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The Color White
"No breeder today would ever dream of breeding a pure-white strain, as it is common knowledge that he would be damaging both himself and the breed." "The Technique of Breeding Better Dogs" Dr. Dieter Fleig. "The coloring matter found in the coat and skin of mammals is due to a pigment called melanin. Melanin in the Great Pyrenees, acts to turn the skin black in those areas where pigmentation is required ( eyelids, eye rims, lips, nose and palate ), and to impart the necessary color to the coat patches as well." "There is unquestionably a correlation, although a general one, between a well-marked blaireau Great Pyrenees and one which also carries black pigmentation. Therefore, the value of the blaireau dogs, in the mind of a breeder, further enhanced by his reputation for producing well-pigmented offspring." "When all-white dogs are mated to all-white bitches, there is a grave danger that pigmentation will break down. If this is carried for several generations, missing pigment is almost a certainty. In addition, one approaches the problem of albinism, including deafness and impaired vision." "Breeding an all-white to a blaireu is the safest and best method to use for the typical mating. About half the puppies will be blaireau and the others white. The marked pups will usually have even patches of color on the head, often a patch at the base of the tail and perhaps an occasional spot on the body." "The New Complete GREAT PYRENEES" Paul Strang. The fact that WEBs from South Georgia have always had the proper markings to combat albinism, tells us this breed has existed for a very long time.
"It is worthy of repetition that the breeder of dogs is dealing not with whole single organizes but with thousands of sets of reciprocal, allelic genes. Whether a dogs eye shall have pigment or not, weather he shall have yellow or brown eyes, or china or wall eyes, maybe due to the presence or absence of a single gene for each eye. But how deep that pigmentation maybe probably depends upon which of several genes, which make for intensification of pigmentation, may be present or absent." The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs Likewise it should be noted albinism is not one gene or one set of genes, but will manifest itself in numerous forms, many of which are identified as separate diseases. Some will affect both hearing and vision, even to the point of deafness and blindness, others only partially. In estate guards, such as WE, the ability to hear and see well, allows the dog to be aware of predators long before they reach the livestock. The battle is then a surprise attack on the would be attackers away from the livestock, least there be a stampede, causing way more damage. Brindle vs. Red It is my belief that the brindle color descends mainly from Spain / Portugal, while the red descends mainly from French / English stock. Even if the dog is all white it carries the genetic traits for either brindle or red. "Color is an example of a simple trait in dogs. The brindle color is always dominant over red. But we all know that brindle dogs bred to red ones don't produce all brindles. The reason for that is that the brindle dog may have had a genotype of Bb. That is, he had one gene for each for the brindle coloration and one for red. If he passed a red gene to a red female, a red pup will be the result. A brindle dog that has only brindle alleles will produce all brindle dogs when bred to a red female. In the shorthand of genetics, the dog would be BB; he would be called homogenous because both genes are the same. The pups from such a mating would consist of all brindles, nut their genotype would be Bb. (genotype refers to the dogs genetic characteristics and phenotype refers to his observable traits, such as appearance and behavior.) The pups from such a mating if later bred together would produce some brindles (about 75 % on the average) and some reds, with possible buckskins or whites, over which red is dominant. The genotype of the brindles could be either BB or Bb, but the genotype of the reds would be all bb (two genes recessive to brindle). It has to be that way, because if any of the pups had a brindle gene, it would 'mask' the effects of the red gene, and the pup would be brindle." Richard Stratton The old family line of CWE is homogenous for red, as the Carr family always selected for the French/English alaunt type used as estate guards. While they did not know the history of the dogs, they selectively bred according to the working traits.
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