Great Dane Color Genetics Guide
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note: this guide assumes you already have a firm understanding of basic genetics concepts


Intro to Dane Color Genetics

There are three basic color groups of Great Danes.

I. Blue Group - includes black and blue
II. Black/White Group - includes black, harlequin, mantle, merle, and (white)
III. Fawn Group - includes black, brindle, and fawn

Colors in () are unaccepted, but included in this guide.

As you may have noticed, blacks fall into each of the above groups. We can usually tell which group a particular black falls into by looking at its pedigree and seeing which non-black colors appear the most frequently. Many unaccepted colors (such as fawnequin and blue mantle) are the result of crossing two of the groups, usually either the blue or fawn group with the black/white group. Now lets move on to the actual genes.

BASE COLOR GENETICS
Gene	Genotype	Present In
Base Color (A,ay)	A_: Black	blacks, blues, harlequins, mantles, merles, whites (see all groups)
	ayay: Fawn (sable in some breeds)	fawns, brindles (see fawn group)
PATTERNS / MARKINGS
Blue Group
Gene	Genotype	Present In
Dilution (D,d)	D_: Normal	blacks, all non blue group colors
	dd: Dilution	blues
Black/White Group
Gene	Genotype	Present In
Merle (M,m)	MM: White (Double Merle)	whites - this genotype tends to also cause deafness and/or blindness
	Mm: Merle	merles, harlequins
	mm: Non-Merle	blacks, mantles, all non black/white group colors
Harlequin (H,h)	Hh: Harlequin (visible ONLY if M is present)	harlequins, may or may not be present in all other black/white colors except merle NOTE: HH will never be present, as embryos with this genotype never develop into puppies
	hh: Non-Harlequin	merles, may or may not be present in all other black/white colors except harlequin, all non black/white group colors
Solidity (S,si,sw)	S_: Solid	blacks, merles, may or may not be present in harlequins and whites
	sisi,(sisw): Mantle (Irish)	mantles, may or may not be present in harlequins and whites, all non black/white group colors
	(swsw): Mantle (color-headed white)	mantles with a lot of white (this gene and all of its alleles are very complicated, so I personally consider all of my mantles to be sisi and ignore this allele)
Fawn Group
Gene	Genotype	Present In
Brindle (Br,br)	Br_: Brindle	brindles, may or may not be present in blacks
	brbr: Non-Brindle	fawns, may or may not be present in blacks, all non fawn group colors

A big thanks to Great Dane Genetics for providing the information used in making this guide!