7 replies to this topic

[~V1]

I was browsing an adoption site and saw a dog labeled as male and it had three colours, Black, White and Yellow/Orange. I was wondering if it's possible he's a male because I know Tortoise is a female only gene in some animals, but some other animals both genders can have it.


(If I remember Tort is a female gene only in all animals, but tri-colour isn't, as in not all tri-colour are Tort?)

[daisy~]

Lots of breeds can have the black, brown and white pattern, such as Bernese Mountain Dogs, Beagles etc. It's not analogous to tortoiseshell patterning in hamsters and cats at all. There are various genes in dogs which can cause both black and brown in the coat, and white areas would be caused by spotting genes.

 

By the way, it's theoretically quite possible that black and brown male hamsters could exist some day (outside of anomalous male tortoiseshells). There is the Tan colouring in mice already so a similar mutation could pop up in hamsters too, but whether that happens is completely random.

Edited by daisy03, 10 December 2020 - 03:26 AM.

[TurboHamster]

Well, I'm not sure about this stuff but there is a very easy way to confirm if the dog's male or female... you know.. um... yeah.

[Pippapotamus]

It is definitely male if it is labeled male. It's very hard to mistake a male vs female dogs due to visible external genitalia. 

[MerryBB]

 

 

In addition to daisy03's explanation, tricolor male domestic cats are absolutely possible- sex linked genes don't actually have to present exclusively in one sex or the other, and it's really more of an 'overwhelming majority' thing in cats. The likelihood of a calico or tort being male is in the low-mid hundredths of a percent and they tend to be sterile, but they exist and end up in rescue fairly often because of our massive cat overpopulation crisis leading to a beautiful petri dish of rare genetics in rescue cat populations.. sigh. 

 

(This prompted me to go on petfinder and search for male tricolors within 100m of my location.. And of course I found one, and he's adorable, and I can't have another cat I can't have another cat I can't have another cat...- )

[Robosrock]

Definitely a male if labeled as such! I can’t imagine anyone mixing up male and female dogs.

As stated, a lot of breeds have been bred to have three colors and it’s no different for males.

[nebit]

Tricolor in dogs is not a sex-linked gene. It's simply tan points or saddle back tan plus white spotting. It occurs in a number of breeds and is equally common in males and females. Indeed some dog breeds ONLY come in tricolor, such as the various swiss mountain dog breeds.

[TrudeMudeni]

I think at least one percent of any anomaly is happening. If you think about it, you get it. What if it’s the only make tri-color dog in this world? However, it’s only my theory, and I’m not sure. My friend who works at shelterapet.com says that animals as people can have unusual genes. Do you remember the couple of two people from Africa with dark skin giving birth to a white-skin girl? She even had blue eyes and hair, and her mother wasn’t cheating on her husband (I think It might have been proved by scientists discovering that question; they wouldn’t spend so much time thinking about the result of cheating). Strange genes ‘games’ can happen to dogs as well

Edited by TrudeMudeni, 03 August 2022 - 07:54 PM.