Deafness is not COMMON in Aussies as a breed itself. Deafness is common only because of bad breedings. The merle gene is either recessive or dominant. You can have mm, and Mm dogs from merle to merle crossings that will have NO problems at all. It is the ones that are MM that are referred to as "lethal whites" and can have hearing or sight problems.
I suppose its more "common" in Aussies because the blue merle coat is so pretty, people think "hey if I breed two blue merles together, I will have all blue merle puppies!" and that is when, depending on the parents, you will get the mm, Mm or MM gene crossing.
Of course, you can still carry the gene and not be a merle... that's mm. You can have a mm... black tri, or whatever, and when bred to another they might produce merle puppies. lol
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