Classic merle coat

Trait overview

Merle is a coat pattern that has patches of both diluted color and solid color. It is an incompletely dominant coat color caused by a variety of alleles. Merle dilutes eumelanin (black pigment).

Gene name(s)

PMEL

Inheritance

Autosomal incomplete dominance

More common in the following breeds

Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, Catahoula Leopard Dog, Dachshund, Hungarian Mudi, Shetland Sheepdog, American Bully, American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Beauceron, Bergamasco, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Chihuahua, Cockapoo, American Cocker Spaniel, Dunker, French Bulldog, Koolie, Old English Sheepdog, Pomeranian, Pyrenean Shepherd, Shetland Sheepdog

Citations

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16407134/

https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/test/merle

https://doi.org/10.1111/age.13154