UK Kennel Club now restricting Registration of Merle dogs

Today I came across an article in the Canine Chronical that
"The Kennel Club has announced that it will no longer accept registration application for merle-colored dogs in breeds where there is no documented evidence of the color having been well established over a sustained period."

I am glad that this British Registry is getting stricter on poor breeding practices.  This will help to discourage bad breeders from introducing the merle genes into their breeding lines in breeds, like the Schnauzer and poodle, that do not carry merle in its genetic background.

The puppy pictured above is not a Schnauzer.  The merle pattern indicates that it has Australian Shepherd in its geneology.

In other words, there is no such thing as a Merle Schnauzer or Poodle.   If someone has a Schnauzer with blue eyes, then it has another breed mixed into its lineage.  For instance some Schnauzer breeders breed in Australian Shepherd into their breeding lines to get the Merle look.  The same goes for blue eyed poodles or poodles with the merle patterned coat (see photo above)

What a terrible gene is the Merle!   What good breeder would want their dogs to carry this gene?  "the effects of the merle allele (M) are not confined to coat patterning and it is known that there can be an increased risk of impaired hearing and sight associated with it.  Particularly in dogs that are homozygous for M (dogs that carry two copies of the M allele)

Dr Tom Lewis, Genetics and Research Manager of the Kennel Club, added:  "The causal merle variant is dominant, so shows itself whenever it is present - even as a single copy.   Therefore, in most breeds, we know it cannot have been present 'under the radar', as can be the case for some recessive variants.  As a result, merle cannot suddenly 'emerge' in a breed after many years.  This is why the Kennel Club is able to take this position in relation to merle as the situation is relatively straight forward, unlike the vast majority of other colors"

So many Schnoodle buyers looking for a unique puppy are fascinated by the blue eyes or mottled coat of the merle puppy.   They do not know that the puppy is not a simple Schnauzer Poodle mix...rather that it has some other breed(s) mixed in.  When buying a Schnoodle people may be less careful about the parentage of the dogs that the puppy was bred from.   The problem is that the merle is a dangerous gene and is being bred through unscrupulous breeding practices.  So merle traits should be a RED flag to any puppy buyer.

Read more at 
CanineChronicle.com article