Science Gone Too Far: A December New York Times dispatch reports that among the hottest social status symbols in Tokyo is the cute-but-bizarre dog created by inbreeding, such as a blue Chihuahua or a white dachshund. However, inbreeding also produces a high number of deformities, and to get that dachshund, for example, the litter of five contained four dogs with almost unspeakably gross birth defects. Nonetheless, because of demand, dog inbreeding continues. And a Nottingham University professor warned in January that farmers are now at work in the United Kingdom breeding "stress" and "hostility" out of pigs and cows to make them more obedient en route to the slaughterhouse. The professor said the goal of such breeders is to create animal "vegetables." [New York Times, 12-28-06] [Daily Mail (London), 1-10-07]

Inbreeding is, well, bad. Enough said. It's why people end up with strange cats with 7 toes on each paw! I have a small question to ask...is a white boxer a result from inbreeding as well? Not sure myself, I don't know a lot on boxers, but I do know breeders used to get rid of the white ones because of defects they seem to have. My cousin has one named Babs and she seems to have some issues. We beileve she is hard of hearing because she doesn't seem able to tell where a sound is coming from. Also, she is very obsessed over her tail. Inbreeding result or is a white boxer just a fluke that shows up sometimes?

quote:

Originally posted by flamesofthemoon:
Inbreeding is, well, bad. Enough said. It's why people end up with strange cats with 7 toes on each paw! I have a small question to ask...is a white boxer a result from inbreeding as well? Not sure myself, I don't know a lot on boxers, but I do know breeders used to get rid of the white ones because of defects they seem to have. My cousin has one named Babs and she seems to have some issues. We beileve she is hard of hearing because she doesn't seem able to tell where a sound is coming from. Also, she is very obsessed over her tail. Inbreeding result or is a white boxer just a fluke that shows up sometimes?

Here's a link that will answer your questions on white boxers. White Boxers

arrrr what was I watching??!!?!?!? There was a report or something about dogs that are born white like boxers- in other words breeds that are not normally white- and their hearing problems. Something about how most abnormal white dogs have major hearing problems. Let me do some research and see if I can find it

ok i found this
"The most common cause of congenital deafness is pigment related. (There is some talk about a recessive gene as well, but most researchers do not believe this is the case.) Some dogs have white coats, but still have pigmented skin (Samoyeds, West Highland Terriers, and White German Shepherds fall into this category). Although they have white fur, they have black noses and eye rims (their fur is actually not pure white, but a very light buff color). Other dogs normally have colored coats, and white trim (this includes Dalmatians; the white is actually not their real coat color, the "spots" are). The "trim" comes from areas of unpigmented (pink) skin, which produces white hair. If there is unpigmented skin in the inner ear, the nerve endings atrophy and die off in the first few weeks of the puppy's life, resulting in deafness. Please note that you cannot tell the color of hairs in the inner ear by looking at any visible part of the dog's ears (including the hair around the ear canal). Although many dogs with white hair on their ears will be deaf, many deaf dogs have colored ears as well"

My Shetlie Jericho is a color-headed white. The gene involved is the same gene that causes pinto ponies. It's the piebald gene. Color headed whites usually do not have deafnes issues, however, if the lack of pigment gets into the dog's inner ear, it does cause problems. It's not that the nerve endings die (the article sabriel posted is incorrect there). What happens is that the lack of melanin causes a lack of blood suppy to the cilia (little hairs in the ears). The cilia fall out soon after birth, leaving the puppies without hearing. Jericho has some cilia as he can hear some noises out of his right ear.

In Shetlies, CHW (color headed whites) are produced when two parents who are white factored breed. It can be hard to visiually see if a dog will be white factored. Normal sable and tri colored dogs can carry the white factored gene. If two breed, a CHW can be produced. However, the chances of a deaf CHW not strong. Even today, some breeders will euthanize these dogs.

I did rather extensive research into this when I got Jericho. I wanted to know what caused the deafness and how the color genes played a part. It was very interesting to study.

Oh, one more thing. In Shelties if two merles breed, you will get what are called "double merles." In Aussies, they call them "Lethal Whites." They are lethal because the puppies are often born blind and deaf. Yet, breeders will PURPOSEFULLY breed two merles together to get these double merles!! Why? Because if there is a double merle that turns out to only be deaf, the breeder will keep it and use it as a stud or dam. By using a doulbe merle, the breeder will insure that ALL the puppies from this dog are blue merles, which is a very popular color and easy to sell. The puppies from a double merle will not be deaf.

I think it is a sick practice to breed merles to merles. The double merle pups in the litter deemed unusable are euthanized.

Blue merles are actually tri or bi colored shelties with the merle gene. This makes their tri colored coat get that "mottled" blue look. My sheltie Aslan is a sable merle. Same concept. His sable coat is "mottled" with different colored spots of sable. I think it's pretty, but it's not very well accepted in the breed ring.

Here's a link to a good article about Sheltie coloring in breeding:

http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/Genetics/Merle.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: agilityk9trainer,

bummer that what I posted was wrong. But it definitely is interesting how melanin and pigments affect hearing

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kim g,