Australian Shepherd Genetics

There are two basic coat colors of the Aussie - red & black.

The base color of the Blue Merle is black.

The base color of the Red Merle is red.

The blue merle is a black dog with a merle gene.

The red merle is a red dog with a merle gene.

The two coat patterns of the Australian Shepherd are merle & solid.

Black is the Dominant color gene; Red is the Recessive color gene.

This means that if both the recessive gene and the dominant gene are present, the color Black will dominate - the red will be hidden.

The genes of the RED dog are denoted as rr

The genes of the BLACK dog are denoted as BB

The genes of a Black red factored dog are Br or rB

r = recessive B = dominant

For an Aussie to be Red, it must carry two red genes because the color is recessive.

The Charts below are representations of the color possibilities of breeding the various color combinations.

When you bred two animals, the resulting baby will inherit one gene from each parent for each characteristic involved.

All resulting pups from the RED x BLACK cross = BLACK (carrying the red factor)

All resulting pups from the BLACK x BLACK cross = BLACK

Resulting pups from the RED x BLACK (red factored) cross = 50% chance resulting pups=BLACK
50% chance resulting pups = RED
ALL pups that aren't RED = Red Factored

Resulting pups from the BLACK x BLACK (both red factored) cross = 75% chance resulting pups = BLACK
25% chance resulting pups = Red
Only the rB pups = Red Factored

ALL resulting pups from the RED x RED cross = RED

Maple Hills ã 2003