A Series

 

The A series is by far my favorite and what I consider to be the most fascinating. It is responsible for many color variations across all breeds of canine, but I am only discussing information pertaining to dachshunds. The primary annotations and their respective explanations are as follows:

 

a^y- gene responsible for no tan points, and is dominant. This dog is genetically red when it receives at least one a^y gene. This gene acts in a manner that the red that is otherwise associated with tan points, but keeps going up and over the body. Meaning, it is typically thought that the tan points control how far down the self color (black or chocolate) goes, but is actually the opposite. A shaded red (red with a black or chocolate overlay) genetically only has 1 a^y gene, and is referred to as a heterozygous red. Clear reds (no shading) that receive 2 a^y genes are referred to as homozygous reds, and for the reason addressed above, can only produce red offspring.

 

a^t- gene responsible for tan points, and is recessive. The a^t gene restricts how far the red markings of a dog will proceed up the legs, throughout the face, and so forth to allow for the expression of the black based pigments. When a dog receives 2 a^t genes, they are black based (see B Series) tan pointed, except in the case of an ee red (see Genetics Overview Page). When an a^ta^t/tan pointed dog is bred to another a^ta^t dog, all offspring will be genetically tan pointed. When a tan pointed dog is bred to a non-pointed dog (a^y), all offspring will at the least carry for points.  

 

a^s- gene responsible for the sable pattern, and it is dominant. At least one parent must be sable to produce it. The sable appearance is with the self color (such as red) at the base of the hair with black tips at the end of each of the hairs. Shaded reds are commonly mislabeled as sables, but the initial way to tell the difference is that a sable looks like a black and tan from a distance whereas a shaded red does not. Sometimes, it can take up to 6 months for the sable pattern to appear so you are better to look for a sable pattern on the hair strand of the parent to know for sure.

 

a^w- gene responsible for the wildboar and wolf patterns, and is dominant. The wolf pattern and wildboar patterns are comparable to that of sable, but are specific to smooth and wire coats. Additionally, each thread of hair for these patterns will have 3 or more bands of color. A dog can be wolf or wildboar with or with tan points.

 

B Series

 

The B Series is responsible for both of your black based pigments; black and chocolate. It's fairly short and simple in that aspect. The only gene series that dilutes black based pigments is the d-series. With receipt of two of the d series dilution genes, in addition to what is discussed below, the result will be either a blue or Isabella dog; blue is simply a black dog with 2 d dilution genes and Isabella is simply a chocolate dog with 2 d dilution genes.

 

B-gene responsible for black self coloring. Black is recessive to a red dog (a^y), and dominant to a chocolate dog. Only 1 B gene needs to be received in the absence of an a^y gene to produce a black and tan.

 

b-gene responsible for a chocolate self coloring. It is recessive to both red (a^y) and black; therefore, a dog must receive two b genes in order for the chocolate pigment to be expressed. Chocolate is often considered to be a dilute of black, but this is not true. The difference between black and chocolate is the size and shape of the proteins making up the eumelanin pigment granules. The chocolates have smaller granules that are also rounder, creating a brown pigment versus the black that is significantly larger (at a microscopic level of course). The proteins themselves are determining dominant versus recessive and the actual coat pigment.

 

C Series

 

The C Series is responsible for the red and cream areas of the dog. Like the B series, it is a fairly short series of discussion. In the event that you have a pointed dog (black with tan points/black and tan, chocolate with tan points/chocolate and tan, and so forth), the C series determines the color of the points. The only dilution gene that dilutes red based pigments is the chinchilla dilution. Again, this is an overview of the C-series, but you can feel free to email me for more information about further annotations within the C series.

 

C- Creates a red pigment. At the minimum, all dogs have two C positions in their genotype and are typically annotated as CC (red).

 

C^ch- This is the annotation for what is commonly referred to as "blush". Genetically, blush is red, and should be registered as such.  In this case, the two placings of the C series would be annotated as CC^ch; meaning that one position of the C series is strictly red and that the other red gene also possesses a single chinchilla dilution gene.

 

C^chC^ch- Ohhh the beautiful creams, and its variations (cream, black and cream, chocolate and cream, etc). When each of the red C series genes also receive a chinchilla dilution gene, the dog is either cream or cream pointed (contingent on A series annotations). A dog with two chinchilla genes are commonly referred to as English creams, but the country of origin is irrelevant as the genetic makeup is the determining factor of the color.