I want to adopt a Chihuahua. Are all gray chis classified as blue or merle? Should I avoid this color pattern?

Question

I need factual evidence to support your answer please!

* Is blue the same as merle?
* Do they all carry the merle gene?
* If the dog is gray, would that mean that one or more of their parents or grandparents had to be merle?
* Is it true that it takes up to 18 months for the mutated gene to begin to affect the dog's eyes and ears?

Any advice would be helpful please and thx!

Answer 1

Sorry I can't answer all your questions and cite things properly, but we aren't in an academic journal and I figure anything helps. When I was researching things before purchasing my chihuahua, I ran into things all the time telling me to avoid purchasing merle chihuahuas (or anything similar). It is said that merle isn't a color that was originally in the chihuahua gene, and therefore is an offshoot of people breeding chihuahuas with other breeds. If you're looking for purebred and are as particular as you sound, perhaps you should go for something else. However, if you're just in it for the color, I'm sure they're great little chi's.

Answer 2

Blue is the official name of the slate grey color (grey being what happens when the dog gets old) Blue Merle is the mottled color pattern of blue & balck and NOT all blues are merles or have that gene.
Blue exists in several breeds that do not have the merle pattern(which by the way also exists as a red merle) so logically blues do NOT have to have merle parent or grandparent.
The only time you have hering or vision problems is when the pup has the merle gene from BOTH parents (most breeds with the merle pattern forbid merle to merle matings in the code of ethics- unfotunatally they can be registered - just it'll get you tossed outta the breed club) Now since the merle gene is of suspect origin in the chi already .......

Answer 3

A blue is solid grey.
A merle is a mix they have grey,black and white
if you look up a merle in a sheltie it willshow you the basic coloring of a merle.
If it is a blue then the parents ,grandparent,or great grandparents woudl probably be blues.there is a slight chance there was blue merle but not often
blue merles are more uncommom
Ihave had both and never had anyproblems.
My sister has a blue merle male for sale right now she has the father and neither is showing any signs of having any problems.

Answer 4

No blue is not the same as Merle
No it is not the Merle gene
Gray is listed as blue with AKC
Most time they are a blue in the line
I have 3 blue ones and they are just as healthy as the other color ones no the dogs eyes are the same as when they are pups and so is the ear my oldest blue is 5 years old now the other one is 4 and the youngest is 9 months

Answer 5

Chihuahua's should never be bred or selected for colour, this is bad practice, and unnecessary line breeding is used to achieve a particular colour at the expense of other factors.

Chis can come in any colour but forcing a colour is not smart. Stay away from breeders who do this. Beware of internet advertisers who often are fronts for puppy farms.

Contact an official Chi Kennel club and research exhaustively before making your decision.

There are plenty of colours to choose from without forced colour breeding, so go for health and temperment before colour.

Answer 6

Sorry that I can't answer your questions but look into www.chihuahua-rescue.com (the - has to be there). I want to adopt a chihuahua eventually too :). Please look into that website, your special dog might be waiting for you. Also the chihuahua rescue is not just in one region it's all over the U.S. so there might be that lucky dog in your region.

Answer 7

If you are concerned about heritable defects, why not adopt an adult that is old enough to have health checks done to determine they are not suffering from the defects, if you want this particular color?