Thank you for the compliments.
Interesting! (At least to me since I know little about coat genetics). Were any siblings Merle? Do you know about grandparents?
Also, sometimes isn't black coloring somehow affiliated with Merle?
He has a sister who is a blue merle, and another sibling who was another brown merle in his litter. I think I read parti can obscure merle, his father had white spots on his nose, but I also remember something about black, too. I really don't know much about dog coat genetics. I did a little reading on it when Chase was a puppy, but it's too complicated for me, and I don't plan on ever breeding so it didn't really matter in the long run.
I don't know about grandparents, as I didn't know enough then to ask.