Genetics

Genetics are the basis of dog colouration, stats, litter size, and performance. 13 gene pairs control what markings are expressed and generate the appearance of the dog. Each dog's genotype is automatically translated by the Furry Paws website into a viewable phenotype.

Understanding genetics
One pair is called a gene. Each letter corresponds to an allele. Each parent contributes 1 allele to the genetic makeup of the child. The possible genetic expressions can be best understood in a Punnett square. For example, if two parents both with the Hh gene were to produce a child, there are four possible outcomes:

Possible coat colourations
There are many coat colours that can be expressed by a dog. Sometimes, two dogs with the same coat colour may actually have different shades of the same colour, or a dog's image will refresh and it will be a slightly different shade. This is due to FP's use of different shades of the same colour for the purpose of art. For example, a dog can be genetically brown, but depending on how its image is generated, it might be a light-tone brown or a mid-tone brown. For images of the ranges of colours, and for more information, please see FP's help page on coat colours.

List of coat colours

 * Black
 * Blue
 * Steel Blue
 * Faded Blue
 * Chocolate
 * Isabella
 * Faded Brown
 * Faded Isabella
 * Red
 * Fawn
 * Cream
 * Silver
 * White

Piebald
A dog can express white markings on its chest, paws, and face through coat modifications called piebald. Piebald can express as an Irish piebald, regular piebald, or an extreme piebald. These are just varying degrees of white colouration on top of the dog's base coat colouration.

Ticking, roaning, and spots
Dogs can express a ticked colouration, a roan colouration, or spots on their body. The ninth pair expresses roan colour, and the tenth pair controls ticks and spots. When a dog has any of these three colourations, it appears on top of areas coloured white.

Light undersides
The thirteenth pair controls whether or not a dog's undersides are coloured lighter.

Silvering
Pair #5 overrides all colour and marking genetics. There are only two alleles: the first allele means a dog is solid white, and all colour genes are ignored. The second allele means a dog derives its colouration from other genetics and is not silvered.

Gene Genie
Under the Games tab, there is a game called Gene Genie, where you compete against the Gene Genie to correctly guess the phenotype of a dog based on its genotype, which is presented the player. Upon a winning streak of 1,000 correct guesses in a row, the player is rewarded with the Genetics Genie Master reputation.