What is merle?
Merle is not actually a color but a gene that causes a random dilution pattern. The gene works on the base coat color, reducing pigment in certain areas and causing dapples and patches of color in random placement. The merle gene works on any base coat color, but results are not always apparent. To put it simply, think of the merle gene as bleach and your dog’s coat color as a dark-colored jacket. When you splash bleach on the jacket, the speckles where the color has been wash out will be very apparent. If you splash bleach on lighter clothing, the spots are less obvious. And when you bleach white socks,the splash marks are not visible at all—but the bleach is still there.
