Guess the Genotype #64

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

Images were submitted to me by Christine

There wasn't a lot of information provided to me by the submitter, however this "sooty" foster pup is quite a cute little girl. This dog's coloration--ventral  or underside black--is one that I've intended to discuss before. It's one that is seen commonly in several different breeds and less frequently in a number of other breeds. I have seen it on Beglian malinois, Belgian tervuren, Leonberger, pug, German shepherd, Anatolian shepherd, great Dane, sloughi, bullmastiff, pitbull, and quite a number of other breeds. It appears that the color only happens in dogs that also have the masking gene, as in this puppy, so it's possible there is a link between the two. I have not as of yet been able to find any explanation behind this color, other than the apparent aforementioned link between the masking gene and the additional dark hairs.

What's her breed? It's difficult to say, partly due to her being a puppy. Breed recognition becomes far easier when a dog is fully grown. My suspicions are that she's at least part Belgian malinois due to the frequency of this phenotype in the breed and the shape of her body and length of her legs. The bluntness of her muzzle and lower ear set also seem to imply some possible bully breed ancestry. I would love to see this dog when she's fully grown to see if these assumptions still appear to be true. Anyway, on to the genotype.

This dog appears to be agouti. Though its possible she could be sable, the flecked appearance to the coat appears to coincide more-so with the banded hairs of an agouti. She looks quite a bit like a "sable" German shepherd puppy, and all "sable" GSDs are actually agouti. I also find it unlikely that she carries any of the other alleles on the Agouti locus. As such, she is most likely awaw agouti. However, it's still possible that she might carry tan point or recessive black (note that recessive black is sometimes seen in the malinois as it is present in the Belgian shepherd breed group).

Next, the red in her coat is rather pale, which allows her to appear so ashy. Since there's no hint of darker red shading and only the barest cream tint to the coat, I suspect she is cece extreme chinchilla.

This puppy also has a quite nice mask. Considering how dark both her mask is and how much ventral black she has, I suspect that she is EmEm masked. However, it's also possible that she carries one of the other alleles on the Extension locus.

Lastly, she has a fairly prominent white patch on her chest. Patches this large are seen rather often in the malinois, so I suspect that she simply has prominent residual white. This would make her SS solid with residual white.

So, that's awaw cece EmEm SS or sooty silver agouti with residual white.