Why might Feyre have been abandoned?
Anyone who meets Feyre can’t believe that she was abandoned. She is social, well-behaved, friendly, and playful. She also had given birth fairly recently. If you are at all familiar with merle Great Dane genetics or the genetics behind the merle gene found in other dog breeds, you would understand.
Genetics wasn’t my best subject in college, so bear with me. If this is all new to you, the merle allele is semi-dominant; only one copy is needed to express the color pattern. Harlequins also have the merle allele with a modifier. To complicate matters, some colors can have a cryptic merle gene.
Animal Genetics explains it this way:
“The chances of having puppies that develop health issues increase when two merles are bred together. It is recommended that a merle dog only be bred to a non-merle/non-cryptic Merle dog. Cryptic merle dogs do not appear to be merle, but contain the merle gene. Many solid dogs are actually cryptic, also known as phantom, merles and can produce both merle and double merles if not careful.”
My theory is that someone didn’t understand Great Dane genetics and especially the genetics behind merle Great Dane genetics. Her litter resulted in double merle puppies who were either blind, deaf, both, or stillborn. Therefore, she wasn’t a good breeder.
The website, Dog Genetics, also has descriptions and the genotypes of all the colors and patterns which can occure in Great Danes.
No matter why she was abandoned, I feel lucky that she was and that she is in my life.
