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A chromosome is the biological strand that contains the genes which can be thought of as the blueprint which makes the dog what it is. A dog has 39 pairs of chromosomes, each of which contain 39 chromosomes giving an individualdog over 100,000 genes. When forming a new puppy the chromosome pairs split apart and half of the
mom's and half of the dad's chromosomes go to the puppy. As the new chromosomes pairs are
formed those genes controlling the same trait appear at the same loci (place) on
each chromosome in the newly joined pair. The Locus or loci is the term used to denote the address(es) or location of a gene on
the chromosome. For example, look at the genes which are coloured red. Assume this
is the gene that controls the color black in a dog's coat. This gene is found at the same
spot on the dam's chromosome, the sire's chromosome and the new puppy's chromosome. They are all at the
same loci on their respective chromosomes. |