The photo is not a Merle this is brindle

The Merle gene is a much debated topic among poodle Breeders. This is my opinion and not a debate. 

To start of here is a little about the Merle gene, The Merle gene is an incomplete Dominant gene.  This means it only requires one copy to reproduce it, so only one parent has to carry for Merle to show up, I believe it can be handed down from grandparents too, but this theory is not yet proven. It is highly recommended against breeding Merle to Merle. as if both parents carry one copy of Merle gene you will end up with 25% of the puppies being Double- merles, which causes a chance of being blind/and or deaf.  As a breeder, no matter what the percentage, I would never risk even one puppy being born blind, deaf, or both.  

Therefore, we never breed Merle in our lines intentionally.  In addition, there are other color genes that can cover the Merle gene, so you will not visibly see it but it is still present genetically and can be passed down to offspring.  These colours include white, cream, apricot, red, and heavily marked parti along with Phantoms.   Many that are not trained to recognize Merles and can mistake a brindle as a Merle or Merle as a brindle. These are called cryptic Merles, as they are genetically Merle, but visibly don't look like Merle.  At this point any poodle being bread should be color tested to ensure they don't carry for Merle and therefore, you won't have Double- merles or Merle puppies. As I believe (and many other people out there that insist) that Merle is not a naturally existing color in Poodles.

Many of these people will claim that it is naturally occurring in many other breeds such as Australian shepherds.  So we have a problem as nobody knows for 100% where the Merle gene comes from in Poodles.  We do know for sure there is no early poodle books that discuss the color as they do parti, phantoms, and brindles.  We do know with 100% certainty that there are AKC registered Merle poodles. There are several AKC breeders that register them.  We also know there is no color listed for the Merle so many other variations are used which makes it harder to prevent the Merle gene to show up in your lines. 

Now let me give you a few ideas of where the genre comes from.  Again these are only opinions that will give you something to think about.  The Merle gene was introduced using another breed many generations ago.  This would have taken 3-4 generations to get poodle looking coats constitley. The second option is that it has always occurred in the breed and the color had been phased out.  With lines breeding and selective breeding the color was recovered.  The last option is that the Merle gene was a natural mutation in Poodles, which is how it is believed to have occurred in other breeds that it is present in.  

Regardless of which opinions you care to believe there is one thing I know to be true, Merle poodles are registered daily and some Merles DNA test a 100% poodle.  Merle is a problem gene in Poodles. I really feel we should breed away from any Merle do to the genetic health Risk.  We should be focused on breeding health, better temperament, and the most structurally sound poodles possible. 

In conclusion, the drama and conflicts over a color that we can't prove one way or another how it comes to be in poodles is less important than the health of that puppy.  Last thing, I will do everything in my power to keep Merle out of my lines. Please join me in my fight to make the best poodle ever and convert to moving away from Merle.  Thank you 

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