Standard Poodle Q&A

My australian shepherd female just had a litter of pups. She is a blue merle and the father is a black tri. Both parents are AKC. 2 of the pups are completely gray with no merling or anything. They both have white around their neck and copper on their face. They look just like a black or red tri except they are gray. I was wondering if anyone has seen something like this, and if so, what would i classify them as?

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Answers (3)

Sometimes in litters there are gray or "blue" dogs. These are known as dilutes. They are geneticly black dogs, but they have the dilute gene that cropped out in them. http://www.ashgi.org/articles/fact_dilute.htm hope this helps.


just wait for them to grow up a bit. its okay if theyre just grey when born. the spots will come in as they grow.


This might be what is known as "dilute" coloring and is not acceptable in the show ring. However, it doesn't stop them from being great pets! There are many books out there that explain coloring in Aussies. One is titled, "The Australian Shepherd from A to Z". It goes into great detail re: breeding and coloring. Even though both parents are AKC, there can be things in the breeding line that directly affect a litter. Pups don't just get their parents genes, but genes from the entire line of previous pairings.



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