Re: Panda shepherds

[Justine&Rafe]

Yep, they’re not a dilution.

But it’s a recessive gene in Flatties.  That link up there has some good stuff on it, and it has links to other authorities on it.

It also informs that if you cross a flattie with a golden, there’s quite a high likelihood for a yellow pupster to come out, whereas with a lab, because they come in both yellow and black, the incidence of yellow puppies would be smaller.

Sad thing is that in some cases the yellow pups are culled because the owners don’t want people who are buying for breeding stock to be aware their dogs might be carrying the yellow gene. 

Despite this there are no moves to “breed out” the yellow gene because of the risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Health-wise they carry no major faults that aren’t present in blacks or livers, so it’s just about the colour of their coats.