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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Guess the Genotype #21

Can you figure out this dog's genotype? What about its breed?

Image is from Wikimedia Commons under a creative commons license



This is a Belgian Laekenois, the lesser known of the four Belgian shepherd dog breeds, the others being the Malinois, Tervuren, and Groenendael (also called the Belgian shepherd). This dog's wire hair hides it's very simple genotype.

This dog must be a sable because of the presence of black hairs on an otherwise red coat. This dog is most likely AyAy sable as I do not believe any other agouti alleles are normally present in the breed. However, in many countries the four Belgian shepherds are considered to be the same breed with four different varieties. As such, if any out-crossing happened in this dog's history it is possible that it carries recessive black since the gene is present in Groenendaels.

This dog is also masked. The gene appears to be fixed within the breed as well as the Belgian shepherds in general. As such, is most likely EmEm masked.

That's it! Though the dog's mask appears pale, this is caused by the wiriness of the coat rather than the actual coat color itself. The same phenomenon can be seen in the wire fox terrier. The salt-and-pepper appearance may also be partly due to age.

So, that is AyAy EmEm or masked sable.

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