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This is Isla, and she is a lurcher. Lurchers are sighthound/something crosses, and due to her size and coat, I think Isla is part whippet and part terrier, probably a Bedlington or another that is light built and wire-haired. For sake of argument, let's call her a whippet/Bedlington cross.
If you look at this image in its original size, or some of the other views of this dog, she clearly has stripes down at least one leg. She also appears to have a little white on her feet (obscured here by mud). So, let's break this down:
Isla is probably asat saddle carrying tan point at the agouti locus. This is because she is saddled (a gene seen in some sighthounds, including whippets. You can tell due to the patterning of blueish and tanish along her sides, face, and legs), but is probably carrying the tan point gene (seen in some terriers, including the Bedlington).
This dog also expresses the graying gene, which explains why she is so pale in color. Bedlington terriers, and some other terrier have this gene. Puppies are born dark and pale with age. Since Isla is a mix, she most likely is heterozygous Gg gray for this dominant gene.
Isla must also be either kbrkbr or kbrk for the brindle gene since she has stripes on her legs. Again, since she is a mix and Bedlingtons do not have the brindle gene, she must be heterozygous kbrk brindle.
Since Isla also has white on her feet, there are several possibilities as to her genotype at the spotting locus. She could be SS and have residual white, or she could be carrying si Irish or sp piebald (common coloring in the whippet). Since the Irish and piebald genes will often cause the white to be more prominent in the dogs that carry them, and Isla has so little white, I believe she is SS solid but with residual white.
So, that's asat Gg kbrk SS or saddled brindle with graying and residual white.
Bedlington terriers probably started out as a type of lurcher.
ReplyDeleteThey are really interesting. They share a common ancestry with Dandie Dinmonts, which are also from the Scottish Borders and Northumberland. At one time, you could get both in the same litter.
I bet there is a touch of poodle-type water dog in Bedlingtons. They have the poodle coat, which the old time terrier people called "linty." They will also retrieve from water, and not only are they gray, they also come in a liver color variety too.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images11/BedlingtonTerrierLiver%20Puppy3.jpg
Most Bedlingtons will retrieve, and they can course almost as well as the whippet.
Oh, I agree with you. Though they are called terriers, they are very much of a type similar to sighthounds. I didn't know about their connection to the Dandie. That's so unexpected considering how much they've diverged. However, you can see it somewhat underneath all of the fancy grooming.
ReplyDeletePoodle ancestry would make sense. I also didn't know they would retrieve, but I did know they are good courses. Unfortunately, there isn't much known about their history.