Posted by Now, there are a lot of cross breeds of dogs and if you heard some of them, you may feel unfamiliar with them. One of the crossbreed dogs is Aussiedoodle which is crossbred between an Australian Shepherd and a Poodle. However, have you heard Phantom Blue Merle AussieDoodle? What is it actually? You are able to read about Phantom Blue Merle AussieDoodle here.
About Phantom Blue Merle AussieDoodle
According to the Awesome Doodle site, the phantom in phantom blue merle is that the puppy has generous amounts of copper or tan on its face, legs, eyebrows, and chest. On Awesome Doodle site, the phantom blue merle is one of their most requested colours.
On the Pup Vine site, it is explained that since the merle is not a completely dominant gene, if there are two merles which are mated, one out every four offspring will be a ‘double merle’ and this doodle puppy is called a phantom blue merle Aussiedoodle.
About AussieDoodle
AussieDoodle is also known as Aussiepoo and Aussiepoodle. This breed is a mix between an Australian Shepard dog and a Poodle. In many cases, this breed is a result of mixing a female purebred Australian Shepherd and a male purebred Poodle.
You may have a wrong understanding about Australian Shepherd because of its name, but the thing that you have to know is that Australian Shepherd came from the United States. Its ancestors came to the USA and then farmers bred them to herd cattle. Same as most herding breeds, Australian Shepherd is a dog which is loyal, smart and high-energy.
How about Poodles? According to the Pup Vine site, there is not a decisive stance on the origin of the Standard Poodle, but most experts believe that the breed came from Germany and was developed by French breeders. Poodles are one of the oldest hunting breeds and they were trained for hunting and retrieving ducks.
The Look of Blue Merle AussieDoodle
How is the look of blue merle AussieDoodle? The coat of this breed is a palette of white, gray, and blue with shades of tan. These colors can be found in intermittent spots all over their coat. If you think that the word merle refers to color, you are wrong. Instead, it is a name for the merle pattern or the merle color combination. The combination of merle color is also usually followed by white markings, often with tan points. Besides giving an impact on the base color of the coat, the merle gene also changes nose, eye, and paw pad color. That’s why blue merle Aussiedoodles often have blue eyes. The standard colors of nose and paw pads are pink and black.
To be able to get the blue merle coat, usually breeders breed a light-colored Poodle with a blue merle Australian Shepherd. Since the blue merle color is a dominant trait, it almost always results in puppies inheriting a base coat color of black with a bluish cast as explained on the Pup Vine site.
According to scientists, the merle gene does not only give an impact on the pattern of color, but also the appearance of the muzzle and the eyebrows.
Other Popular Colors of AussieDoodle
Besides blue merle, here are the other colors of AussieDoodle according to the Pup Vine site and they are listed based on popularity.
- Red merle AussieDoodle
This color is the second most popular AussieDoodle coat pattern. AussieDoodle with this color usually have a red (brown) base with a few white and tan-colored spots. - Black and Chocolate AussieDoodle
AussieDoodle with this color can have solid coloring and also a mixture of both. There are also shade combinations which appear. - Bi-color/tri-color AussieDoodle
Bi-colored and tri-colored doodles are doodles which have two or three colors on their coats. They have the coat of the Australian Shepherd, but they are missing the merle pattern. Brown, black, and red are the most common combinations. They are paired with white and tan, with the white is mostly represented on the head or paws as cited from Pup Vine. - Red tri-color
Red tri-color AussieDoodle is one of the most difficult color to find. AussieDoodle with this color has a red base on their coats and white markings on their bodies and heads. - Phantom AussieDoodle
This AussieDoodle has a brown, black, or red base with markings which can be found all around its body. Usually, these markings can be found on the chest, muzzle, legs, neck, paws, stomach, and around the eyes. - Black phantom AussieDoodle
They have markings around the eyes, legs, on chest, and stomach. The markings are generally tan-colored. - Red phantom AussieDoodle
This color is a contrast to the black phantom. They have a red base and tanned highlights which can be found around the face, chest and legs. You can also find that their paws and chest have white markings. - Black tuxedo AussieDoodle
This AussieDoodle has patches of white around the neck and chest, apart from the black base. - Red tuxedo AussieDoodle
This AussieDoodle has a red base color and there are markings that you can find around the neck and chest. - Teddy color AussieDoodle
This AussieDoodle has a black base with a collar which is white and/or tan-colored. You can see that it is the same as a teddy bear. - Sable AussieDoodle
This AussieDoodle has hairs with black tips. The rest color of the hair is gray, tan, silver or beige.
Whether All Merle AussieDoodles Have Blue Eyes or Not
You may wonder whether all merle AussieDoodles have blue eyes or not. Well, the thing that you have to know is that the merle gene affects the color of a dog’s iris as explained on the Designer Dog World site. Furthermore, it is also explained that the dappled effect does not spread evenly, so it can affect the dog’s eye color. The combinations of color can be seen in one or both eyes of merle dogs.
Merle AussieDoodles can be blue as long as they inherit the dominant merle gene from the Australian Shepherd. However, it is also important for you to note that they also have other eye colors such as brown, amber, green, gray and marbled.
