Meet Aspen,
She is an extremely special great dane pup.
Every now and then a puppy will be born with the double gene which means the puppy is born deaf.
An Introduction to Double Merle
Where do Double Merles (White Great Danes) come from?
White Great Danes are a result of bad breeding practices, most commonly known as spot x spot breeding. This could be harl x merle, harl x harl, merle x merle, any quin x quin, any quin x merle breeding. When we say quin x quin, we are speaking of harlequins, merlequins, brindlequins, fawnequins, etc. No White Great Dane should ever be bred! With any spot x spot breeding there's always a 25% chance of Double Merles.
Are White Great Danes albino or rare?
Double Merle and Albinism are not the same. Albinism is a rare condition in all animals, including dogs. People frequently associate Double Merles (White Danes) with being albino when in reality being a Double Merle and suffering from albinism are completely different conditions. True albinism is a genetic condition in which the pigmentation of eyes, coat, and skin are 100% absent. And NO, there's no such thing as a "part albino" dog.
In Double Merles, the white coat is produced by a doubling up of the gene responsible for merle. Their coat pattern is characterized by light colored background and irregular spots. Merle makes melanin pigmentation less intense in random areas of the dog's body.
Unfortunately, DM Great Danes are more common than they should be. Most unethical "breeders" will tell you that the White Great Dane you are eyeing is a lightly marked harlequin or simply just a harlequin. They often deny the dog is deaf and/or blind as well. We find that most Backyard Breeders are either uneducated about breeding or in it for the money.
Producing Double Merles is 100% preventable.
Are all White Great Danes deaf and /or blind?
No, definitely not. They can be one or the other or even neither, though a healthy White Dane is more uncommon. With this in mind, deaf and / or blind are not the only risks of breeding spot x spot.
The puppies in this litter can have a wide array of health issues as well as mental issues.
Here are some examples of health issues DMs can have:
Social instability and inadequacy: Dogs with sensory defects are often unable to interact with their own species or humans with full & satisfactory success. Many DMs fail to adapt to different situations due to lack of social capabilities and have multiple problems coping with normal daily activities. Double Merles are often described as "shy" or "'spooky." With training, persistency and patience DMs will learn ways of adapting and adjusting to their environment.
Merle deafness: Develops in the first month of life, it is permanent and often debilitating to proper social development of the dog.
Atopic dermatitis: Inherited allergies.
Skin cancer: Increased incidence reported in harlequins, white/lightly marked harlequins and merlequins puppies due to lack of protective pigment (melanin) from UV (sunray) exposure.Sunburns also occur often in dogs lacking pigment & this can lead to tumors / cancer.
Follicular dysplasia: A hair-coat problem of broken / dull hairs & "pimply" infection with a high incidence in white coated (& other dilute colored) dogs.
Multiple congenital defects: Double Merles may have a variety of organ defects which arise only as they grow or may be seen when they’re young, such as failure to thrive & keep up with the size, weight and activity level of the other pups.
Congenital cataracts: Associated with microphthalmia - a blinding disorder.
Microphthalmia: Small eyeballs that often lead to total blindness. Sometimes the eyeball(s) must be removed.
Are White Great Danes adoptable?
Yes! While not every special needs Great Dane is adoptable because of some of the issues mentioned above, most of them are. They can be absolutely wonderful additions to the right families. It can be extremely rewarding to own a special needs Great Dane. Training is not impossible, but it does require time, patience and consistency. (Info section sourced from http://www.whitekissesgreatdanerescue.com)
So.. We are blessed to have Aspen in our family now and she is simply awesome to say the least!
My husband and I have always taken in animals needing homes and rehab over the years but never a special needs dog and boy oh boy, in all honesty you really need to do a bit of research before committing to to a double merle baby.
Not because they are more difficult than "normal" puppies, but simply because I find Aspen to be the most attentive and sensitive dog we own. Any change in Aspens life would be a huge adjustment for her now and I can just imagine how difficult it must be for DM babies who get shunted around to new homes due to their so called "issues".
In all honesty I can solemnly swear that Aspen responds and behaves 10x better than her friend "who can hear" who is growing up along side her. Although we have not spent a lot of time one on one teaching Aspen sign languages yet as she has just turned 6months old.. she already responds to various commands with simple hand gestures and especially our energy we project towards her plays the biggest role so far, she is very sensitive and can sense "angry vibes" and also simply glows when you are at your happiest moments around her, if she could she would be grinning at these times.
Faith..
)
Faith is 6days younger than Aspen. I got Faith first as sadly last year we experienced heartache like I would never want anybody to go through, we had just bought the two most beautiful great dane puppies but sadly lost them to the parvo virus "cat flu" only a few weeks after bringing them home..
Anyways.. Happier note,
We got Faith a few months ago when she turned 4months old. Just as we knew we would, she proved to be a very intelligent and head strong little girl with a stronger will to get her way NOW!
It sometimes feels like our GD puppies tend to be like our own "human" kids at times. Never underestimate the intelligence of your pets.
OK, so I think it was last month,, the same breeder contacted me and explained her situation of having Aspen a DG merle who is completely deaf but healthy in every other way. So of course I decided to give it a try and see if Faith would indeed be helpful to Aspen and learn to be her ears when needed in life. So,, haha this turned out to mostly work the other way around as Aspen behaves much better than her buddy Faith, and we have ended up with a scenario where Faith now mostly copies Aspens responses to our commands towards them which I find very fascinating as both the breeder and myself expected a totally opposite outcome for these two girls.
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Aspen such handsome :):
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oh indeed she is @niceviewsua Aspen is a very unique kind of pretty
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