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Information about Double Merles... |
| I am what is commonly refered to as double merle Aussie, or a Homozygous merle australian shepherd. As you might have guessed, I am blind and deaf. Don;t feel sorry for me, I don't know any other way as I was born this way. Don't worry, my condition is not lethal. It is only a minor set-back. In fact, I plan to live a normal life, just like any other dog! | |
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I thought I would share with you some information on what it means when I say I am a double merle. When two merle Australian Shepherds are bred, 25 percent of their puppies have the genetic potential to be blind, deaf, or both blind and deaf. Merle means mottling like the black and white areas of my fur. For a breeder to be “responsible”, a merle colored Aussie should always be bred to a solid colored Aussie. That way the dominant gene cannot win and the puppies don’t get the crummy genetic combo (possibly resulting in deafness and/or blindness). |
Ok, so what in the world does color have to do with vision and hearing in a dog? Well, what happens, is the pigments are related to the development of the eyes and the nerve endings in the ear. Because double merle puppies often have a mostly white head or very little color on their head like me they don’t have the pigments that are tied to the development of the nerve endings in the ears and the eyes for sight. Another thing is our eyes can be really small, or not there at all. Mine are really small, but my ears, well that’s another story. My human mom likes to call me ‘Ears’ sometimes because mine are huge. I am finally growing into them but it has taken a while. |
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