Is a blue tick merle Beagle, a real Beagle? These dogs are not a purebred Beagle, however they still can exist as a designer breed Beagle.
During my research of understanding dog genetics, I have ran across a dog that claimed to be a blue merle blue tick Beagle.
I have been in the Beagle breeding business for a few years, during that time I have never heard of or ran across such a Beagle.
So naturally my curiosity got the better of me.
I cannot provide a picture of this dog since I do not own the image. However, I can provide a link to a picture you can view in a different tab: You can view the picture at: https://pin.it/2fKCUVW .
The purpose of this article is to provide information and inform those that might be in search of a blue merle blue tick Beagle.
Blue Merle Blue Tick Beagles are Not Purebred!
How do I know that they are not purbreds? Simple. The merle pattern coat gives it away.
The merle pattern coat is not found in the Beagle breed. One would have to cross a Beagle with a breed that has the merle pattern coat in order to bring it into the gene pool.
Now does this mean that a Merle Beagle is not a true Beagle? It depends on your definition of a “true Beagle”.
What you need to be aware of is that somewhere in its ancestries, there’s a cross breeding that occurred.
With this knowledge, I would give caution to the potential buyer of such a Beagle.
I do not care if this Beagle is not a purebred. What I do care about is those that clam that they sale purebred merle Beagles.
From what I understand, most if not all, respected dog kennels like AKC and UKC do not recognize the merle Beagle as a purebred Beagle.
So be careful if you stumble across a breeder who claims to have a merle Beagle puppy that comes with registration papers.
If they do claim to have papers, contact the breeder and ask questions. Ask which kennel the dogs are registered with.
Once you obtain the kennels name, contact the kennel and ask them if they do recognize the merle Beagle.
There are times that a breeder might have registered a Beagle by some other color than what they are claiming.
With the blue tick merle Beagle, they may have registered it as a blue tick beagle or a silver beagle.
They will then turn around and sale the Beagle as a merle and yet still be able to provide registration papers.
Therefore deceiving the kennel they are registered with as well as the buyer.
A Designer Breed?
A quick note. Some kennels do recognize and provide paper work for designer breeds. A designer breed is a mixture of two different purebred dogs. This is most likely what a merle Beagle would fall under.
Do your homework and research before you buy. Ask if the puppy is registered as a designer breed or a purebred. Then contact the kennel to see if they provide papers for such a breed.
How to Get a Merle Beagle Through Breeding!
Now for the fun part. How to get or breed for a merle Beagle. As I mentioned earlier, the merle pattern coat is not found in Beagles. So the first step, is too introduce this coat pattern into your Beagle line.
The exciting news is that the merle gene is dominate. Which means that it only takes one, to produce the merle coat pattern. If it was recessive then it would take two.
One way to go, is by breeding a Beagle with an Australian Shepherd.
Now the key here is to breed to an Australian Shepherd that has the merle pattern coat. An Australian Shepherd with a merle pattern coat will carry a copy of the merle gene.
Breeding a Beagle with an Australian Shepherd that has the merle gene, gives the offspring a 50% chance of inheriting the merle gene. If the offspring does inherit the gene, their coat will be merle.
As shown in the image below.
The dominate Merle gene, is represented by a capital “M”. All the pups that inherited a gentice makeup of “Mm” would be merle.
While all the pups that inherit “mm” would not be merle.
Do not breed a Beagle to an Australian Shepherd that does not have the dominate merle gene. This breeding would result in a zero percent chance of passing on the merle gene.
Australian Shepherd Beagle Mix! The Sheagle!
Despite if you breed a Beagle to a merle Australian Shepherd or just a plain Australian Shepherd, the offspring of that mix would be called a Sheagle.
If you are interested in learning more about the Sheagle, you can check out: Australian Shepherd Beagle Mix – Your complete guide to the Sheagle.
When most people think of a Blue Merle Blue Tick Beagle, they may really be thinking of a Sheagle.
If you are interested in a Sheagle, then I suggest checking out LadysLitter Facebook page.
If the Sheagle is not Beagle enough for you then keep reading.
From a Sheagle to a Blue Merle Blue Tick Beagle!
Once you have a blue merle Sheagle, the next step is to breed it back to another Beagle.
As mentioned earlier, the merle gene is a dominate gene and it only takes one, to get the merle look. A merle Sheagle bred to a Beagle would give the same results as before, where there would be a 50% chance of inheriting the merle gene.
Mixing a Sheagle with a Beagle will also dilute the genetic makeup of the Australian Shepard and strengthen that of the Beagle.
In other words, the offspring of this litter should now have a merle puppy that looks more like a Beagle.
Now repeat this process. keep a merle Beagle from the litter and breed back to a Beagle. By the 3rd to 4th generation, you should have a blue merle blue tick Beagle.
A Word of Advice.
I just explained how one might go about getting merle Beagle through breeding. However if you follow this process, you are responsible for each litter of puppies you have.
It is your responsibility to find them good families that will love and care for them.
If you cannot handle this responsibility, then I suggest that you find someone who does breed blue merle blue tick Beagles and contact them.
The last thing I am trying to promote here is irresponsible breeding!
Beware the Double Merle! Never Breed two Merle Beagles Together!
As stated in the topic, never breed two double merle’s together, no matter the breed.
Breeding to merles together gives a 25% chance that one of their offspring will inherit two merle genes.
If a puppy inherits double merle, they will come out white and have a chance to be blind, deaf or both.
Deaf Dogs Rock, does a good job in explaining the dangers and complication that comes with a double merle dog.
It is not worth it! There is not reason to do a crossing of two merle dogs. You can get the same results by breeding a merle with a non merle dog.
Like everything else, make sure you do your research so you can understand the risk.
Merle pattern is a cool coat pattern. A blue merle blue tick Beagle is, in my option, even cooler. Be careful and breed safe and responsibly.