Breeding Methods and Key Technical Points for White Raccoon Dogs

White Raccoon Dogs and Their Characteristics

Raccoon dogs in nature have always been dark brown; this common, ordinary color type is genetically known as the wild type. In 1974, the Harbin Zoo in Heilongjiang Province acquired a rare male white raccoon dog (with pale pink eyes and muzzle), and in 1980, white raccoon dogs or piebald raccoon dogs with yellowish-brown or pale blue eyes and black muzzles were successively found among domestic raccoon dog populations in the three provinces of Northeast China. These special color types, distinct from the wild-type coat color, are called mutant types. The Institute of Special Animal and Plant Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences used these valuable white raccoon dog mutant genes and, after nearly 10 years of research, finally succeeded in breeding the new white raccoon dog color type now existing in China.

The new white raccoon dog color type now existing in China is further divided into two types based on phenotype: one type has guard hairs and underfur that are white on all parts of the body except the eye rims, ear edges, nose tip, paws and tail tip, which carry the coat color of the wild-type raccoon dog. The other type has guard hairs and underfur that are white on all parts of the body. Both types of white raccoon dogs have an appealing coat color, show no significant difference in body size from ordinary-colored raccoon dogs, and are more docile in behavior than ordinary-colored raccoon dogs.

Characteristics of Coat Color Inheritance in White Raccoon Dogs

Extensive research has shown that the gene for white coat color in raccoon dogs is a dominant gene, and its corresponding wild-type gene is recessive, but the white dominant gene has a homozygous lethal effect, so all white raccoon dog individuals are heterozygotes.

Selection and Mating of White Raccoon Dogs

The coat color of the current white raccoon dog type in China is already very stable, that is, the white-haired parts, whether guard hairs or underfur, are entirely white with no other mixed colors (such as white guard hairs but underfur that is not white or partly not white, or a certain part of the body that is not white, etc.). Therefore, selection of white raccoon dogs should focus on coat color, coat quality and body size, and males in particular should be selected even more carefully.

For mating white raccoon dogs, it is advisable to mate white raccoon dogs with wild-type-colored raccoon dogs, and it is not advisable to mate white raccoon dogs with each other. White raccoon dogs generally have the shortcoming of coarse and long guard hairs, so the wild-type raccoon dogs chosen for mating should preferably have short and dense guard hairs, in order to correct the shortcomings of white raccoon dogs.