POSSIBLE LITTER COLOUR OUTCOMES

FOR THE LABRADOR RETRIEVER

Phenotype and Genotype

Phenotype is simply the colour a particular animal appears. The phenotypes of the Labrador Retriever are black, yellow and chocolate.

Labrador retrievers may ‘carry’ a colour that is not visible but may influence the visual colour of resulting progeny. Therefore two animals may appear the same colour (phenotype) but have different colour genes. The colour genes of a particular animal is called it’s genotype. The genotypes of the Labrador Retriever are:

Black

Black carrying yellow (Black/y)

Black carrying chocolate (Black/c)

Black carrying yellow and chocolate (Black/yc)

Yellow carrying black (Yellow/b)

Yellow carrying chocolate (Yellow/c)

Yellow carrying black and chocolate (Yellow/bc)

Chocolate

Chocolate carrying yellow (Chocolate/y)

The possible colour (phenotype) and also the geneotype outcomes that can be expected when mating Labrador Retrievers are listed below. There are 43 possible colour combinations. Coat colour in the Labrador Retriever is not sex linked. That is the genes for coat colour are not passed on in the sex chromosomes. Therefore coat colour is inherited and passed on by males and females in the same way.

BLACK
  1. Black X Black = all Black
  2. Black X Black/y = all Black, (50% Black + 50% Black/y)
  3. Black X Black/c = all Black, (50% Black + 50% Black/c)
  4. Black X Black/yc = all Black, (25% Black + 25% Black /y + 25% Black/c + 25% Black/yc)
  5. Black X Yellow/b = all Black/y
  6. Black X Yellow/bc = all Black, (50% Black/y + 50% Black/yc)
  7. Black X Yellow/c = all Black/yc
  8. Black X Chocolate = all Black/c
  9. Black X Chocolate/y = all Black, (50% Black/c + 50% Black/yc)
  10. Black/y X Black/y = ¾ Black and ¼ Yellow, (25% Black + 50% Black/y + 25% Yellow/b)
  11. Black/y X Black/c = all Black, (25% Black + 25% Black/c + 25% Black/y + 25% Black/yc)
  12. Black/y X Black/yc = ¾ Black and ¼ Yellow, (12% Black + 12% Black/c + 25% Black/y + 25% Black/yc + 12% Yellow/b + 12% Yellow/bc)
  13. Black/y X Yellow/b = ½ Black and ½ Yellow, (50% Black/y + 50% Yellow/b)
  14. Black/y X Yellow/c = ½ Black and ½ Yellow, (50% Black/yc + 50% Yellow/bc)
  15. Black/y X Chocolate = all Black, (50% Black/c + 50% Black/yc)
  16. Black/y X Chocolate/y = ¾ Black and ¼ Yellow, (25% Black/c + 50% Black/yc + 25% Yellow/bc)
  17. Black/c X Black/c = ¾ Black and ¼ Chocolate, (25% Black + 50% Black/c + 24% Chocolate)
  18. Black/c X Black/yc = ¾ Black and ¼ Chocolate, (12% Black + 25% Black/c + 12% Black/y + 25% Black/yc + 12% Chocolate + 12% Chocolate/y)
  19. Black/c X Yellow/b = all Black, (50% Black/y + 50% Black/yc)
  20. Black/c X Yellow/bc = ¾ Black and ¼ Chocolate, (25% Black/y + 50% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate/y)
  21. Black/c X Yellow/c = ½ Black and ½ Chocolate, (50% Black/y + 50% Chocolate/y)
  22. Black/c X Chocolate = ½ Black and ½ Chocolate, (50% Black/c + 50% Chocolate)
  23. Black/c X Chocolate/y = ½ Black and ½ Chocolate, (25% Black/c + 25% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate/y + 25% Chocolate)
  24. Black/yc X Black/yc = 11/20 Black, ¼ Yellow and 1/5 Chocolate, (6.25% Black + 12.5% Black/c + 12.5% Black/y + 25% Black/yc + 6.25% Yellow/b + 12.5% Yellow/bc + 6.25% Yellow/c + 6.25% Chocolate + 12.5% Chocolate/y)
  25. Black/yc X Yellow/b = ½ Black and ½ Yellow, (25% Black/y + 25% Black/yc + 24% Yellow/b + 25% Yellow/bc)
  26. Black/yc X Yellow/bc = 19/50 Black, ½ Yellow and 3/25 Chocolate, (12.5% Black/y + 25% Black/yc + 12.5% Yellow/b + 25% Yellow/bc + 12.5 % Chocolate/y + 12.5% Yellow/c)Black/yc X Yellow/c = ¼ Black, ¼ Chocolate, ½ Yellow, (25% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate
  27. Black/yc X Yellow/c = ¼ Black, ¼ Chocolate and ½ Yellow, (25% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate/y + 25% Yellow/bc + 25% Yellow/c)
  28. Black/yc X Chocolate = ½ Black and ½ Chocolate, (25% Black/c + 25% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate + 25% Chocolate/y)
  29. Black/yc X Chocolate/y = ¼ Yellow, 3/8 Black and 3/8 Chocolate, (12.5% Yellow/bc + 12.5% Yellow/c + 12.5% Black/c + 25% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate/y + 12.5% Chocolate)

 

YELLOW

 

  1. Yellow/b X Yellow/b = all Yellow/b
  2. Yellow/b X Yellow/c = allYellow, (50%Yellowb + 50%Yellow/bc)
  3. Yellow/b X Chocolate = all Black/yc
  4. Yellow/b X Chocolate/y = ½ Black and ½ Yellow, (50% Black/yc + 50% Yellow/bc)
  5. Yellow/bc X Yellow/bc = all Yellow, (25% Yellow/b + 25% Yellow/c + 50% yellow/bc)
  6. Yellow/bc X Yellow/c = all Yellow, (50% Yellow/bc + 50% Yellow/c)
  7. Yellow/bc X Chocolate = ½ Black and ½ Chocolate, (50% Black/yc + 50% Chocolate/y)
  8. Yellow/bc X Chocolate/y = ½ Yellow, ¼ Black and ¼ Chocolate, (25% Yellow/bc + 25% Yellow/c + 25% Black/yc + 25% Chocolate/y)
  9. Yellow/c X Yellow/c = all Yellow/c
  10. Yellow/c X Chocolate = all Chocolate/y
  11. Yellow/c X Chocolate/y = ½ Chocolate and ½ Yellow, (50% Chocolate/y + 50% Yellow/c)

 

CHOCOLATE

 

  1. Chocolate X Chocolate = all Chocolate
  2. Chocolate X Chocolate/y = all Chocolate, (50% Chocolate + 50% Chocolate/y)
  3. Chocolate/y X Chocolate/y = 3/4 Chocolate and ¼ Yellow, (25% Chocolate + 50% Chocolate/y + 25% Yellow/c)

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