Hairless Breeds and Genetics
While there are unproven theories that other hairless dog breeds have common ancestry, the recent evolution of the American Hairless Terrier demonstrates an independent evolution from other hairless breeds.
A key difference found between the American Hairless Terrier and other Hairless Dog breeds is that the AHT's hairless gene is recessive, while the gene for hairlessness found in the ancient breeds is a lethal dominant.
The American Hairless Terrier does not have dental issues (absent premolars) or other characteristics associated with the dominant hairless gene.
For dogs where hairlessness is a dominant gene, hairless to hairless matings will on average produce 66.6% hairless and 33.3% coated puppies. For hairless to coated matings, there will be an average of 50%/50% coated to hairless ratio, while for coated to coated matings, all puppies will be coated.
Matings between hairless AHTs will produce completely hairless litters while hairless AHT to coated AHT or Rat Terrier are more variable and will produce mixed hairless litters to all coated litters.
Read more about this topic: American Hairless Terrier
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