Today I received the analysis of Oonah’s sample in regards to the E-locus. Her colour is Eg/eat/ay, which is a bit unexpected as the Eg locus (grizzle) most probably comes from five generations back on her father’s side (red marked dogs in the picture below were grizzles).
How will this be reflected in the colour of Oonah’s and Chili’s puppies?
After talking with some people I now believe that Chili’s monther is not a grizzle but a red sable. This leaves me with not knowing anything at all about Chili’s colour code. As so the only thing I can be sure of is that the colour of the puppies could be creme and red and all shade of these.
Not everything is about shows and fancy looking dogs. The most of the time Oonah is actually spending as a family dog doing what she loves the most. This happens to be running free and during the winter, here in south of Sweden, this also means getting dirty, getting very dirty. Lucky for her I am not as pedantic as my parents as she would never be alowed into their home looking like this.
UC Davis Veterinary genetics laboratory finally received the sample I sent them 8 days ago. Now it will only take 3-6 working days for them to analyse it. Can’t wait until I receive the results.
The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) is devastating inherited progressive neurodegenerative disease. The NCL is characterized by progressive cognitive and motor decline, vision loss, seizures, respiratory and swallowing impairment, and ultimately premature death.
It is very rare in saluki and we are very happy that the test has been developed.
Oonah has been tested and I received the test result today. Oonah is tested N/N Genetic free and she or her puppies will never get this disease.
I know that it is not only me that is waiting for Oonah to get in heat, we are several that are waiting for that to happen. I don’t know what you are doing to get your time to go faster but for me there were some pleasant tasks I could do. One of them was to check which possible colours could Oonah’s and Chili’s puppies get. I will share my findings with you below, but first let me write a link to >>an article<< written by Caroline Coile that explains the basic genetics of saluki colours. It will help you understand things I write below. Please read it before you continue to read this post if you lack knowledge about colour genetics.
Very short explanation is that there are two loci that are important for Oonah and Chili combination and these are A locus and E locus. There are other loci as well but these are the same for all salukis, regardless of their colour, so I will leave these out.
Some colour codes’ combinations:
Eg/e at/at will result in grizzle saluki
Eg/Eg at/at will result in grizzle saluki
Eg/E at/at will result in grizzle saluki
Eg/e with at/ay or ay/ay will result in fawn or red with fringes saluki
Eg/E with at/ay or ay/ay will result in fawn or red with fringes saluki
Eg/Eg with at/ay or ay/ay will result in fawn or red with fringes saluki
E/e with at/ay or ay/ay will result in fawn or red with fringes saluki
E/E with at/ay or ay/ay will result in fawn or red with fringes saluki
e/e with at/at, ay/ay or at/ay will result in cream or red saluki
E/E or E/e together with at/at will result in black and tan saluki
Now here is what I know about our couple. The bold characters below means that I am 99% sure of them being right. Only by testing for these genes we can be 100% sure of them being there.
Let us start with what we know about Chili:
His father is red, probably e/e ay/ay His mother is red grizzle with Eg/e, Eg/Eg or Eg/E and at/at
This actualy means that Chili is either e/e, Eg/Eg, Eg/E or Eg/e and has at/ay. If he is e/e he could also be at/at and still be red. In another words we don’t know so much about Chilis colour genes.
What about Oonah?
Her father is red, probably e/e ay/ay. Her mother is black and tan with E/e or E/E and at/at.
This means that Oonah is either e/e or E/e and has at/ay. So we don’t know much about Oonah’s colour genes too.
However, people do say that if your dog had one black hair when puppy it is not e/e. So can you see on this picture of Oonah if there is any black hair?
Photo: Sven Elen
And to summarise it all: the good thing is that both Chili and Oonah have at least one at locus. This means that if Chili also has one Eg locus there could be grizzle puppies. In the same way, if Oonah has one E locus there could be some black and tan puppies. And if they don’t have these loci there will only be cream and red puppies.
BUT, and it is a big but, some people say that there must be one more gene, that we are not aware of today, which regulates the depth of coloration e.g. the difference between cream and dark red dogs or black and tan and black and white dogs just to give some examples. This gene could also make all puppies look cream or red even if Eg or E are present. Unfortunately there is a high possibility that Oonah and Chili carry that unknown gene.
So, as I prefer to base my assumptions on facts I sent a way Oonah’s DNA sample to Davis University of California today. Hopefully they will be able to tell me which of all E-loci she has.
But even then we will not know which colours puppies will have. So we will still need to sit tight and wait until they are born.
I know it is not the best photo quality but I just needed to share this picture with you. It is the first time ever I see any of my dogs sleeping in this position.
Time has come to enter our newest family member to her first show. After not being in the show rings at all for several months we are looking forward to this girl’s debute very much. See you in Malmö on 31st March!
Big congratulations Sulan, Raffe, Milo and Leo!!!! I hope that all of you will live in health and continue to be spoiled with love for many more years to come. Big thanks to all owners for all love and care you are giving our babies.
Below is my favourite photo of the little ones. With it I was trying to show how big they were by comparing them to the can of coca-cola. They are 20 days old on this picture.
We all wait for something but I must admit that for me the hardest part is all waiting I have in my role as the breeder.
It all starts with the decision for a specific litter.
Usually the decision for the litter has been taken several months prior to the probable start of the heat which for me means that I will count days and weeks until that probable start of heat is finally here. During this time I am trying to fill my days with something else to think of why it is good to have a lot of work to do, such as to throw myself into renovation of the old kitchen of ours, just to survive.
Now when we are hopefully ONLY three weeks away from the heat, at least if Oonah keeps the schedule from the previous year and a half, I am desperately looking for the first signs that can announce the arrival of her heat.
During our walks I suddenly find myself counting the number of times she does her pees with just one thought in my mind: “Is she trying to leave her scent for possible father-candidates on so many places as possible?” This counting is off course not reasonable at all as I don’t count how many times Oonah do her pees when she is not in heat so I don’t have any numbers to compare with. Never the less I still keep counting. And yes she is probably peeing more often now compared to what she did just a couple of weeks ago. So check on that one.
I am also trying to check if Oonah is eating more than usual. This is probably the easiest thing to notice as she is very picky with her food. Check on this one too, Oonah is finally not leaving any food left behind.
So the calendar and the fulfilled checks are going to make these three weeks go veeeeery slowly for me. And how is Oonah taking it? Well, she is not aware of my worries at all and takes it easy, very easy.
This morning when we woke up a white suprise waited for us in the garden. It made some of us happy. The youngest ones love to run in the snow and I simply love that there is so much light.
