Kennel Club To Refuse Registrations for Merle Staffordshire Bull Terriers General Chat

thought this might interest those of you with Staffies

The Kennel Club has issued a statement explaining that it will no longer accept registrations for Merle Staffordshire Bull Terriers. The club’s statement reads:

At the request of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Breed Council, the Kennel Club has agreed that it will no longer accept the registration of any merle coloured Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppies, with effect from 5th January 2010.

Coat colour in the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is complex because a range of colours is acceptable. Merle patterning, patches of lighter colour appearing in the coat, is the result of the M gene in the dog.

There are two alleles of this gene: MM (merle) and M+ (non-merle), with merle (MM) being dominant to non-merle (M+). In some breeds, the effect of the merle allele (MM) is termed ‘dapple’.

Unfortunately, the effects of the merle allele (MM) are not confined to coat patterning and we know that there can be an increased risk of impaired hearing and sight associated with it, particularly in dogs that are homozygous for MM (dogs that carry two copies of the MM allele).

Submitted by K9 Magazine News Editor on January 25, 2010 –

I didn't even know you could get Merle Staffies!

Off to Google............

You can't Rips unless another breed has been introduced ;-)
As far as I'm aware the SBT does not carry the Merle gene.

Excellent news I am glad the KC have taken notice of the Breed Council.

Ahh, that's ok then! Thought I was going mad for a sec there. Well, more mad!

What breed is being introduced then? Wouldn't be the one with TPAB in it's abbreviations would it?!

LOL

Haven't a clue Rips,but I know some members of a stafford forum and breed club members saw a few ads regarding Merle Staffords so the breed club asked the breed council to become involved and write to the KC explaining which they did and obviously took notice.

hi
we get blue brindle staffy crosses alot at work,is that what they mean by merle?:? :?

No,Blue and Blue Brindle are accepted colours and part of the breed standard.
Blue merle is merle which is found in other breeds but not the SBT,that's the colour they are referring to.

How bizarre! When I googled I couldn't find any pictures, but there were a couple of adverts on certain infamous internet sites. Surely if merle isn't a colour in the Staffy Breed Standard then the KC wouldn't be able to register them anyway?

No it's true merle as in Collies, Dachshunds, Great Danes etc.

I've seen they are being bred.... BUT and a big but.... the breeders of them, won't give a toss? If KC won't register then what's the big deal.

KC won't register Am Staffs or Pit Bulls (and I have heard it claimed the merle colouring came from them anyway). So let's push the system outlaws even further down into the underground.

Merle aka Dapple can be managed with proper breeding.... i.e. no merle to merle crossings. As has been done in Rough/Smooth collies, Border Collies, Shelties, Danes, Dachshunds and others for a long time.

If the KC did acknowledge merle staffs then at least someone could oversee the breedings and underline the fact that merle x merle should never be done.

Shoving them all underground like this gives every man & his uneducated goldfish who have never read anything about dog genetics, free rein to create as many blind, deaf & eyeless double merles as they want to without ever knowing it shouldn't be done.

Good move, KC..... Great to see you're educating people about dog genetics.

Well I would have thought so but there have been merles registered so it took the BC to sort it out and write to the KC.

I know other colours such as chocolate and champagne etc have been advertised not sure if they were registered but it's possible.

So are you suggesting that just because idiots exist they should be governed? What would that achieve?

Blimey! Sounds like a bad case of the ar$e and elbow to me!

it is very scary the thought of merles being bred to merles :-(

re the registering of colours ,novices to breeds can invent some interesting colours some of the siberian colours ive seen ;-)

The KC doesn't govern.

Let's all look forward to the deaf and micropthalmic Staffies being dumped in rescue in the next decade shall we?

Making them unregisterable isn't a positive step towards preventing deformed dogs being born. Pushing them underground isn't either.

I agree Rips,not sure what will happen regarding those registrations.

Staffords do not carry the merle gene so why should we have the colour as an accepted colour especially when the gene is known to cause health problems ?

you shouldnt should you? because that would mean you were accepting crosses,no?:? :?

So what do you suggest then?

This is it isn't it? Why should those who choose to follow the rules suffer just to compensate those idiots that don't? Not registering merle Staffies won't stop the numpties in life from breeding them, but hopefully it'll make it harder for them. Surely trying to prevent idiots from breeding dogs is far better than attempting to mop up the mess they've already made?

I was curious so did some digging and have found a few adverts for merle staffies in the uk.. this was the pup picture on one of them:



He's advertised as a 'rare merle Staffordshire bull terrier... The ad goes on to say; Rare Blue Merle Staffordshire Bull Terrier Pups - Gone are the days of seeing Blue Staffys as rare. These puppies are a very unique Blue Merle colour, only seen in exclusive rare bull breed dogs such as the Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog. We only have 2 pups left from a litter of 7, and with this lot there was no pick of the litter, each one has its own unique qualities. These pups will be very short and stocky with blue eyes. If you are looking for a quality Staff but would prefer something a little more special than a blue then these are the dogs for you. Only one female remaining..

???

And the price for such a rare jewel?... £450

yep,very rare because staffords don't carry the merle gene,so at some point something has been mixed in there.

Agree entirely Rips.
We have got enough morons breeding Staffords the last thing the breed needs is more idiots breeding "Rare merles" the idiots which should not be breeding in the first place,who don't have a clue about breeding and certainly wouldn't have a clue about the health issues assiociated with the merle gene which does not exsist in Staffords.

so do you all think that these pups could have something genetically wrong with them if so, is there no way breeders like this can be reported and stopped from producing pups with a Merl gene :-( poor Staffies are over bred as it is