I have a question about blue staffies. I did a search about them on here and reading through the comments I noticed a lot of people saying that they dont agree with breeding blue dogs to other blues because it washes the colour out, but Isnt that waht happens in weimeraners? all weims are blue so every weimeraner comes from a long line of blue x blue parents, grandparents etc.
Why is it OK for weimeraners to be bred like this but people critisize when its done with staffies?
I think blues are lovely and I have seen some lovely blues from blue parents, I would like to know why some people seem to have a prejudice against this colour?

Weims are not blue!!!!  However each breed is different.  there is no discrimination against the colour, however breeding blue to blue dilutes the colour making it a horrible wishy washy blue that is not wanted!

Going to a breed I know (aussie shepherds) if you breed red to red you will get a light red or arange in colour.  however if you breed red to black you get black and dark red.

If you love blues so much would you be happy for the colour to fade and become a light blue/grey rather then blue!?!?!??????

Blue (In staffies) is a dilute of black.

If you put 2 dilutes together you start getting pale eyes/claws & a washed out looking coat.

The nails should be black in blue staffies & the eyes should be dark - I have seen some blues with allmost amber eyes - they dont look like staffs!

A lot of blues also seem to be a very poor type (for showing) I dont know why, but could be in part to do with mating any 2 dogs together just to get blue pups with no regards to the breed standard.

I am not against blues at all - I have 1 & she is loveley!  I would love to see more blues bred correctly but as the asking price for blue pups is high a lot of people breed for the money with no thought of health testing etc.

Hope this helps

Jo

Blue (or more precisely, dilute) is inherited in the same way as chocolate in Labradors, ie it is a simple recessive.  The "genes" are not cumulative so a blue from two blue parents is no more likely to have poor pigment than one from black parents and yes, the Weimaraner is a good example to illustate this, though they are not exactly blue but they are a dilute, of brown making lilac (bb dd).

The genes/modifyers which control pigment intensity are inherited independently and a black is just as likely to carry poor-pigment genes as a blue.

As we have heard on CDs from Labrador breeders, there is good reason for not restriction choice of mates to particular colours as this can have a detrimental effect on type not to mention health.

Julie