Panda entered the world as a black bitch until, after stripping the sac away, I discovered very small patches of merling on her cheeks, the back of her left ear, and a spot on on her withers. When her thicker adult coat and points came in, all of these spots were covered. To all appearances, she is a tri. In truth, she’s what’s known as a “cryptic merle,” when the merle pattern is expressed so slightly as to appear to be nearly invisible, or even nonexistent. But genetically speaking she is as much a blue merle as any more obviously marked merle.

Baby Panda Showing Blue

Panda finished her championship quickly with wins including the Southern California Specialty in 2005 at the age of 9 months, where she was awarded Winners Bitch for a 5-pt major, Best of Winners, Best Puppy, and was given an Award of Merit in BOB. She finished with a second 5-pt major by going BOB over multiple specials. She has made it to the final BOB lineup at the National Specialty every year since finishing at 13 months. In 2007 she was awarded Best Blue Merle Bitch in the Megan Competition, a breeders’ showcase.

This is a lovely, feminine bitch of exquisite breed type with superb angles fore and aft, a long neck flowing into good layback, lovely bone, level topline, and a beautiful head and expression. Her temperament is sweet and affectionate. Puppies by Ch. TrudyTales About Last Night expected at the end of March 2008.  Waiting list is closed, but if all goes well, Panda will be bred again in 2009.