There is no Blue Merle gene or Chocolate (Liver) Merle gene, there is only a Merle Gene.  Merle is a dilution gene,  it lightens whatever the color coat would have been.  The lightening is not spread evenly over the coat, but leaves patches of undiluted color scattered over the dog's body.  Merle gives a mottled or uneven speckled effect.  Most breeds with Merle coats also typically have White markings (such as around the neck, under the belly, and on the legs), the White is separate from the Merle. 

     In addition to altering the base coat color, Merle also modifies eye color and the coloring on the nose and paw pads.  The Merle gene can modify the dark pigment in the eyes,  changing dark eyes to Blue or part of the eye to Blue.  You can also have a solid colored dog with Blue eyes (who is by a Merle) who has no other Merle markings, the Blue eyes are it's Merle marker.  In none of these cases will the dogs vision be affect .  Color on the nose and paw pads may be mottled Pink and Black.

     A Phantom Merle, is a dog with a very small patch of Merle (sometimes called Cryptic for Merle).

     Now if you talk to me you will hear me refer to the Merles as Spotted or Leopard:  These are 2 terms that I have came up with on my own, to help people more easily decide what they are looking for.  Spotted is a Merle who has a lot of dark big spots on the dog.  Leopard is a dog with a lot of small dark spots on them.  You can also have a dog with both markings.   These 2 terms work with all colors of Merles. 

     Breeding Merles:  When breeding a Merle to a non Merle dog on average 50% of the pups should be Merle.  Breeding a Merle to a Merle is not acceptable to most breeders.  You should never cross two Merles, as the results of doing so 25% of the litter will come out deaf and or blind (called a mismark - excessive White), 25% solid and 50% Merle.  Statistics show that when you cross 2 Merles you get the same amount of normal Merle pups (50%) as not crossing 2 Merles, so why would you ever want to cross 2 Merles and get deaf and blind ones, when the odds of getting viable Merles are the same.  ______________________________________________________________________________________

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Black N Silver Merle (I will post better pic.'s later)

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Parti Merle (all of the colors with White Parti markings)

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Chocolate Merle

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Liver N Tan Merle

(photo coming soon)

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Cream Merle (can have Red tints)

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Silver Merle

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