Color Genetics Articles
Educational guides written to make canine coat color genetics accessible to every breeder.
Helping Shelter Dogs: Ten Minutes to a Season
Tasks for shelter dogs sorted by the time, cost and skill they need, from a ten minute share to a season of fostering or coordinating.
Read article →Choosing an Australian Shepherd Puppy: Fit Before Colour
How to match an Australian Shepherd puppy to your daily life, and which LOF papers and health tests to verify before you commit to a breeder.
Read article →How a Judge Reads Coat, Condition and Movement
A judge compares coat, condition and movement against the written breed standard. What is assessed, in what order, and how owners prepare a dog for that
Read article →Hands-On and Movement Therapy for Dogs
What canine massage, TTouch, physiotherapy and underwater treadmills involve, who practises them in Germany, what they cost, and where the limits lie.
Read article →Acupuncture as Complementary Care: Uses, Licensing, Payment
What acupuncture is used for, how practitioners are licensed, how treatment is paid for, and how to read the evidence behind a claim.
Read article →Reading Official Drug Information for Pets and People
How to find the main sections of a MedlinePlus drug page, search DailyMed by generic or brand name, and know what a Medication Guide contains.
Read article →How Retriever Field Trials and Hunt Tests Work
How retriever field trials and hunt tests are organised in the US: the tests a dog must pass, the titles and result sheets they produce, and the preparation
Read article →Adopting an Adult Rottweiler: Health, First 30 Days, Rules
What a measurable health screening table contains, what the first thirty days ask of a household, and how breed restrictions shape insurance and housing.
Read article →Russian Toy: FCI Size, Coat and Verifiable Records
What FCI standard 352 fixes for the Russian Toy's size and coat, and how to check breed records and history against verifiable sources.
Read article →Black German Spitz: Health Records Before You Reserve
What LOF numbers, cotation and published health tests show when buying a black German Spitz, and what to verify before paying a deposit.
Read article →German Spitz: Varieties, Coat and Adoption
The German Spitz in France comes in five size varieties under FCI standard 97. Learn how the double coat works and what to check before adopting.
Read article →How Dogs Get Imaging: X-ray, CT and MRI Explained
A dog sent for imaging follows a set path: referral, modality, contrast, report. How X-ray, CT and MRI each build a picture, and what owners are told.
Read article →Black, Brindle, Fawn and Grey: Reading the Cane Corso's Recognised Colours
The pigment genetics behind the FCI recognised colours of the Cane Corso: eumelanin, phaeomelanin, dilution and brindle read against the breed palette.
Read article →Reading a Pedigree Beyond Color
What a pedigree records besides color: identity, ancestry, titles and health notations, and how breeders verify the claims before a mating.
Read article →Parti-Color, ASCOB and Roan: How One Breed Splits Its Coat Divisions
The AKC color divisions of the American Cocker Spaniel as a teaching case in how registries name what the genes produce.
Read article →Coat Color and Canine Health: Which Correlations Are Real and Which Are Myths
A peer-reviewed walkthrough of genuine color-health links in dogs versus the folklore that circulates in breeder communities.
Read article →Double Dilute and Lethal White: The Most Dangerous Coat Color Combinations
Gene-by-gene analysis of the double-merle, harlequin, and extreme-piebald scenarios that produce severe welfare outcomes in dogs.
Read article →Color Genetics 101: The Basics Every Breeder Should Know
Start here to understand dominant vs recessive genes, genotype vs phenotype, and the foundation of color inheritance.
Read article →The A, B, C, D, E Loci: A Practical Guide
A deep dive into each color locus, what they control, and how they interact to create the colors you see.
Read article →Predicting Puppy Colors: How to Use Punnett Squares
Learn to create and read Punnett squares to predict color outcomes in your breeding program.
Read article →When Colors Surprise You: Hidden Genetics at Work
Why that unexpected puppy color appeared and how recessive genes can hide for generations.
Read article →Color DNA Tests: Which Ones to Run and Why
A practical guide to color testing panels, interpreting results, and which tests matter for your breed.
Read article →Brindle, Sable, and Tan Points: Understanding Pattern Inheritance
How the A and K loci work together to create sable, brindle, tan point, and solid coat patterns in dogs.
Read article →The S Locus and White Markings: How Spotting Patterns Are Inherited
From a small chest spot to a mostly white dog, understand how the S locus and modifiers control white patterning.
Read article →Color Dilution Alopecia: When Coat Color Affects Health
Understanding the link between dilute coat colors and skin problems, and what responsible breeders need to know.
Read article →The Merle Gene: Understanding the M Locus and Its Risks
How the merle pattern works, why cryptic merle matters, and what every breeder must know about double merle health risks.
Read article →Breed-Specific Color Genetics: Why Your Breed Has the Colors It Does
How selective breeding fixed different allele combinations across breeds, and what that means for your litters.
Read article →The K Locus Explained: Dominant Black, Brindle, and Why It Overrides the A Locus
How one gene acts as a master switch for coat patterns, controlling dominant black, brindle, and A locus expression.
Read article →The E Locus: How Red and Yellow Coats Are Controlled
Why some dogs are cream, yellow, or red regardless of other color genes — and how the extension locus blocks eumelanin to create this effect.
Read article →Liver, Chocolate, and Brown: The B Locus Explained
How a single locus converts black pigment to brown across dozens of breeds, with multiple mutations producing the same visible result.
Read article →Blue, Grey, and Dilute Colors: Understanding the D Locus
How the dilution locus softens black to blue and chocolate to lilac, and why dilute dogs need special health consideration.
Read article →Ticking, Roaning, and Flecking: How Small Spots and Mottled Patterns Are Inherited
The genetics behind small colored spots in white areas, why roan looks different from ticking, and how these patterns pass through generations.
Read article →The Harlequin Gene in Great Danes: A Unique Modifier With Lethal Homozygosity
How the harlequin gene interacts with merle to create one of dogdom's most striking coats — and why homozygous harlequin is never born alive.
Read article →Comparing Canine Color DNA Testing Laboratories: What to Know Before You Order
Key differences between color testing providers, what each panel actually tests, and how to choose the right laboratory for your breeding program.
Read article →The Math Behind Color Inheritance: Probability, Statistics, and What the Numbers Mean
Understanding probability calculations behind color predictions — and why even correct genetics sometimes produces surprising litter results.
Read article →Parti-Color Genetics: How Two-Color Patterned Dogs Inherit Their Coats
The genetics of parti-colors in Cocker Spaniels, Poodles, and other breeds — including why the pattern was bred out and how it can reappear.
Read article →The Intensity Locus and Phaeomelanin: Why Some Yellow Dogs Are Cream and Others Are Deep Red
How modifier genes control the depth and richness of yellow, cream, and red coat colors — one of the most complex areas of current genetics research.
Read article →Epistasis and Multi-Locus Interactions: When One Gene Overrides Another
How genes at different loci interact, override, and modify each other — the key to understanding why coat color cannot be predicted by any single gene.
Read article →Publication notes
Chocolate British Shorthair Coat
How the B locus, dilution, phenotype and pedigree work together when a British Shorthair is described as chocolate.
FoundationsHow Coat Color Genes Interact Across Different Loci
A practical guide to reading several loci together when one gene changes how another gene appears in the coat.
TestingReading a Canine Color Genetics Report
What each part of a color DNA report can tell you, and which conclusions still require breed context.