• Maybe she carries the Tricolor gene?


  • Lexi has the same thing… She's red & white but on the inside curl of her tail, if you hold it straight, she has one little patch of black. Yeh, I think the breeder said she carries the tricolor gene.


  • Thanks for the reply. I am assuming the tri color gene must be in Ramses line also. I saw both parents and all the litter, and they were all red and white, yet all the pups had the black hairs on the inside curl of the tail. So I guess he isn't the only one.


  • Yeap Champ has this too. On the curl part of his tail he has a long briddle looking strip like a skunk. And sometimes when you get him at a certain light you can see some briddle, very light but we notice it. Someone at the park noticed this and told us he must have tri. For the most part though he is red and white.


  • Black hairs on the tail is usually an indicator that a dog carries the tri gene though the lack of black hairs does not necessarily mean the dog does not carry the tri gene. Here are pics of my two reds' tails. Rio is a definately a tri carrier, her sire is a tri, and Nicky is believed to be pure for red since neither of his parents ever produced tris even when bred to tri carriers.

    attachment_p_21995_0_ppredtail.jpg
    attachment_p_21995_1_tricarriertail.jpg


  • @luzmery928:

    Yeap Champ has this too. On the curl part of his tail he has a long briddle looking strip like a skunk. And sometimes when you get him at a certain light you can see some briddle, very light but we notice it. Someone at the park noticed this and told us he must have tri. For the most part though he is red and white.

    One of the "marks" of a Basenji carrying the Tri gene is black on the inside of the tail… usually a fairly reasonable sign that they carry the Tri gene, also sometime black hairs on the backs of the ears will be an indicator too.... When I bred to a "pure" for red dog with my Tri girl all the pups had skunk like black stripes on the tail...


  • Chance has the tri factor gene. He is a red and white but the inside of his tail is black white and red. The whole inside of this tail is dark. I verified this from the breeder that his parents have the tri. I've been told that if I decide to breed him he will have a tri pup 🙂


  • @Vanessa626:

    Chance has the tri factor gene. He is a red and white but the inside of his tail is black white and red. The whole inside of this tail is dark. I verified this from the breeder that his parents have the tri. I've been told that if I decide to breed him he will have a tri pup 🙂

    He could only have a tri "IF" breed to a tri and/or a tri factored… if bred to a pure for red, would only have reds.


  • Garrett has a little strip of red on the inside of his tail too. He is red & white and there is a little bit of black hairs behind his ears 😃


  • In order to get a tri both have to at lease be a 'carrier' of the tri gene. You could also have one be a tri and one be a carrier. If you do Carrier to Carrier 25% of pups produced should be tri. Now here the kicker - 25% out of 100. If you are not planning on having 100 puppies of the same breeding (and I hope not)you actually may have several litters with no tri at all.

    By the way - I have had 2 dogs 1 male & 1 female who have not one black hair anywhere - and they've both produced tri's AND I do have 1 that had black on the tail - and did not produce tri.


  • @dmcarty:

    In order to get a tri both have to at lease be a 'carrier' of the tri gene. You could also have one be a tri and one be a carrier. If you do Carrier to Carrier 25% of pups produced should be tri. Now here the kicker - 25% out of 100. If you are not planning on having 100 puppies of the same breeding (and I hope not)you actually may have several litters with no tri at all.

    By the way - I have had 2 dogs 1 male & 1 female who have not one black hair anywhere - and they've both produced tri's AND I do have 1 that had black on the tail - and did not produce tri.

    Or you could get litter with all tris and no red…gggg... just the way the gene falls.... And you can take the Tri recessive gene reasoning and apply to Fanconi. And you can see how a "gene" can hide for several generations and then.... "holy crap".....


  • I got out Ramses's paperwork, and two generations back on one side, it listed a black and white grandparent. All the others were red and white's..So those few black hairs on the tail were an interesting throw back to the black and white. Thanks for all the replies.


  • Ruby's tail has a black stripe up the middle…her mom was a tri. I always say to her, "you got your beautiful tail from your momma Barcelona"... 😃


  • dayna has the same thing on her tail. her father is red and white and her mother is a tri colored basenji.


  • Max has a diamond shape on his.:)


  • @Basenji_Boy:

    Max has a diamond shape on his.:)

    Is the diamond black or white???

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