Simply Grand

I'm assuming this applies to surrenders, and means either they won't be taking any animals in from the existing wait lists or won't be adding to the wait lists for now.

I don't know about books but there is information online, if you google double merle genetics Great Dane you should find stuff. I don't know Dane colours very well but basically if one parent is merle you want the other not to be. The merle gene is dominant so if a dog has a copy of it from one parent it will be merle. So a healthy merle dog should have one copy of the merle gene and one copy of a non-merle colour gene. A non-merle dog will not have any copies of the merle gene so therefore cannot pass it on to result in the offspring ending up with two copies of the merle gene (double merle, where you get the issues). The tricky thing is that occasionally a dog can actually have the merle gene but the visible merle area is so small that the dog appears non-merle. If you are looking at a pedigreed purebred you can go back and look at the pedigree of the parents and grandparents to check that one of the parents in each breeding is actually non-merle.

There is plenty of research looking at breeds involved in attacks but that doesn't really tell us anything, unless ALL dogs of that breed attack and NO dogs of another breed do. Obviously there is much more involved in dog attacks than the breed. Also, are there genuinely more attacks and are they more severe than in the past, or are they just more reported? I don't know, and it's pretty impossible to research unless accurate stats are available from the past. Assuming there actually are more attacks though, just knowing that still doesn't give us accurate information about WHY there are. And regardless of whether there are more attacks or not, we have to deal with what we have now, so proper research into why the attacks happen would be so useful

KNOWINGLY breeding merle to merle to actually try and get those pups to then sell is really disgusting, not only subjecting the dog to a lifetime of issues but alsothe owners to a lifetime of expense and unnecessary worry

Absolutely! There a a huge number of double merle dogs out there that have fantastic lives despite their impairments, and so they should, and of course they don't know a life any different. They do of course often need lifetime special care, particularly for eye issues. Using the attention they get to educate is fantastic, I think it's definitely true that a huge number of people don't know merle to merle breeding even is problematic.

I've heard the comment quite a lot that dog attacks are becoming more frequent because of an increase in "positive, force free" training and a reluctance to "discipline" (meaning use positive punishment). I wonder if there is evidence supporting that claim.

This came up on my FB the other day without the happy ending bit in the headline, so it was just "no one turned up" and the sad photos and I nearly cried! Even though of course I know he was fine, it just gets you right in the heart hehe

Oh dear, much anger and frustration lol.

Yeah but buyers aren't out there saying I want to buy a DOUBLE merle dog, double merles aren't being bred because there is demand from "stupid people" for them, they're being bred for the reasons Thistle said above. If breeders choose to breed double merle because they think it will give them an increased chance of more healthy merle looking puppies that people do want, then that's on them, not the buyers.

It's not stupid to want to buy a merle dog, merle is an acceptable colour in many breeds and the average joe buyer isn't going to know there is an issue with double merle breeding, or even if they are aware of it, they wouldn't necessarily know the breeding was double merle if they don't get a pedigree with the puppy,

OT I guess but I do want to add that I HAVE used kids, babies, prams etc in off leash parks as training tools for my dogs, as in they don't get uncontrolled access BUT I have used the kids to train focus on me, recall under heavy distraction, "stay down" (4 feet on the floor), don't jump up on prams, and tolerate children in general, which has been really helpful as otherwise my dogs would have had very limited interaction with kids when younger.

Hahaha I love the groaning noises, my 6 year old Sheltie Riley has always been a groaner, I call them his old man noises

Agree. While it does frustrate the heck out of me when babies and little kids are put on the ground (lying/sitting/running around) in designated off leash dog areas, because Quinn loooooooves kids and will want to approach them but would definitely lick and can also be too rough, it's still my responsibility to not let her do that so on the leash she goes. Having said that I would never rely on other people to do that and would not put my own baby/little kid on the ground in a dog area!

Look at that happy face!

I got 15/19. A couple could have gone either way, like others have said hard to tell just from the one photo. I disagree with what they say about the Shepherd being playful, nervous but no danger, he looked pretty scared and stressed to me and could air snap or nip to try and get out the situation.