No it doesn't because Dalmatians have either black or liver spotting

There are 100's of good correctly coloured dalmatians that are not bred from so why breed from a dog that is not a perfect one because it is the wrong colour. Don't forget the Dal is a carriage dog & bred for looks as well as guarding the carriages & so yes looks do come into the "perfect"dog scenario. The gentry who owned the dogs wanted a smart looking dog, the wishy washy lemon just didn't look smart & hence was/is excluded from the breeding pool. The same applies to patched dogs-this could have meant another breed/non breed was involved & made the dogs not look the part

Siberian Huskies are bred to work & were originally bred to work, they need the correct coat to be able to survive, but the colour was/isn't an issue because they were/are not bred for their looks

Dalmation/Dalmatian - you knew what I meant.

No it doesnt and if as you say hypothetically all the dogs were healthy, why would you not perfect it colour and markings? surely that is the whole idea, you breed a dog as close as possible to its breed standard?
Dawn.

It may well represent a perfect dog, but NOT a perfect dalmation. By definition the perfect dalmation can only have black or liver spots

Even if the dog is in perfect health, why not choose the dog in perfect health and with perfect colour. You don't need to breed from both. What's with all the increasing the gene-pool stuff? There are plenty of healthy pedigree dogs around.

Personally, if I'm forking out for a pedigree dog, I'm going to find one that ticks all the right boxes. If I'm not bothered about breed standards, I'll go down the RSPCA and get a wonderful, unique mongrel for a hell of a lot less money.

The breed standard is, as previouslly mentioned, a sorta 'blue print' to the ideals of what you want to produce in a litter. IMO any dog to be bred from must still (even if it doesn't ever in its life!) have the potentiol to fullfill its original purpose i.e gundogs to work out on a shoot, terriers to do a hard days graft of vermin dispatch, hounds to be able to hunt till the day is out etc. The breed standard sort of ensures that any dog bred to it, should have the potentiol to fullfill its original purpose (thus why we have height restrictions in many cases and so forth)-it isn't just some garbage writing to produce pretty dogs who all look the same-it does, infact serve a purpose!
As standards for some breed state to fullfill the desired job, often, requires certain types of coat (as Borderdawn previouslly stated), and i'm sure in some (one in particular springs too mind) colour/markings is a "stipulation" (as it were) too.
The West Highland White Terrier, a pure white dog-and must remain pure white despite the fact breeding of these has gone on for many moons-there is only one colour (to my knowledge) allowed, and why? Because the dogs original purpose was to be a working terrier up in Scotland, that was a brilliant white, so to be seen easily amongst the heather and was unmistakeable as any form of game-as happened with the westie breed founder who's cairn type terrier was shot as thought to be fox from a long distance (if my memory serves me well).
Think that illustrates a case where colour/markings would be important to perform the original purpose, another that springs to mind is the dally, and i know there are a few more breeds (just can't think of them!) where colour/markings were of a vital factor when this dog would be working (in whichever form).

Now, IMO, any dog produced today with 'undesired' colour, on the *wrong*/non standard markings is fine-they go into a pet home, as they are (i think) of a non show/breed, therefore, pet quality. However, i do not think they should be bred from in any cases, and certainly not too better the breed as i can't see how bringing a dog with bad colour or missmarked into the breeding "line" would improve a breed. Its JMO but to me, a dog worth breeding from, a dog that would better the breed-is a dog that has the potential, even if it never does, to fullfill its original job!
I've rambled on i know!!

Oh poo. I just made the same mistake in my last post, and it won't let me edit it !

It's all to do with the breed's origins. The Husky and arctic breeds mostly have similar origins so their colour mutations will have occurred in the dogs from which they descended. This is why they all have similar colours and there was probably no good reason to exclude good dogs of any particular colour, so they were all considered acceptable.

The Gundogs are a good example too and have developed from a separate lineage to the arctics. Though a very diverse group of breeds, they probably all have similar origins so colours are similar. Labradors and Flatcoats both have the same three basic colours - black, brown and yellow but yellow isn't allowed in the FC though it cetainly does occur and will remain in the gene pool because it's almost impossible to breed out.

There is probably no functional reason for excluding yellow FCs, just what was decided at the time of creation of the breed, to distinguish them from other breeds.

The lemon spots in Dalmatians is exactly the same gene and also carried as a recessive. I don't know the origins of this breed but this colour could possible be from Hound or Gundog ancestors.

Breeding to a very strict set of criteria does decrease the gene pool within individual breeds which does have a detrimental effect on health. And many of the breeds that diverge most from normal canine form, are not particularly healthy.

There studies which show a positive correlation with decreased health and high COI.

I'm sure you know what COI is duboing but for anyone else who may be interested, coefficient of inbreeding - a method of measuring of inbreeding.

Good point, well put

However, large gene-pool in a breed does not always equate to low COI in the individual. Take two extreme examples, my irish terrier, and my mum's westies. There are hundreds of times more westies available as breeding stock than there are irish terriers, yet my pup has lower COI than either of mum's two. Both westies originate from a respected kennel that has used line-breeding for valid health-related reasons, but it's equally possible for breeders to inbreed dogs out of sheer laziness.

If there are enough healthy irish terriers to breed a healthy specimen, with show-type coat, teeth etc..., and with only one dog showing up twice in a 5-generation pedigree then it can be done with virtually any breed!

Right but....... COI calculated over four or five generations doesn't account for background inbreeding. If breeders have been very prolific, as in the Westie, producing large numbers of individuals, it doesn't necessarily follow that the gene pool is large. This is dependant on number and relatedness of founder dogs in the breed.

If a breed has a low number of founders or has gone through a genetic bottleneck (eg Bernese) the gene pool (as in genetic diversity) will be small no matter how many individuals are bred.

Further restriction by selecting only from a strict criteria as to colour, coat type etc, will further reduce the gene pool.