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Sedona, Arizona
Lilac Merle American Bully for Sale
One lilac merle puppy is standing with me in Sedona right now, raised in the house and seen by my vet before it goes home.
Yes, there is 1 lilac merle American Bully puppy for sale here today. The coat is very rare in the breed, and the first thing worth saying is that scarcity and quality are two separate measurements. I’m Greg Harpson, I’ve bred American Bullies here since 2015, and coat is the last thing I select for, well behind temperament and behind structure.
The lilac merle puppy standing with me now
This is the only lilac merle puppy in the group as it stands, so what you see is the whole of it. Each one has been looked over by my vet before it travels, with the dates written down for you to keep.
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The other coats here this week
If lilac merle turns out not to be the one, here are the rest of the coats in the current group, closest to lilac merle first.
The genetics behind a lilac merle coat
Lilac with merle laid over the top: b/b for chocolate, d/d for the dilution to lilac, and a copy of M for the merle patterning. Four separate genetic conditions have to align in one animal, which puts it about as far out as the breed goes.
Reading a lilac merle, and what it gets muddled with
Mistaken for blue merle, and the mislabelling runs almost entirely in one direction: blue merles get advertised as lilac merle because the lilac name carries further. Check the nose and the undertone. If there is no brown warmth anywhere in the pigment, you are looking at a blue merle under a dressed-up label.
Where lilac merle sits in the breed
Lilac merle is the furthest-out coat in the American Bully, and the gap between what it is presented as and what it actually is runs widest here of all. Everything true of a merle is true on this page, and everything true of a diluted coat is true on top of it. The double-merle question applies with full force, and the dogs produced by chasing this particular coat are the ones most likely to have come from a deliberate merle-to-merle pairing for the payoff. If I have a lilac merle standing, the single question I want you to ask me is about both of its parents.
The scarcest combination in the breed and the one the loudest end of the market builds its whole pitch around, which is precisely why it is also where you find the highest concentration of dogs bred merle to merle. Read every answer about the parents carefully here, because the pull toward a risky pairing is strongest on exactly this coat.
To place it against its neighbours, here is how lilac merle compares on how scarce it really is and on how often buyers go looking for it. The coats beside it in the table are the ones people most often weigh against lilac merle.
| Coat | Rarity | Monthly searches |
|---|---|---|
| Lilac Merle | Very rare | 170/mo |
| Blue Merle | Uncommon | 720/mo |
| Lilac | Rare | 170/mo |
| Chocolate Merle | Rare | 110/mo |
| Merle | Uncommon | 480/mo |
What this coat means for the dog’s health
Both at once. The dilution risk and the merle risk apply together here, exactly as they do on a blue merle, so this coat carries the full weight of both concerns.
Was the sire merle, and was the dam merle? One merle parent is fine. Two is what produces double merles, and you cannot read that off the puppy in front of you. Ask me about both parents of any merle here and I’ll give you a straight answer. A seller who won’t is telling you something.
Beyond the coat, the rest is about the breed rather than the colour. The full picture is here, and you can see how every coat lines up.
I don’t screen or certify the parents and I won’t pretend otherwise. What I do stand behind: every puppy is examined by Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic before it leaves, it has had DHPP with the booster and the canine influenza shot by ten weeks and been dewormed between two and ten weeks, the written record travels with it, and you take it to your own vet inside the first week. Any dog I breed can come back to me at any point in its life.
Asking after a lilac merle puppy
Tell me roughly where you are and I’ll walk you through getting the puppy to you, whether that is me meeting you within a couple of hours of Sedona, ground transport, or a nanny who flies the puppy home in the cabin. I’ll also give you an honest read on whether this one fits your household.