Sticks and Stones

When we were asked to write an article on Longhairs, my mind flashed back to our early days in the breed. We have taken the liberty to add the other unusual coat/color variation to the topic – Dudleys.

The very first litter we had was one of 12 puppies. This was a half-brother/sister breeding. After the C-section, we looked at the puppies and there were two that caught our eye. They were stunning red brindles with no masks or dark pigments on their noses. We did not know what they were and had to call a more experienced breeder and ask. We were told they were Dudleys . To be more specific, they were cinnamon Dudleys . We quickly learned that Dudleys come in cinnamon and gray in our breed. Our friend mentioned that the other unusual thing we may see from time to time were long hairs. This was the first we had heard of the variations in coat and color.

A Dudley always has yellow eyes and a liver colored nose. Any place that would normally be black is, instead, cinnamon or gray. This unusual coloring leads to their being called “cinnamon” or “gray” Dudleys. Unethical people have sold them as rare Dogues de Bordeaux. They certainly can pass as one to the unsuspecting.

Because we have few secrets, word quickly spread about the two Dudleys . We were advised by some people never to talk about or admit that our sire had produced Dudleys because no one would ever use our males or buy a puppy from us. We have, indeed, found some truth to this. We have had people decide to not use a male of ours because of a history in the line of long hairs. What these people do not realize is that the recessive gene for this trait permeates the breed. We cannot think of any line in the United States that can guarantee they do not have this recessive gene.

We had someone breed their bitch to one of our males. They wanted this particular male because he is an OFA excellent and has exceptional reach and drive. He had produced a long hair before and we advised he was a known carrier. The breeder was very comfortable believing there was no risk of long hairs since he knew his line did not carry the trait. Oops! There was a long hair in the litter. He went back to his breeder and asked why he wasn’t told that the gene existed in that line. He was advised to do DNA testing because he must have let another dog mate the bitch. The fallacy in this excuse, as explained below, is that both of these traits ( Dudleys and long hairs) are recessive. BOTH parents must carry the gene for a pup to get the two genes necessary to express the trait. No matter how many males this bitch was exposed to, she had to have the gene. If people do not come forward and admit these variations exist, then these “surprises” will occur.

I am inserting three pictures of the same long hair puppy. Many people believe that the Saint and the Newf were used in the early days of the breed to add bone and substance. When you look at the development of this puppy you can believe it..

This first picture is at about 7 to 10 days. The only clue is the shiny fur and the all over black. They tend to be very smutty to solid colored at birth. This above picture is at three weeks of age..

In this picture the body color is becoming what it should be. Note the tuffs on the ears.

The next picture is at around three months. The puppy is huge. Could pass for a saint or newf. He even has webbed feet.

We believe if the dog or bitch has the health clearances, stable temperament and qualities of the breed, then the possibility of getting a long hair or a Dudley is immaterial. It is the quality of the animal that matters, not a cosmetic fault. Of course, you sell them as pets. Of course, you spay and neuter them. We do not believe this is a matter of shame or something to hide in the closet. If we did we certainly would not be writing this article. You just need to go into the breeding knowing if there is a history of either trait, you stand an increased risk of getting pups with that fault. Knowing this you can make the informed decision that the risk is outweighed by the quality of the pups you expect.

Reflecting back to our first Dudley and long hairs, we were aghast at some of the suggestions people made to us. Some even suggested perhaps we should cull the offending pups. Others suggested that the neighbor dog was surely to blame. It couldn’t possibly be the product of a pure breeding.

We did not get a long hair until about 10-12 years later. At birth, it looked like any other puppy in the litter. When we had to brush away the hair to trim the nails, it dawned on us perhaps something was amiss. Voila! We had our first long hair. In a long hair, you will see are a lot of overlay (longer, usually thicker, black hairs) that may give almost a black color in the coat they are born with. Then tufts of hair may appear on the ears, often followed by long hair over the nails. The coat can be thick, wavy, dense, and double coated. At times, most of the coat will blow as the puppy ages and you will be left with feathers or a bushy tail. Long hairs come in all colors: brindle, red, fawn. We are inserting several pictures including one as a puppy.

This puppy (above) is only a few weeks old and you can only tell that he is “fuzzy”. He will at 7 to eight weeks look more like the puppy below. This is a brindle puppy at about 5 weeks and you can see the tuffs on his ears that are hallmarks of a long hair. Be sure and note the length of hair at the border of white on his chest.

This gives you a good idea of how long the hair is.

Brindle Long hair at 5 weeks

Below is a long hair as an adult

She looked a lot like the picture of the puppy in the bucket above as a baby. As she grew, she blew her double coat and a silky coat came in. By the second year she looked like she does now, with just the bushy tail. She retained a silky feeling to her fur.

This would be one that some would think was a Golden/Bully mix but we know better. Her heart, genetics and personality is all Bully.

Both parents must carry the gene to cause its expression (i.e. for the trait to show in the offspring). You can have a sire that has been used extensively and never produced a pup with the trait until you get that magic click or combination of recessive genes. Perhaps the sire was never previously mated to a bitch that also carried the gene, or no pups were ever born with the necessary combination of both recessive genes. We have even had one bitch whose pups all had normal coats until her third litter. The sire had never produced a long hair nor had she. Then, on her last breeding, she had a long hair. The fault can skip many generations and many breedings. The only way you can prove your dog or bitch is not a carrier is to breed to a known carrier and not have pups with the fault. One caveat to be noted… you have to have large enough numbers in the litter to be able to make the claim that your dog or bitch is not a carrier. This is because when two animals, each of which are carrying a recessive gene (which, by definition, means that the trait is not expressed in them) are bred, there is a 1 in 4 chance that any particular pup will have both recessive genes and will, therefore show the trait. However, these are only statistical probabilities, not certainties. The more pups in the litter, the more likely the recessive trait will be expressed if both parents carry the recessive gene. Since this is a cosmetic issue and not a serious health issue, we treat it differently than other more serious inherited disorders. We tell anyone using one of our dogs that our line carries the recessive gene for long hairs and Dudleys . We view these as very easy faults to see. The pups are sold on a companion, limited registration contract with a must spay/neuter clause. As a breeder, you would not want to breed a Dudley or a longhair to a normal dog, as all the offspring will be carriers. We do not believe you should eliminate all normal siblings from your breeding program nor do we believe the carriers of these traits should be eliminated from your breeding program. We do know one person who bred a Dudley to a “normal” and got a mix of normal and Dudleys . Since the offspring would have to have both Dudley genes for the pups to have it, the “normal” was obviously a carrier.

Many people believe these pups will have temperament issues, are not stable, or that there are other inherited health problems. They believe the pups should be euthanized. WE HAVE NEVER FOUND ANY TRUTH TO THESE BELIEFS. These pups look and act just like their short-coated siblings. We have never seen any temperament or health issues particular to either long hairs or Dudleys . We’ve not had another Dudley over the past 20 years. I expect it will occur again.

In closing, we hope this has helped dispel some of the “rumors” about the unusual coat and color variations in our breed and answer some of the most commonly asked questions.

Bob and Lynn Spohr
Bastion Bullmastiffs

I want to thank Bob & Lynn Spohr for their contribution to my webpage. We can only learn through their wealth of knowledge of the Bullmastiff Breed.

Webpage: www.bastionbullmastiffs.com

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