pit bulls with spots
 

probably a stupid question but I want to know the answer.Why on both my pit mixes and a few Amstaff and bull dogs are there spots under the white hair on there body's.they look part Dalmatian.It seems real common.

It's called ticking

T (ticking) locus
The alleles at the theoretical T locus are thought to determine whether an animal displays small, isolated regions of pigment in otherwise white regions (not apparent on non-white animals). Two alleles are theorised to occur at the T locus:
T = Ticked
t = Not ticked
It is thought that T is dominant to t. Dalmatians have color ON the fur. Ticked dogs have color UNDER the fur. It's completely different.

what causes ticking?Are you saying it`s a skin pigment ?sorry I still don`t understand.I was just useing dalmations as an example.

Yes, it's simply random skin pigmentation, usually seen on white dogs since colored fur covers it up. But if you look at some colored dogs' bellies you will see evidence of ticking because there is no fur covering it up.

Thanks that explained it.

My Gotti is SUPER spotty! He has the obvious big black spots in his fur but the other spots didn't show up until early this summer when he "laid" out in the sun with me. I think it's adorable! http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/smile.pnghttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?id...&ref=fbx_album

a TON of dogs are ticked. you just dont notice cause no one stares at the white parts of most colored dogs. even my brindle dog is ticked.