Final answer:
The potential offspring from a heterozygous erect-eared barker crossed with a droop-eared silent trailer can have genotypes EeBb, Eebb, eeBb, or eebb. These combinations lead to different phenotypes, including erect or droop ears and barker or silent trailer traits.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question involves a heterozygous erect-eared barker (EeBb) dog being mated to a droop-eared silent trailer (eebb) dog. In this scenario, the term phenotype refers to the observable traits of the offspring, while genotype refers to the genetic makeup of the alleles that the pups inherit from their parents. The erect ear trait is likely dominant (E) over the droop ear trait (e), and the barker trait (B) is dominant over the silent trailer (b). Using this information, we can predict the genotypes and phenotypes of the potential offspring from this cross.
Each pup will inherit one allele for ear type and one allele for vocalization from each parent. Because both parents carry two different alleles for each trait (heterozygous), the offspring could end up with any combination of these alleles. Therefore, the possible genotypes for the pups are EeBb, Eebb, eeBb, and eebb, resulting in different combinations of ear type and vocalization.