I love the way the merle's look they are so pretty I would never condone breeding them though. Your so lucky to get her for free usually people charge a small adoption fee just to make sure the dog is going to a good home. I just adopted a beautiful Blue Chihuahua he's not a Merle but he is registered he's had all his shots and is right up to date he's been Neutered. and he's had blood work done to make sure that nothing was pass on to him genetically. He only 2yrs old and his previous owner gave me everything in the way of paperwork from the vet and his registration with his Pedigree. He wasn't free but darn close considering all the money she spent on him over the last 2 yrs. He is 2 yrs old and she only charged me $100. for him to me thats about as close to free as your going to get she just wanted to make sure he was going to the best possible home. I'm so glad she chose me. She asked that I give her updates on how he's settling in so I send her pictures and an email every other day right now but now that he has made himself quite comfortable here I will be slowing down on them now

I love the way merles look! She is so pretty. I own a blue merle too.

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I think I got her for free because the old owners were just trying to get her out and maybe didn't know what they were doing.
I was set on getting a free dog (being a college student), and for the same reason a small breed, searched for 3 weeks and she showed up. I also see a lot of people in my area with adoption fee of $400 and $500, I could understand up to 100 but over that doesn't make sense for my situation. There are dogs for free and I am a good home for one, its kinda sad people put their dogs up for free, but I'm glad I have my free dog.
Some people need to get rid of their dogs and are taking them to the pound, but would rather know who their owners are and just post them for free of craigslist for a while before they do. Even that can be sketchy but my dogs going to keep on living.

She's beautiful! I believe breeding two blue merles can cause genetic disorders, like normal blues. Since blue is recessive though sometimes you can get a blue with two parents who aren't blue. I've gotten two chihuahuas the latter way, and one chihuahua the former way (which was before I had even heard of blue chihuahuas, but I ended up researching them since mine was completely bald). My two that were bred responsibly have beautiful coats, one a thick double coat, and one a glossy single coat, so I believe that shows that yes there is a difference in responsible breeding of blues.

Thanks for answering me, as I have said Ike's sister is a merle and I believe his mother is, didn't get to see her. I also found out his breeder is breeding her females as soon as one litter leaves. Sad. I almost bought his sister, but glad I didn't. Something just told me not too.

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Ike born Aug 15 2012

Shes very cute, congrats on your new girl. From the pictures, it actually looks like shes a black and tan merle, not a blue merle. The color of a merle is actually the color of the dark spots on their body, and their nose. From the pictures it looks like her spots and black, and she has a black nose not a blue nose. Still a cutie none the less

I thought she might be a tri color, or black and tan (is there a difference, I would guess black and tan requires only those 2 colors and the tri adds white in there? What characteristics would the white need to have to be considered a tri? She has the classic tuxedo belly all the way down and has socks on all her paws, but no other white patches on her), and told my mom that but then my mom thought she was a blue merle. She def. has a black nose, her pads are pink and grey, not really black. In these photos you can really see her tan coloring, in person its much more subtle to the point you cant even see it or tell she has that color in her (maybe thats why there is confusion about her color). I had also read about grey merle thinking she could be that, but I guess not really.
Anyone know of any sites that go over coat color genetics in depth for chihuahuas specifically? Genetics are quite interesting!

There's no Tri color in the Akc, if she was registered Akc correctly, she would be "black & tan, merle, white markings". If you went by other breed standards say a Australian Shepherd then she would be "blue merle, white markings, tan points". Its just easier to say and understand I think. Mine is "black & tan, merle, spotted on white". That's a mouth full, so when people ask what color she is I just say blue merle. The color standards for chihuahuas is confusing itself. I'll pm you websites.

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