Long-Coated Dalmatians

The pup in this picture is a liver long-coated Dalmatian.  The recessive gene for long hair can occasionally be found in this breed but it not very common, nor is it acceptable for the show ring.  There was a time when something like this showing up in one of your litters would be cause for concern, but because genetic testing is now available for such things, it's possible to breed this out of a line, or to breed around it.   However, many Dal owners (including show people) are actually quite fascinated by long coats, and also by well marked tri-colors.

This pup is AKC registered, and the owner found me on the Internet when searching for information on long-coated Dals.  Because I have coat and color pages on my website, people often contact me about such things - but rarely are the dogs this cute!  Long-coat is a simple recessive, meaning that both parents must carry the gene, but it may not be evident on them.  A dog must carry two copies of the long-coat gene to have long hair.  Dogs that just have one copy of will have normal short coats.  This pup had two short-haired parents, but was from a father/daughter breeding, presumably an accident, which increased the chances of doubling up on recessive genes.  Inbreeding does not "create" recessive characteristics, but does increase the chances of them being doubled up on.  As in the case of Nova!