I had yet another super colorful litter. Not only were their coats different shades, but they had different patterns on their coats. We had clones of mom and dad. In addition, a traditional black tri-color, black and white, golden, and merle.
The Parents
Dad
The dad is Hollow. He presents as a dark brown tri-color with curly hair and a white face. He has a brown nose and green eyes. He can have brown dogs, red dogs (recessive), and heavy white dogs (recessive).
Mom
The mom is Kira and she presents as a blue Merle with wavy hair. She has a black nose, one brown and blue eye, and patches of black and brown on a gray coat. The Merle gene adds some complexity to why her coat is gray. Without that extra gene, she would have black fur on her body, a dark muzzle, and no tan points. She can have black dogs, tri-color dogs, red dogs (recessive), merles, and surprise brown dogs where her merle and black mix together to make brown.
Together
What Kira and Hollow have in common is that they are furnished (thick eyebrows and mustache/beard), carry red recessive genes, tan points (even though Kira's don't show), and they are both F1Bs.
The Colorful Bernedoodle Puppies
Little Coco has a black body with tan eyebrows, cheeks, chest, and legs. She got the right combo of colors all the way down from her Bernese Mountain Dog grandparents. She inherited wavy hair, black fur, brown eyes, and a black nose from mom. She got her white muzzle from her Dad. Both sides passed down tan points (even though Kira's are hidden by her Merle and body fur genes).
Stitch is almost a brown tri-color except he inherited the merle gene from his mom. This resulted in his normal black hair lightening to different shades of brown. His tan points show up in more random spots. His brown coat is a mix from both parents. He inherited his black nose from his mom. He inherited his dad's curly hair and white face.
Ruby has a golden/red body, white muzzle, white forehead, wavy hair, black nose, and brown eyes. She received the red recessive gene from both parents. She inherited her mom's wavy hair, black nose and brown eyes. She also inherited her mom's Merle gene. She isn't spotted because the red hair overrides the Merle gene. Her muzzle is white on top and red on the bottom. This is probably influenced by both parents.
LeBronze's hair is very influenced by his mom's merle gene. It lightened his coat to a brown/gray with dark spots. He inherited his mom's dark mask, black nose, and blue eyes. From his dad he inherited his curly hair.
Light looks a lot like her mom. She has the same blue merle coloring with large black patches. The main difference is she doesn't have one of mom's bright blue eyes. I don't think Dad's genes made it to her. Her DNA traits are identical to LeBronze except Light has a wavy coat instead of LeBronze's curly coat.
Zoe inherited a different mix from her parents which makes her my first bi-color puppy! She inherited the same combination of black base coat as her mom but the special combo hides tan points. She got a touch of her mom's merle gene which gave her blue eyes. She also got her mom's wavy coat and black nose. From her dad she got her white muzzle and a gene that gives her more white in her coat than normal.
In my previous colorful Bernedoodles puppy post I predicted that we would get combinations like Merle spots on black and brown coats. That turned out to be right! I love variety pack litters and I look for dads that can create an assortment of colors with my moms. Every person has a different favorite and it's so fun to see what people gravitate towards.
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