At the request of the Beauceron Club UK, the Kennel Club agreed that, as of 6^th July 2010, it will no longer accept the registration of any puppies produced from two tricolour Beauceron parents.

The acceptable coat colours for registrations in the Beauceron are black and tan and tricolour. However, in this breed tricolour is the result of the merle gene. There are two alleles of this gene: M^M (merle) and M⁺ (non-merle), with merle (M^M) being dominant to non-merle (M⁺).  Thus tricolour Beauceron dogs are usually M⁺M^M

Unfortunately, the effects of the merle allele (M^M) are not confined to coat patterning. The Kennel Club is aware that there can be an increased risk of impaired hearing and sight associated with it, particularly in dogs that are homozygous for M^M (dogs that carry two copies of the M^M allele).  The progeny of two tricolour Beaucerons (M⁺M^M) have a 1 in 4 chance of being homozygous for the merle mutation (M^MM^M), and therefore the Kennel Club has agreed not to register any litter born as a result of such a mating.

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