 Chinchilla gene continued...
Sorry I hit the wrong button ...
Some goldens are clear coated (no black hairs intermixed), some are sable goldens (having black hairs mixed within the gold). None have black or grey saddles - otherwise they'd be traditional colored - golden's lack the saddle agouti gene that the traditional yorkies have (so neither traditional parent was homozygous for the saddle agouti gene and neither parent passed 1 saddle gene onto the golden pup).
Ok, so Goldens vary in shades from a light platinum blond to a golden red (but so do the rest of our blue and tan yorkies who's "tan" coloring vary from shades of blonde to shades of gold and sometimes almost red). There are genes that modify the intensity of the tan coloring in our dogs - the chinchilla gene is found in canines and does modify the strength of the tan/gold coloring but there are others genes that modify and or dilute the color intensity as well.
I don't know and certainly wouldn't guarantee or promote, that a golden yorkie carries the chinchilla gene. If that's what people want to claim, than I think it's only fair to claim that all yorkies carry the chinchilla gene because the intensity of the tan in our yorkies, varies from one dog to the next. There are some genes or gene modifiers that causes the differences in shades of the tan coloring in our traditional and golden yorkies but I don't know if I'd say it's the chinchilla gene that's causing the shade variations.
I've also attached a photo showing clear coated platinum and golden pups, all attachments courtesy of Cindy Chandler.
I don't know if this helps or confuses - it's just my opinion :-) |