New research shows that some breeds of dogs have hidden coat colors — and in some cases, other traits — that have been lurking all along.

But what happens if a purebred puppy doesn’t look exactly like its siblings when it’s born? Chances are, it might not be a flaw — but rather a hidden gene variant that decided to show itself.

New research from Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine shows that some breeds of dogs have hidden coat colors — and in some cases, other traits — that have been lurking all along.

Led by Kari Ekenstedt, DVM, Ph.D., assistant professor of anatomy and genetics, and Dayna Dreger, Ph.D., the lead scientist in Ekenstedt’s canine genetics research laboratory, the team looked at a dozen different genes in 212 dog breeds. Purdue researchers, together with industry partners at Wisdom Health, analyzed data that had been initially collected by WISDOM PANEL™ for the development of canine DNA tests. The work was published Oct. 28 in PLOS ONE.

«These are purebred dogs with traits that their breed clubs say they’re not supposed to have,» said Ekenstedt, whose research program focuses on canine genetics. «The message of this paper is, ‘Hey, these gene variants exist in your breed, and if a few dogs are born with these traits, it’s not caused by accidental breeding and it’s not a mutt; it’s a purebred showing this known genetic potential.’»

Along with analyzing the data, researchers used standard breed descriptions from major American and international dog breed registries to determine coat colors and tail lengths that were accepted within each breed.

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