50/50 Chance
Both mom and dad may have an equal chance as far as feline genetics goes.
When a dam and a stud mate and conceive a litter, each party contributes 39 chromosomes.
In total, the genetic makeup consists of a total of 78 chromosomes from both parents.
These, in part, impact the appearance of the offspring in terms of coat color, eye color, coat length, and other physical traits.
For instance, if you are looking for a brown dog, one or both parents should carry the genes of a black coat.
Combining the Black and Recessive Red Genes
So putting B and E together, a puppy with the following make up will have the below colour.
BBEE – blackBBEe – black (red/tan carrier)BBee – red/tan with a black noseBbEE – black (liver carrier)BbEe – black (liver and red/tan carrier)Bbee – red/tan with a black nose (liver carrier)bbEE – liverbbEe – liver (red/tan carrier)bbee – red/tan with a brown (liver) nose
Here is one of the more complex examples of ‘B’ and ‘E’ together, and it shows the possibility of the colours of their puppies, and the different resulting genes.
Duplicating genes haven’t been shown in the first example, so this doesn’t show the ‘chance’.
Figure below shows the ‘chance’ of a puppy being a certain colour with duplicating genes shown.
NOTE: Just a note that this blog article doesn’t take into account many the other genes i.e. whether white patching will occur or the intensity of the colouring to create red/tan/yellow. It is put together as a simple description to show customers that puppy may not always be the same colour as mum and/or dad.
But It Gets Complicated…
To say that the DNA of a puppy is as simple as 39 pairs of chromosomes from both parents would be a lie.
Essentially, there are two types of genes – the dominant and recessive genes.
The canine’s dominant gene is what determines how the dog will look in the end.
If the dog has more dominant autosomal genes, he will take on the looks of the said parent and vice versa.
Sometimes one parent passes on a copious amount of the dominant autosomal genes, making the litter look exactly like the mum.
As long as the dog gets dominant genes from one parent, they will get the said trait.
On the other hand, he needs recessive genes from both parents to get the trait. The recessive gene rarely affects the look of the dog but since he carries the code in his DNA, it can affect the offspring later.
What does this all mean? There’s no telling the actual percentage of who, between the sire and the dam, affects the physical characteristics of the puppy.
It all depends on how the genes will play out in the end. This implies that the puppy can look like mom or dad.