CHOCOLATE MERLE

History of the Merle Yorkshire Terrier:Merle is a pattern in a dog‘s coat, though is commonly incorrectly referred to as a colour.[1] The merle gene creates mottled patches of color in a solid or piebald coat, blue or odd-colored eyes, and can affect skin pigment as well. Health issues are more typical and more severe when two merles are bred together, so it is recommended that a merle be bred to a dog with a solid coat color only.
Merle can affect all coat colors. The merle forms of brown and black are usually called “red” (though this is not correct; red and merle are genetically different) and “blue” (again, this is not correct, since “blue” refers to the dilution of black) respectively. Dogs who are recessive red can still be affected by merle, but the patches are either hardly seen or if the dog is a clear recessive red, are not visible at all.
In addition to altering base coat color, merle also modifies eye color and coloring on the nose and paw pads. The merle gene modifies the dark pigment in the eyes, occasionally changing dark eyes to blue, or part of the eye to be colored blue. Since merle causes random modifications, however, both dark-eyed, blue-eyed, and odd-colored eyes are possible. Color on paw pads and nose may be mottled pink and black.
Merle is actually a heterozygote of an incompletely dominant gene.If two such dogs are mated, on the average one quarter of the puppies will be “double merles”, which is the common term for dogs homozygous for merle.
In January 2006 scientists at Texas A&M University announced the discovery of a mobile genetic unit called a retrotransposon, responsible for the merle mutation in dogs.
A phantom merle or cryptic merle is one with such small patches of merle—or none at all—that it appears to be a non-merle. This is commonly seen in dogs who are recessive red, clear recessive reds in particular, though patches can still be seen in certain red dogs. In America, a dog with the phantom merle coloring is described as being “cryptic for merle.” Source
Top Coat:The entire body will be Blue, Chocolate, Red, or Gold whiles the legs, chest and abdomen will be Gold or Tan.
Eyes:The eyes are dark in colour but can be green or blue.
Nose:Chocolate Merle will have Brown nose whiles other Merles will have Black nose.
Merle can affect all coat colors. The merle forms of brown and black are usually called “red” (though this is not correct; red and merle are genetically different) and “blue” (again, this is not correct, since “blue” refers to the dilution of black) respectively. Dogs who are recessive red can still be affected by merle, but the patches are either hardly seen or if the dog is a clear recessive red, are not visible at all.
In addition to altering base coat color, merle also modifies eye color and coloring on the nose and paw pads. The merle gene modifies the dark pigment in the eyes, occasionally changing dark eyes to blue, or part of the eye to be colored blue. Since merle causes random modifications, however, both dark-eyed, blue-eyed, and odd-colored eyes are possible. Color on paw pads and nose may be mottled pink and black.
Merle is actually a heterozygote of an incompletely dominant gene.If two such dogs are mated, on the average one quarter of the puppies will be “double merles”, which is the common term for dogs homozygous for merle.
In January 2006 scientists at Texas A&M University announced the discovery of a mobile genetic unit called a retrotransposon, responsible for the merle mutation in dogs.
A phantom merle or cryptic merle is one with such small patches of merle—or none at all—that it appears to be a non-merle. This is commonly seen in dogs who are recessive red, clear recessive reds in particular, though patches can still be seen in certain red dogs. In America, a dog with the phantom merle coloring is described as being “cryptic for merle.” Source
Top Coat:The entire body will be Blue, Chocolate, Red, or Gold whiles the legs, chest and abdomen will be Gold or Tan.
Eyes:The eyes are dark in colour but can be green or blue.
Nose:Chocolate Merle will have Brown nose whiles other Merles will have Black nose.
all dogs have the same ancestry which means any colour can turn up in any breed they all come from the wolf