Basic Genetics for colour inheritance...

'Is that a cross between a kelpie and a border collie??' - this would have to be the most frequently asked question I get when people see my chocolate and white border collies and it is usually followed, when I tell them it is a purebred B.C., by 'I thought Border Collies were black and white.' Certainly, the majority of B.C's are black and white but there are many other variations in colour of this beautiful breed. These colours include...
  ...each of these colours is usually balanced by white markings. Characteristically the border is seen to have a full white collar and white 'socks' with a white tail tip - this does not mean that a dog without these 'typical' markings is not a border.

Black is the basic colour of the breed and it is variations upon this colour gene that creates many of the colour variations we see. Blue is a dilute of the black gene, chocolate is a mutation of the black gene, red is created by an allelic series attached to the black gene, lilac is a dilution of the chocolate gene, tricolour is part of the standard agouti series and so on. If you wish to learn more about basic genetics and colour inheritance and don't wish to need a university degree to understand I strongly recommend Border Collies written by Joan Bray - published by Kangaroo Press.

Most of these colours are recessive to black - this means that, like the Storage disease gene, the colours are dominated by black. If we designate black as B and chocolate as b then we can create a Mendelian table for colour inheritance also...

Remember, a dog inherits 1 colour gene from each parent and therefore has 2 genes which determine its colour...

A black dog with no colour behind it is designated' BB' and it is going to be mated to a chocolate dog 'bb' (chocolate must be bb because if B appeared anywhere it would dominate the colour inheritance and the dog would be black but carry chocolate.)

 
 
B
B
b
bB (black puppy)
bB (black puppy)
b
bB (black puppy)
bB (black puppy)
 
Recombination of colour genes - if one of these bB puppies was mated to a chocolate dog then...
 
 
 
 
B
b
b
bB (black puppy)
bb (chocolate puppy)
b
bB (black puppy)
bb (chocolate puppy)
A black dog can produce chocolate dogs if he/she carries the chocolate gene and the dog they are mated to also carries the chocolate gene. Two black dogs can therefore produce chocolate - under the right circumstances.
Examples from my litters over the last 9 years...

Bordercheck Cinamon Cake CD (chocolate)  x Ulara Lignite Luke UD (chocolate)            9 chocolate puppies
Bordercheck Cinamon Cake CD (chocolate)  x Bordercheck Turbo Boy (black)        6 chocolate / 3 black puppies
Caylith Classic Jazz (chocolate)  x Tulukera Charioteer (black)  2 matings...               8 chocolate / 1 black puppies
                                                                                                                                                8 chocolate / 3 black puppies
Caylith Highland Mist (chocolate)  x  Bordercheck Cinamon Jack (chocolate)              8 chocolate puppies
Caylith Apache (chocolate)  x Bordercheck Cinamon Jack (chocolate)                        6 chocolate/ 1 chocolate tricolour
Hispida Tri Sheba (black tricolour)  x Bordercheck Cinamon Jack                                7 chocolate / 3 black puppies
Shebashine Cindy (chocolate tricolour)  x  Caylith Pawnee (black)                               6 black / 2 black tricolour
Talquah Magic Suzie (black)  x Bordercheck Cinamon Jack (chocolate)                    8 black puppies

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