Flashy Brindle

[SamLoki]

could someone please tell me the definition of a flashy brindle? i have a brindle boxer puppy and im wondering if he could be described as flashy? He hasa white patch on his chin and chest and a little white on al 4 paws?

[gmacleod]

He sounds to me as though he is classic

What makes a dog "flashy" is actually a matter of genetics, not appearance. Though of course, the genes a dog has is what defines it's appearance...

To explain: Boxers (fortunately) have a reasonably simple genetic makeup as far as coat colour and flash go (as compared to many other breeds, anyway). There are two main genes at work in respect of flash - these are known as S which produces solid coat colour, and sw (the extreme white spotting allele of s) which produces areas of no pigment - flash. Every dog has some combination of 2 of these genes - since they inherit one of these genes from each parent.

The possible combinations you can get, therefore, are SS (two copies of S), Ssw (one of each) or swsw (two copies of sw).

A dog that has two copies of S will be classic. In terms of appearance, this rarely means no white at all, but more usually it is characterised by the dog having white toes, a bit of white on the chest, perhaps a white chin and possibly a splash of white on the face/muzzle. Sounds pretty much exactly like your dog, does it not?

The dog that gets one copy of each gene (Ssw) is flashy. In appearance, he will have white feet - often extending some way up the legs, white on the tummy and chest, white on the face and possibly a chite collar as well.

And the last possibility is two copies of sw. These dogs could be accurately described as "ultra flashy" - though we call them white. They are white over most or all of the body.

That is the simple explanation, and if you prefer a punnet square pictorial to visualise the gene distribution, take a look at www.boxerworld.com/coat_colour In reality, it's not quite so simple since there are modifier genes in existence that influence how much S or sw may be expressed. For that reason, there are some dogs whose appearance does not clearly give away which set of genes they carry - who're somewhere between what you'd expect for classic and flashy. They tend to be termed "semi-flashy" for that reason. Of course, genetically no such thing exists - you either have a gene or you don't, you can't "semi" have it. But when it isn't clear from appearance, the only way to be certain would be from repeated breeding with a definitively classic dog (which is a rather extreme way of finding out something that isn't very important LOL). It is easier, in that case, to just call those individuals "semi-flashy".

[Maxwell's Ma]

My Max is a plain brindle. He has white socks, white chest and a tiny spot of white on his nose. Look in my gallery. You also can see Riley is a flashy fawn. She has white up her legs, chest, face, and a large white spot on her neck/back.

Check Diesel's pics and then look at Max's. Diesel - flashy Max-plain but both are brindles.

[SamLoki]

yeah he has a teeny white splash on his nose - white chin, white chest, and white toes. i guess im changing my signature then to:

Loki, Brindle, docked and floppy! hehe

someone said he might be flashy but it wasnt a boxer person - so now i know! thanks guys. How do i put a pic of him on the boxer board?

[gmacleod]

There are instructions for how to upload to the gallery in the help section