so you're saying that neither dog is merle . . but you can breed them and produce leopard spotted pups? have you done this? does the red dog have any black in his coat? his nails? his nose?
Here is a link to the hidden merle gene or cryptic Merel or ghost merel and show a few pics of examples.
www.fairmatecatahoulas.com/merle-gene.htmlhere is a great link on deafness. Good read with some good info.
www.offa.org/deaf_genetics.htmlMy dad bought a young American Leopard male dog a long time ago that went deaf when it turned two. I was always taught that they don't always have to be born deaf to become deaf. That they could turn deaf as they get older and a lot of times this was before the dog turned two years old. Dad had seen leopards do this before. Mostly out of a double merle cross but not always. Also the deaf ones didn't haft to have a lot of white on them either so some of this had to be inherited.
Check the links out if you get a chance.
Poll
