What effect does a breeder focusing on uniform solid black dogs have on their litters?
Answer
The yield of sable pups is significantly reduced because E^D masks sable expression.
When a breeder's goal is to produce litters consisting of extremely dark, uniform solid black dogs, they are intentionally selecting breeding pairs known to carry the dominant black gene, E^D. Since the E^D allele masks the underlying sable genetic instructions from the Agouti locus, its presence in the breeding pair strongly favors the expression of solid black puppies. This selection pressure means that even if the parents carry the necessary genes for sable expression, the dominant black instruction takes precedence, resulting in a substantially lower frequency or total absence of true black sable puppies in those specific litters.
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