re: Labrador color impacts how long they live and chances of developing serious illnesses

I'm assuming you're trying the "correlation doesn't equal causation" angle.

The problem with that is that if the chocolate colored labs as a whole have shown to contain a concentrated genome that on average cause it to live shorter lives and have more disease issues, then the coat color then becomes linked to higher disease incidence and the correlation is correct.

There's plenty of color phenotypes that are linked to disease.

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Something that is not commonly realized however, is is that the same mutations that cause variations in color, also affect the function of genes. The alteration of coat color is in fact the caused by the change in function of the gene. Because these color altering mutations affect gene function, some of the same mutations that cause altered coat color can cause disease. It is therefore necessary for breeders to educate themselves about genes that alter both color and cause disease in order to breed responsibly.

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LINK

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The relationships between coat colour and disease may reflect an inadvertent consequence of breeding certain pigmentations,” Professor McGreevey said. “Because chocolate colour is recessive in dogs, the gene for this colour must be present in both parents for their puppies to be chocolate. Breeders targeting this colour may therefore be more likely to breed only Labradors carrying the chocolate coat gene.”

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Seems like we recently had this conversation.

My lab <--- will be 13 in February. She's slowed down a great deal but still wants to play and loves to follow me around the farm as much as she can. It seems, according to the article posted, that she's beaten the average age.

I have had two litters of pups one from two blacks, and one from a yellow and the same black female. Each litter had 7 pups, and each litter had all three colors. The only chocolate pup that I kept up with was my neighbors who got a male. He had skin problems early on but has since cleared up. The yellows are fine but sun burn real easy. :rimshot:

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Because chocolate colour is recessive in dogs

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naw,was told in silver lab thread recessive genes didnt mean more health issues

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Why didn't you read and quote past the part of the statement you think validated your incorrect thinking?

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“Because chocolate colour is recessive in dogs, the gene for this colour must be present in both parents for their puppies to be chocolate. Breeders targeting this colour may therefore be more likely to breed only Labradors carrying the chocolate coat gene.”

The resulting reduced gene pool for chocolate-coloured dogs may include a higher proportion of genes that cause ear and skin conditions, he said.

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It is not the recessive gene for coat color causing the illnesses. It is the high incidence of inbreeding causing such problems.

From what I remember when registering my black lab, The AKC only recognizes 3 colors of Labradors. Black, chocolate and yellow. Silver labs contain a genetic strain from somewhere down the line with a Weimaraner. Guy who trained my lab for duck hunting also told me that he has tried training several Silver and British labs. He said although they aren't dumb dogs, most don't learn as well as the AKC recognized colors.(He trains labs as a full time job) Now that's just the AKC and their decision. Other's like the CKC may recognize other colors. Not sure about others.

This isn't bashing anyone's lab. I think they are all beautiful dogs. Especially the Silver. I found out this information because initially I did the research and was going to get a Silver lab when my old lab passed away. I then decided to go with another black.

That's just a resource to give examples of how color genes can affect gene expressions that have linkages to diseases.

The attempt to find the linkage between chocolate coloring is in the early stage, which is why they are repeating the study to see if the can replicate the findings.

More data = more robust statistics = stronger correlation for linkage.

The next step would be to look into what genes specifically expressed in chocolates that could cause the issues.

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Nothing in this article, or any other, compares the health of different colored pups from the same litter.

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Great idea for a future study if the replicate study finds the same disparity between colors.

By the way I'm trying to agree with your claim that the concentrated genome is the issue, but you can't seem to make the connection that if the concentrated genome is found more in chocolates than any other color then the color is indication of higher disease risk

Axltgr, Im not sure what your trying to argue. But did you read and comprehend the article? You have left the realm of opinion and are just dead wrong. You seem to be pulling out pieces to justify something that isn't there. stop your an idiot when you do this.