very often there will be pups in the litter born with these defects and they are usually killed - hence the term "lethal white" for the gene. I had one of these Aussies for many years. I rescued him literally minutes before he would have been put down at the shelter. No one wanted a blind puppy but me. O'Reilly was one of the most joyful, most fearless, loving, wonderful creatures I've ever known. If you've got a fenced in yard where a blind dog pup can run safely, SAVE A LIFE! They can be wonderful companions.

And if anyone tries to come in uninvited in the dark . . . you couldn't ask for a better guardian, lol!

[poeluvr]

lol.. theres a pic of a albino pup in pupy pictures

[joce]

Its bad in dobes. Although I guess the white is technically not albino.

I always feel bad for them though because most have sunburns and other skin issues.

I have heard of people ptting pups like that down because they don't want people to know there dogs carry the genes. My friend got two rotts by taking them the day after they were born. The lady was just going to kill them becaue they were red(which is a beautifull color on hers but NOT breed standered). The pup that lived had horrible hip dysplasia by the time it was two. Its sad. I'm not sure if it is still alive or not.Some people just shouldn't be able to own dogs.

[poeluvr]

wow thats tough

[EliNHunter]

But are albino's always blind? And do they always have health problems? I thought it was just where they were missing the "pigment" gene?

[Renee750il]

They aren't always, but it seems that the genes that carry the code for light and missing pigmentations are tied to coding for other genetic malfunctions. They don't always show up, but they are carried and when the recessive gene dogs are bred, the recessive genes that match up will manifest.

[GSDFan05]

Originally Posted by Renee750il

In the Aussie breed there's a gene that carries the blue merle color. The color is highly prized, but it also carries blindness and deafness with it as well as other potential health problems. Some very unethical breeders will breed two blue merles together in hopes of getting blue merle pups. Very often there will be pups in the litter born with these defects and they are usually killed - hence the term "lethal white" for the gene. I had one of these Aussies for many years. I

What's really sad is when breeders use those "lethal white"/"double merle" dogs as puppy factories to make money, because genetically you're guaranteed to get the popular merle coat color in all of their pups, since it's a dominant gene. I believe this is a problem with collies and a couple more breeds with merle coats also.

[Swiftwind]

I never knew merle was a 'dangerous' colour. All of the Aussies I've seen in real life have always been merle, I wasn't even aware that they came as tri-coloured. What about merle Great Danes? Is it just as bad to breed two of them together?

By the way, I thought for an animal to be classified as true albino it had to have pink eyes, because if it has blue eyes that means it has some pigment.

[GSDFan05]

It isn't 'dangerous' for a dog to be heterozygous merle, its just when a dog recieved the merle genes from each parent that 'strange' things start to happen, genetics is a funny thing sometimes.

I have never heard of a double merle great dane, but I would imagine it's possible, that's a good question.