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Originally Posted by pstinard  |
To summarize the articles on dog skull shape, there are about 5 genes that regulate the difference between brachycephalic (short pug-like nose) and dolichocephalic (long collie-like nose). Although Minnie's nose is longer than a typical Yorkie's nose, it's still on the short side, so maybe one or two of the skull shape genes are "off type." Unless Minnie is subjected to thorough DNA testing (which would be prohibitively expensive unless she were part of a university research project on off-type dogs), we'll probably never know. The take-away lesson from these articles for Yorkie breeders is to get an idea of how many genes control each trait, so they can test their breeding stock should tests ever become publicly available, and so they can figure out how easy or difficult it would be to eliminate particular off types from their breeding stock. Enjoy your summer reading!