White great dane (pic)

[shais_mom]

Very stunning Dane. But I have to wonder also if it could be deaf or blind? Danes don't usually come all white do they, this is the first one I've seen. Hope the nose doesn't get sunburned...

Jess stated that she didn't talk to the owner so she wasn't sure if she was deaf -
not sure about blindness tho

[tikeyas_mom]

Wow stunning dog!!
Must get alot of attention.. Put her through some mudd And shes be brown a brown dane

[shepgirl]

I really don't know about Albino, suppose we could google that. I've seen one albino person during my whole lifetime but I guess there are albino animals. Really don't know for sure. I tried looking at the Danes eyes with a magnifying glass to see if it was blind but I couldn't tell.

[K9soul]

From what I read when googling ,there is no albinism in danes (though there are in some animal species). I do not think this girl was blind, she watched us very intently, and when they passed us on the trail the dane kept looking back at my dogs with interest. I didn't chat with the owner so I do not know if she was deaf but from what I read the deafness that is common in whites and double merles is caused by lack of pigmentation in the inner ear which causes the hair follicles that conduct sound waves to fall out and thus result in deafness.

[Spiritwind]

Here is a picture of a double merle/Double Dilute (lethal white) smooth Collie who is blind and deaf.... he actually has no eyes. I know the person who owns him.




Also I knew a person in Ohio a while back who had several danes... he had 2 that were pretty much solid white (one lived to be 14yrs old, even after he bloated at age 10 - and he was HUGE even for a Dane!) but neither of his white danes were deaf or blind.

Janna

[jennielynn1970]

Exactly what does it mean by "lethal" white? Is that because they could be blind and deaf, or they have a high death rate? I've seen this written here a few times, but I'm not sure what it refers to.

The dane is gorgeous, I hope she/he can see and hear. The collie/sheltie that was pure white with no eyes.. how sad! You'd think people would want to breed for health. Thank god there are people out there who will love and take care of animals born with such disabilities.

[Spiritwind]

Honestly I think "lethal" white was a name given to the white offspring of a merle x merle breeding. Years ago they would just automaticly put the solid white pups down, thinking they were sickly (other than being just deaf or blind).... and I guess on occasion you might get other issues that pop up with them.... but I personally prefer the term Double Merle or Double Dilute, I think it describes the dog and its color better.

Also, not all double merles are deaf or blind... some can both see and hear just fine.

These "lethal" whites are geneticly NOT white.... they are a result of doubling up on the merle (a dilute gene) gene. They are not white, they are merles (In the smooth Collies case pictured above and probably also in the danes case - Blue Merles geneticly)...

Merle is an incomplete dominat dilution gene... which is how you get the silvery/grey coat (for blue merles) mixed with the black patches... a blue merle is a diluted black dog... a red merle is a diluted red dog etc.. ie. You breed Tri-color Collie to Blue Merle Collie = Blue and Tri pups, but the blue merles are the result of the merle gene mixed with the tri.... it dilutes the tri into that silvery color in spots.. in other areas you get the black patches where it did not dilute the color.

When you breed Merle to Merle you double up on the dilution gene which dilutes the color even more and gives you a dog who appears white... this also causes the possible vision and hearing problems.

The smooth collie in the picture i posted is from a sable merle to a blue merle breeding. Both parents are champions.... and this double merle smooth Collie has been bred.... his deafness and blindness is the result of his color.. so this is not something that is passed to offspring. I know the person who bred and owns this dog.... and he has produced some beautiful puppies. When a double merle is bred to a tri-color the litter will be 100% normal blue merles. I personally would NEVER purposely breed merle to merle because of what could happen... but I do know people who have.....