Guess the Genotype #42

Can you guess this dog's genotype? Her breed?

Image provided to me by J. Burns of Ghostfire Photography, and are copyright to him

Daisy is believed to be a German shepherd mixed with either whippet or greyhound. Daisy is quite similar in appearance to the dog I featured in the last GtG. However, there are a few differences. Let's take a look at her genotype.

Daisy is agouti. Though it may at first glance appear that she is sable, she isn't. Her hairs are banded, which is a classic sign of the presence of the agouti gene. Also, since she is believed to be part German shepherd, this is not surprising as shepherd "sable" is actually agouti. For the sake of this exercise I am going to assume that Daisy is part whippet. Whippets are thought express three of the alleles found at the Agouti locus: sable (Ay), agouti (aw, may not be present), and saddle marked (as). German shepherds are known to express agouti (aw), saddle marked (as), tan point (at), and recessive black (a). Since Daisy is expressing agouti and whippets rarely if ever come in agouti, I suspect she received the gene from her German shepherd ancestry. This would mean she is most likely awas agouti carrying saddle marked.

Daisy is also showing moderate to moderate-pale red. I suspect that she is most likely cchcch moderate red. Unlike Merlin, from the last GtG, Daisy is showing merely the normal red variation that is often seen in dogs and no urajiro-type light points.

Last, but not least, Daisy is masked. The darkening on the end of her muzzle is classic expression of the mask gene. Assuming that she is a whippet/German shepherd mix, both breeds show the masking gene. German shepherds are close to being fixed for the gene, while whippets are not. Since the mask is moderately faint, I am going to assume that she is EmE masked carrying non-masked.

So, that would be awas cchcch EmE or masked moderate red agouti (carrying saddle marked and non-masked).