Saturday, February 17, 2007

BORN SILVER

It's funny how people find you!! In my "Did You Know "section I have a tiny bit of information regarding how yorkie babies are supposed to be born black and tan/gold and I mention silvers and chocolates.
This gal just had a litter of 5 babies born about 9 days ago and one little boy was born silver. She was trying to find out why and what it meant. She has given me permission to use the pictures she sent me, however I have agreed not to disclose her name or where she is from. I will tell you she is NOT in New England!
It's all about Genetics..... do you remember from high school science class???
Yorkie pups are supposed to be born black. The only way a Yorkie will turn the blue color is if they are carrying the Graying gene (Blue gene) BB or Bb. If you have two dogs that both have Bb, and the bb(recessive genes) come together, then you get a dog that stays black. This can happen even if both dogs are blue. Any other combination of BB, Bb, bB, the dog will be a blue.
Dogs that are born blue (silver or gray) carry the dilute gene of dd, which should NOT be in the Yorkshire Terrier breed because it causes the "Blue born puppy." It is a genetic mutation in color. I don't have any information on how the parents get it.
You will see people advertise "rare" silver colored yorkie. BEWARE....as these little puppies are prone to other health problems like skin issues, blindness, deafness and more. A silver yorkie should NEVER be used for breeding!! However, they can be a great pet!
More and more I am seeing "chocolate Yorkies' advertised. In this case the pups are not born black but all brown/tan like the inside of a reeces peanut butter cup. In this instance the Yorkie has an overload of red-gold and this is also a mutuation of the Yorkshire Breed. This pups have liver colored noses and eyes. If these pups are used for breeding, it can cause genetically, a loss of pigment altogether. AKC will register these puppies which may be contributing to out pouring of breedings for off colors. Please.........if you think you are interested in a yorkie that does not have the AKC Standard color, do your homework as you may be buying a pup that will end up with multiple health issues. Otherwise, they make great pets. It is so interesting!!! You can find other information on the internet under color genetics.

1 comment:

Sadie said...

Thank you for this article. My yorkie just had her first litter and had 3- 2 female(black) and 1 male that is blue silver just like the picture. I have always heard that all yorkies are born black so when I looked and saw that one is gray I really started looking on the web to find out why and what causes this. I have a question for you does the stud carry the gene for this or do both dogs and should I use a different stud next time or does this not happen every time you breed.