The Merle is a color combination in dogs coats.  It is a solid base color (usually red/brown or black) with lighter blue/gray or reddish patches, which gives a mottled or uneven speckled effect. Although most breeds that can have merle coats also typically have white markings (such as around the neck, under the belly, and so on), and often tan points (typically between the white and the darker parts of the coat), these are separate colors from the merle; some dogs do appear completely merled with no white or tan markings.  Merle can also alter other colors and patterns besides the usual red or black.  In addition to altering base coat color, merle also modifies eye color and coloring on the nose and paw pads. The merle gene modifies the dark pigment in the eyes, occasionally changing dark eyes to blue, or part of the eye to be colored blue. Since merle causes random modifications, they can have both dark-eyed, blue-eyed, and odd-colored eyes.  Color on paw pads and nose may be mottled pink and black.

These merles were produced at BeckysPrettyPoms.