Examples of Gene
Marking Direction
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The spots always follows the fur/muscle direction.
Here is an example on the zephie or minkin, the white arrows show the fur direction
Minimum Coverage
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Merle should cover at minimum at least 50% of the body.
You do not need to fill the whole area full of patches, just make patches fill the majority of the body.
Merle should always have 2 darker shades of patches than the base coat.
You have an option of including another set of patches that are darker again or lighter than the base coat.
You can use black, white, light or dark greys in your markings.
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These can be irregular or have a structured positioning over the body.
Merle with Points
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Merle often comes alongside the points gene, to make the look of merle dogs or blue merle dogs.
Leopard Merle
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You can design your merle to look similar to leopard spots..
This would make a darker patch with a smaller lighter patch in the middle of it.
You could also use your choice of colours wisely to create a fake blend effect from the upper body to the lower body.
Merle with Marking Modifiers
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Reversal does not affect Merle at all.
Dual tone does not affect Merle at all.
Spectral does not affect Merle at all.