Misinfo Re: Albinism, Why bother with facts when people believe everything they read?
Color in Golden Retrievers and UNscientific ramblings about Albinism. I call your attention to an essay which appeared on the Golden Retriever Forum blog. Looks like more than 500 people were impressed. I was not.
The authors opinions are not fact, even if she cites sources in a general way. I doubt any one of them would agree with her conclusions.
There is nothing in science which documents that a lighter colored dog is more likely to produce Albinism. Same is true of other members of the animal kingdom. The almost white Golden is not almost an albino. It is like saying someone is almost pregnant-- either she is or is not.
The quote: " It is believed that the Albinism gene and its alleles are responsible for the washing out of color that changes a (G)olden from any shade of red to cream." Believed by whom? Ascertained by whom? Asserted by whom-- besides the blogger herself? Based upon what evidence?
To be continued....
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ReplyDeleteMisinfo--did you ever see a Golden get lighter with age? They darken my friends (whether you use ear color as a pup for a guide or whatever).
Just as there is a gene for Albinism there is a separate gene that determines whether a coat will lighten or darken after birth--possibly two different genetic factors may be involved. One to decrease color intensity, one to increase color concentration. There is no current science that links either to an albino dog.
ReplyDeleteHow can you discuss coat color in dogs and NOT refer AT ALL to one of the two master genes for color? Red, my friends is the base for yellows, reds, creams and such. Yes there is a black master gene and one which appears an offshoot of that-- black and tan.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of that fact, however, one cannot assume an albino gene is a fading gene is a dilute gene, or that one or more is attached to the other in some sort of pleiotrophy (the production by a single gene of two or more unrelated effects).
Consider the Beardie collie. Pups are born one of four distinct colors-- black and brown and blue and fawn. The latter two are respectively dilutes of the first two. At birth, the color differences are clear. The four birth colors are set in stone. But Mother Nature works her mischief. She throws another genetic factor into the mix-- the"fading" gene.
All four birth colors generally fade as the pups develop. As adults most look quite gray or quite sandy. If you didn't know a pup was born fawn in color, you would later think his eyes or nose leather to be too light for a born-brown Beardie. Blues tend to be a bit easier to discern primarily due to blue nose leather if nothing else. The exhibitor should tell a judge the birth color to be treated fairly in the ring.
Beardies that retain the full intensity of their birth color (non-fading specimens) are rarely seen. Undercoats tend to be more sparse and they don't "fluff up" as well to suit the judges and the dog show crowd. Jet black and whites and rich brown and whites no doubt owe their intense color to breed history. As the story goes, Beardies were saved from extinction after WWII. Fanciers bred known Beardies to those which "looked like" Beardies. The farmers and herders cared not a whit. Too much white on the body was to be avoided-- not because of any fear of albinism but because they did not stand out among the sheep they herded.
Now consider the Golden. The United States and tag-along Mexico have the only Standards which fail to recognize TWO coat colors-- Gold AND cream.(a third birth color-- red --is considered verboten by all breeders worldwide. Dumb but true)
The feathering on a gold dog is not cream but light gold; the light feathering (if discernible at all) on a cream coat is light cream.
If there is a "fading" gene in Goldens-- probably not true --how would it show? On the feathering? Certainly not on the overall body color.
Everything suggests that Goldens-- of any birth color --DARKEN as they mature. The lighter feathering may well be the unaltered birth color of the dog in question. A "darkening" gene may have been blocked from affecting those portions of the coat (the feathers) which are lighter on the adult.
Born-gold Goldens mature to a darker color gold, red-born Goldens to a darker red, and born-cream Goldens to a darker cream. But neither of the latter two TURN GOLD. It is NOT a genetic possibility.
A guide generally recognized is to look at a pup's ear color. He will most likely be that color at maturity. May I suggest that you look at the rest of the pup? That may well be the color of his "non-darkening" feathering.