Articles about American Pit Bull Terrier
An explanation of the tan-point pattern sometimes seen in the American Pit Bull Terrier
Where does the black and tan "Rottweiler looking" pattern come from, and is it a sign that an APBT is not purebred? Since this color pattern pops up more frequently in our bloodline than in some others, it is a necessity to write up a short article explaining this color pattern, how it is inherited, and where it comes from. The tan point pattern is caused by a recessive gene on the Agouti series gene locus, the following are the alleles (variations) that are definitely known to occur in the American Pit Bull Terrier. There are also a couple of other genes on this same locus, but they are most likely not present in this breed, so they will br ignored in this article to try and keep things simple. A 14 week old black & tan APBT puppy. Though unusual-looking, this pattern is a perfectly natural coloration for a Pit Bull. Agouti locus alleles present in the APBT. A Dominant Black produces a solid color (ie.black, chocolate or blue). A Dominant Yellow - produces reds and Tan-Point (recessive)- produces solid color with tan 'points' *Note: There is strong evidence to suggest that there are either two separate genes causing a solid black coat, or possibly even just one gene that is NOT on the agouti locus, but that is a whole different matter to be saved for another article. If black is in fact not an agouti locus gene then Dominant Yellow should be expressed as Ay instead of ay. A dog needs to inherit two copies of the tan-point gene to be a black & tan. If a pup inherits one copy of the tan-point gene and one copy of the dominant yellow gene, which causes a red or buckskin coloration, then the dog will be red or buckskin, not black and tan. If the dog inherits one copy of the tan-point gene and one of the dominant black gene, the result will be a solid black dog. Because of the recessive nature of the tan-point gene, it can actually remain hidden in the gene pool for many generations without expressing itself.
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