Fawn?

[A_Meleon]

My mother just bred her red and white pembrooke. They are only a couple weeks old but one of them is so very light she thinks it might be a fawn. Is fawn rare and what might be the chances that it is fawn?
Thanks for any help. Stacy

[glencorgi]

Could very well be fawn, not an unusual shade of red and white around these days.

Debbie

[jakort1]

Deb,
What is the genetics behind a "fawn"? I remember reading the coat genetics about Cardigans, is it the same for Pembrokes (is it heresy to even say that)?

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by jakort1

Deb,
What is the genetics behind a "fawn"? I remember reading the coat genetics about Cardigans, is it the same for Pembrokes (is it heresy to even say that)?

Not heresy at all <LOL>. In Pembrokes, most fawns are just a pale shade of red. One school of speculation is if one continually breeds red to red, eventually the color lightens. In order to keep a deep rich red, one needs to breed to tri on occasion.

In Cardigans there are two genetic ways to get the pale red. The first is a true color = called "clear red" or little e red for the loci on which it appears. At one time we had forum member with a Cardi puppy this color. It was from a blue to a black breeding; the blue having little e tan points and the black & white carrying for little e red. Point color and location is also controlled genetically and sometimes genetics does not restrict to those areas and the color will cover the whole body. This is what happened with the puppy named Biscuit. If you do a search, you might still find him. It is an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance - both parents have to have a gene for the color for it to be expressed.

The other source of the pale red in Cardigans and this also is the source of some in Pembrokes is the chinchilla or agouti (as it is called in some breeds) gene. Chinchilla/agouti is a dilute meaning it washes out the color (you might have heard them called "pinks") to a pale red. I have a red headed tri Pemmie girl with agouti points. I've seen a few red & white Pems that were probably agouti dilutes and last year I saw a puppy with this coloration. It was nearly white. Again, mode of inheritance is recessive; both parents have to be carrying for it.

Debbie

[LaRogue]

There is a picture of a fawn Pembroke here, third one down, that might help.
PWCCA

[Michael Romanos]

I am very much in favour of keeping Pems as real red with white markings rather than any excessive dilution of red. Mind you I am not all that keen on a very deep red either.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by A_Meleon

My mother just bred her red and white pembrooke. They are only a couple weeks old but one of them is so very light she thinks it might be a fawn. Is fawn rare and what might be the chances that it is fawn?
Thanks for any help. Stacy

Fawn isn't rare, in fact it's quite common now days.

By the way, It's Pembroke, not Pembrooke. They're from Pemrokeshire, Wales.

Peggy