Pointed White: the Right Way and the Wrong Way

Betty says, I have some experience with pointed white English Angora, I shared it with our readers on 

http://ncag.blogspot.com/2007/08/pointed-white-english-angora-so-cute-so.html
 

In the above post, I mainly talked about the temperature sensitive points and the issue of toenail colors.   The point color is more intense during the winter than in the summer.      I did not touch the color genetics part, as I did not expect anyone would be putting the wrong genes together.  

There aren't that many English Angora breeders who work on pointed white today; as a matter of fact, the last time I saw a pointed white English Angora on the show table was some 20 years ago.   My personal experience with pointed white English Angora was between 27-31 years ago.     In today's post, I'm using French Angora pointed white as examples.

This is a blue pointed white French Angora, a well bred animal that won the BOB in the 2013 ARBA convention at Harrisburg, PA.  

As a blue pointed white, the color genetics are:
aaB-c(h)-ddE-

A black pointed white would be aaB-c(h)-D-E-
A chocolate pointed white would be aabbc(h)-D-E-
A lilac pointed white would be aabbc(h)-ddE-

In essence, in order to put together a correct pointed white, one needs to use the non-agouti gene aa, one can use either the black gene B or the chocolate gene b, the c(h) gene is responsible for the himi marking, one can use either dense gene D or dilute gene d but one needs at least one extension gene E.   To make more intense point color, it is preferable to have two copies of c(h): c(h)c(h) but c(h)c will still make an acceptable pointed white.  

This rabbit has the blue point covered all the way from nose to the face without any break in color, the ears are also solid in color.  Needless to say the wool and type are also excellent.

For sure one does not want to use non-extension gene ee, in essence, to breed pointed white, one should not use fawn or tort.   

For sure one does not want to use agouti gene A because pointed white is a self color, any agouti marking is a disqualification.

For sure one does not want to use a broken because the pointed white needs solid color at the points and ears.

(The broken gene is not as much an issue for the English Angora because broken is not accepted in English Angora).

The above rabbit in the coop has very light points with ears that are variegated in color, see the next photo.

The ears seem to have broken pattern or agouti marking or ???   Though the breeding program is unknown, it is obviously not put together well.   This rabbit was disqualified in both shows recently in the double shows.
 

If you are interested in breeding pointed white in English Angora, French Angora or Satin Angora (not accepted in Giant Angora), make sure you selected the parents with the correct color genetics.