At 5:41 PM -0400 4/28/99, Gina Bisco wrote:

>I think that was something not only show people but also farmers didn't
>like, to have the blaze meet the collar. Other than aesthetics, I don't
>know why.

        I have some wild speculation on this...  if you breed two merle
dogs together you are likely to get pups with too much white and serious
health problems. A dog is less likely to be a "lethal white" if there is
pigment on and around both ears and both eyes plus less than a third white
on the body.
        If you breed dogs with wide white blazes and lots of pretty white
on them to other dogs similarly marked you're more likely to get perfectly
healthy dogs who have the same white patterens as the lethal whites.
        We now know where those lethal whites come from, but I bet there
was a time that the problems with those pups was blamed on too much white
and not on the combination of too much merle gene.
        That's my guess about why the blaze fell out of favor...

                        jan