Hello everyone,

Greetings from the UK. I wanted to ask someone who may have experience in breeding French Bulldogs. I have recently had my French Bulldog girl (Phoebe) DNA tested for coat coat colour. She herself is of Black coat, KC Registered with excellent bloodlines. The results were as follows: n/n, n/At, n/a, B/B, D/d, E/E, EM/EM, n/KB, N/S. (please see attached image for the results with some explanations.)

I have a basic understanding of genetics and Dominant/Recessive genes, and have tried watching many youtube videos explaining it. I would like to ask your opinion in understanding the results.

My question is: when picking a stud based off of his DNA, what are my options with regards to possible offspring coat colours my dam can produce? What DNA should I look for when picking a stud and what are the possibilities in terms of coat colour of offspring?

Thank you for reading my post, I would really appreciate any help.

All the best!

Image of results:
https://imgur.com/a/Rrzpt

It's all explained in the test results via the key below the results. However, as to picking a stud dog -this should always be done from how well the dog matches the breed standard, his HEALTH test results, how his pedigree fits with your bitch, etc. (Same for the bitch, obviously.) Colour breeding in this breed is a huge problem and I'm afraid you will not find any responsible breeder backing the quest for "rare" colours that in fact are not correct for the breed. Read this from the KC:

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/press-releases/2017/july/kennel-club-addresses-issue-of-unrecognised-colour-registrations-in-pedigree-dogs/

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getting-a-dog-or-puppy/what-colour-should-my-puppy-be/

And this from the breed club:

http://www.frenchbulldogclubofengland.org.uk/buyer-beware.html

Your girl has 2 copies of the black mask gene (so genetically she is a black with a black mask) this means every puppy she produces will at least have one copy of this gene making them also have a black mask regardless of what the male has.

She has one copy of the dominant black gene and one copy of the recessive non black gene. This makes her self black but able to produce colours that are determined by the A locus (sable, tan, agouti and rec black) so if the stud has 1 or 2 copies of the recessive non black gene they can produce non black puppies depending on what A gene combos they have.

Your girl has the tan gene and recessive black gene. Had she not of had a copy of the dominant black gene she would of been black tan (although the black mask would have covered a lot of or all of the tan mask). This means if the stud also had a tan gene or two they could produce tans with black masks, if the stud had a recessive black gene or two they could produce recessive black. if the stud had 2 sable genes they wont produce any tans or rec blacks.

She also carries a copy of the blue gene. So if the sire had 1 copy of the blue gene or was blue they could produce blues. If the stud does not have any blue genes no blue puppies will be produced.

BUT, blue and any of the tans (black tan, blue tan, choc tan, lilac tan) are not recognised colours in the breed and are a fault. Non standard colours in French bulldogs are SO over bred at the moment thanks to commercial breeders and pet breeders breeding purely for colour. So if you did a pairing that could produce a colour fault those puppies cant be registered under their colours, they would be registered as Colour Not Recognised By KC.

The most important thing in the breed is the health testing spicily as due to the huge increase of people breeding them for fashion and colours more health issues are sadly on the rise. If you haven't already this would mean Eye testing, DNA test - HC-HSF4, DNA test - DM and Participation in French Bulldog Health Scheme - this includes tests such as BOAS assessment, Spine xray, Nostrils Grading, Heart Test, Patella score. 
Its also important you only pick a stud who has also had theses health tests. Idealy the

Very informative post Jo. Love learning more even if I won't be breeding anything :)

Thank u, I like colour genetics. Can be very fun trying to work out what genes a dog may be carrying based on what it's out of and what it's produced when not DNA testing.