A WHAT Pomeranian?

[Miakoda]

Ok, I'll be honest & say that I don't know much of anything about the smaller breeds of dogs because I really don't care for them. (however, I try to have the basics down to help clients).

Anyways, I was up at the clinic the other day (I'm staying at home with my infant son right now except to go do surgeries on occasion & work the lab) & saw a woman with a merle Pomeranian. Of course she was proud of her "extremely rare" dog but not only have I never seen nor heard of Poms coming in merle coloration, but it looked a little off to me. So is merle an actual coloration in these dogs? Is it accepted? Or is outcrossing going on to bring it into the genepool? (as what happened in the APBT breed.....FYI, there is NO such thing as a merle APBT)

Merle Chihuahuas are becoming quite the scene here as well are the blue tri's.

 

[chinchow]

http://www.pomeranian.org/index.php?pr=Pomeranian_Colours


"Coat and Colour
There should be two coats, an under and an outer coat; the first, a soft fluffy undercoat, and the other a long, perfectly straight and glistening coat covering the whole body, being very abundant around the neck and forepart of the shoulders and chest where it should form a frill of profuse, standing-off, straight hair extending over the shoulders. The hindquarters should be clad with long hair of feathering from top of the rump to the hocks. The texture of the guard hairs must be harsh to the touch.

Thirteen colours, or colour combinations, are permissible and recognized, namely: black, brown, chocolate, beaver, red, orange, cream, orange-sable, wolf-sable, blue white, parti-colour and black and tan. The beaver colour is a dark beige. A parti-colour dog is white with orange or black, colour distributed in even patches on the body, with white blaze on head desireable. Black and tan is black with tan or rust sharply defined appearing above each eye, in the ears, on the muzzle, throat, forechest, on all legs and below the tail. Where whole-coloured and parti-coloured Pomeranians compete together, the preference should, other points being equal, be given to the whole-coloured speciman. Sable-coloured dogs must be shaded throughout as uniformily as possible, with no self-coloured patches. In orange sable, the undercoat must be a light tan colour with deeper orange guard hairs ending in black tippings. In wolf-sable the undercoat is light grey with a deeper shade of steel grey guard hairs ending in black tippings. A shaded muzzle on the sables is permissible, but a black mask on sables is a minor fault. Orange Pomeranians must be self-coloured throughout with light shadings of the same tone (not white) on breechings permitted. A black mask on an orange Pomeranian is a major fault. White cjest, white foot, or white leg on whole-coloured dogs are major faults. White hairs on black, brown, blue, or sable Pomeranians are objectionable. Tinges of lemon, or any other colour, on white dogs are objectionable. The above colours, as described, are the only allowable colours or combination colours for Pomeranians.

The classes for Pomeranians may be divided by colour in Open Classes as follows: black and brown; red, orange or cream; sables; any other allowable colour. "
http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/toys/pomeranianarticle1.htm

Pomeranians are not my breed, but there's a couple of sites I found.

 

[Miakoda]

I didn't see merle so that makes me wonder where it's coming from.

 

[~Jessie~]

Merle Chihuahuas are becoming quite the scene here as well are the blue tri's.

Merle chihuahuas are accepted in the AKC and CKC. Blue chihuahuas are also accepted... it isn't any kind of rare color... and there are many blues with their CH's.

 

[noludoru]

I found this, if it helps..

http://www.showpoms.com/index.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=72

 

[FoxyWench]

i have seen many merle poms (unfortunatly) the pattern is NOT permissable in the ring, and is has not been a naturally occuring coat pattern until fairly reacently, being the colouration is resessive its very likely it was introduced into the gene pool via another merle caryring breed.

its thought that the merle colour in chis was brought in the same way as its once again a fairly reacent occurance, though merle chis CAN be shown as the chi standard has no restriction on colour.
blue however is a natural occurance in chis and was NOT intorduced. its a dilution of the black gene.

my guess would be doxies were used to get the merle gene into chis and merle chis have been used to introduce the colour into poms.

the colour is NOT "rare and expensive"
but unfortunatly back yard breeders, mills and petshops with the help of celebrities and the media are selling these dogs as "rare for usually tripple and more what an ethical breeder would charge for the same...

the problem is, these "breeders" are also the ones that give the merle gene the bad name because they breed merls to merles and other dilutes wiht no reguard to the health problem this colour tends to bring with it.

i have no problem with the coat colour in chis because standard doesnt restrict it, as long as its done properly! however in poms the colour should be avoided because its NOT a standard colour and would be a MAJOR fault. any breeder purposly breeding faults is not a breeder id be willing to work with!

 

[~Jessie~]

Here is the list of accepted colors and markings in chihuahuas. It is quite extensive!

http://www.akc.org/breeds/chihuahua/color_markings.cfm