Merle Chihuahua, Standard Change Arguements
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Arguments Against a Standard Amendment:

1. They will DQ other colors !
A) Our known colors with their problems have been in the breed. This merle pattern came from cross breeding period, so not only are you getting the problems of that pattern, you are also getting the genetic problems of other breeds. If you add merle, we may one day have to limit the color choices and that would be a sad day in this breed. Note that ALL breeds that are traditionally merle have limited acceptable color choices. ALSO, the Standard Amendment is NOT asking for a DQ, it states "Merle specimens shall be so severely penalized as to effectively remove them from competition." This is NOT a DQ.

2. Judges won't know merle and will DQ the wrong dogs.
A) This is really a slap in the face to most judges because if they have passed their provisional and have been breeders in the past they know what merle looks like. The occasional knowledge-challenged judge would probably not DQ if they are in doubt, at least this is suggested in the AKC educational literature. The CCA also has a very good judge's education seminar. Anyway merle is easy, it is a spotting pattern not a striping pattern.

3. The standard should not be changed because it has been that way.
A) The standard has been modified several times over the years. The little blurb about "the most diminutive preferred" was removed and some screamed about size going up but that has not proven true (unless you have been breeding merles).

If we do not preserve breed type now, we may as well all start our *GENERIC DOG* breeding program. There will be no reason to have standards to distinguish breeds. Merle is a very dominant gene and can take over as the primary color pattern in a breed very quickly. Merle robs the Chihuahua breed of type, that was decided by those that created the standard. Blue eyes ruin the saucy expression, blue eyed dogs are 50% more likely to be deaf when coupled with the presence of the merle gene. These are all facts to think about.

BJ Andrews wrote an article for Show Sight on this subject in all breeds HOW PURE IS PURE?. I have an article coming out in TNT . I hope you will read them and think very hard about this problem in our breed. Gloria Lambert

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