allaussies:

We’ve gained a ton of new followers, so I feel the need to do this again. PLEASE reblog this and spread some awareness.

As many of you know, this is Keller. Keller is deaf and vision impaired (she can’t hear at all, and she can’t see all too well.)

“Oh man, a white australian shepherd? I’ve never seen one before. That’s such a pretty color, I want one!”

NO.

Keller is what is called a double merle. Her disabilities are a result of her color and the irresponsible decisions her “breeder” made.

A double merle is created when two merle dogs are bred together. It literally doesn’t matter what color or what breed they are. If you breed two merle dogs together, each puppy in the litter has a 25% chance of being born a double merle. A double merle inherits the merle gene twice. Normally the merle gene has a marbling effect on the coat and creates lighter spots throughout the solid color coat. In a double merle, the marbling/lightening effect is doubled and the coat becomes predominately white. Double merles also have a very high chance of being deaf, blind, or both because of their white color.

Again, I will emphasize that merle is merle. The breed does not matter. You can breed a merle Pomeranian (yes they exist) with a merle Dane and get double merle puppies. You don’t breed merle to merle, ever.

Clearly, Keller is very loved, but this isn’t always the case. A lot of these dogs are killed at birth because the breeders cannot make money on them. Keller could’ve been one of those dogs. Her breeder was going to kill her at 5 weeks old because of her disabilities. Disabilities that wouldn’t exist had her breeder been responsible.

 Since getting Keller I have set out to raise awareness on double merles and special need pets.

They are wonderful and they deserve homes. (And for those of you that want to jump at me, I don’t support breeding merle to merle, but sadly there are tons of people that do and the dogs need homes.)

I hope you all see Keller and it opens your eyes to what a special needs dog can do. She knows all of her basic commands plus some, she runs agility, she swims, she hikes, she walks with me off lead, she is normal.

For more info on double merles please visit:

www.doublemerles.info

If you have questions, come ask me. I’d love to answer.

Please spread this far and wide. Let’s raise some awareness and educate some people tonight.