Eep.

Now I’m a little worried.

Statistically, in genetics, a merle-to-merle breeding will produce a 1:4 ratio of homozygous merle pups. Such pups are generally all white, or white with minimal colour, and often they are blind, or deaf, or both, or partially both. Sometimes they are born with no eyes at all. Breeding a merle dog to a merle dog is an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.

In Mona’s litter, though we do not know who the dad(s) is, statistics suggest that of the 8 pups born to her (remember one died after birth; he was a grey merle), two are heavily white, and it’s possible Daddy was a merle too.

Uh oh.

I have been purposeful in my resolve to not expect the worst. But now, all puppies have their eyes open. All of them except the two patterned white puppies that is. Mike and Marsha are still not granting an audience with their pupils. Since the eyes of homozygous merles can often be underdeveloped, I’m growing more concerned that this will be the case with these two cuties.

How’s that for a depressing opener?

Here are the Brady Bunch at just about two weeks old:

That last photo of Mona is a nice one.

She is turning out to be a real cutie. She’s getting silly now that she is more comfortable.

Speaking of silly

Poor Woo. Still depressed.

But not Tweed! Tweed is with “his” puppies. He’s happy.