Cockers are one of
the few breeds of registered dogs that come in a
multitude of colors and marking patterns. The different colors
are split into 3 color "Varieties". These
varieties are:
- Black -
includes all black and black & tan colored Cocker Spaniels.
- ASCOB (Any Solid
Color Other than Black) - includes buff (blonde, golden, silver buff,
red), brown and brown & tan colored Cocker Spaniels.
- Parti-Color -
includes Cocker Spaniels with two or more well-broken colors, one
of which must be white - Black/White, Brown/White & Red/White,
including those with tan points.
Unfortunately,
the above color definitions do not include a number of colors that are
known to occur in Cocker Spaniels. Chief among these is, of
course, merles! This means that merles are not eligible to be
shown. The color is also not recognized as an acceptable color
for registration. This means that most merles are incorrectly
registered as roans, sables, buffs or other acceptable colors.
This is, of course, an injustice to merle breeders and owners (as well
as the breeders of the other colors that the merles end up being
registered as!), but more importantly, this poses a health risk to
unborn puppies.
When breeding
Merle Cockers,
one of the first things to consider is the color of each
breeding dog. Merle dogs should never be bred to each other.
When two merles are bred together, 25% of the litter could inherit two
copies of the merle gene. Those puppies that inherit two copies
of the merle gene are considered homozygous merles. A percentage of these
homozygous merle puppies can be deaf and/or may have serious
eye and vision defects.
Please keep in
mind that acceptably colored pups from a merle parent are NOT
defective and CANNOT produce defective puppies. Additionally,
normal (one gene) merle pups are NOT defective and will NOT produce
defective puppies unless bred to another merle. Let me say that
again - when a dog with the merle gene is bred to a normal (non-merle)
dog, the resulting puppies will ALL have the same chance of being
normal and healthy as any other puppies from any breeding of 2
normally colored dogs. Defective
merle puppies can ONLY occur when a dog inherits two copies of the
merle gene (one from each parent).
For some unknown
reason, eye and ear development of a homozygous merle fetus seems to
be affected if both of the dog's merle genes happen to overlap and
mark the dog in the eye or inner ear area. Defects can occur in
only the eyes or the ears (may affect only one eye or ear) or both
eyes and ears may be affected. Defects can range from minor
changes in hearing or sight to complete deafness and, in severe cases,
the complete absence of eyes.
The defects
associated with homozygous merles are obviously severe and should be
ample incentive for breeders to take all necessary precautions to
avoid merle to merle breeding. Measures to prevent defective
merle puppies should include proper color identification of all
puppies from a merle parent, correct color registration of puppies
from a merle parent and responsible placement of all merle puppies.
Of course, our parent breed club (the American Spaniel Club) and AKC
MUST recognize this color as occurring within the breed
and allow for proper registration of the color before breeders will be
able to make significant headway in addressing all of the issues that
face merle dogs and their owners!!
On a side note,
due to rampant prejudice within the breed community regarding the
quality and health of merle cockers, merle breeders should pay
particular attention to the quality of the dogs they choose to breed
and to health issues in their merle breeding stock. Merle
breeders can help overcome the prejudice that these dogs are subject
to by making every effort to produce the best quality, healthiest dogs
possible and by being sure their fully registered puppies are placed
with other responsible, knowledgeable breeders. Merle
breeders should make every effort to breed only quality
representatives of the breed standard that have been health tested and
certified free of common genetic defects.
Since I don't
particularly want to be the recipient of an on-going barrage of hate
mail from those that may take the following information as a sign that
I'm condoning or encouraging merle to merle breeding, let me stop here
and say that the information I am including in this section of my
"Breeding Merles" article is being included as an attempt to cover all
aspects of breeding merles. It is not my intention to encourage
or endorse merle to merle breeding. I am also not attempting to
address the morality of doing merle to merle breedings. Nor is
it my intention to make a determination of whether this type of
breeding is ethical. The point of including the following
information is to provide educational information for merle owners and
breeders. Whether a breeder chooses to do a merle to merle
breeding is an individual decision. Each breeder will have to
make their own decisions on whether they feel this type of breeding is
acceptable.
While you
personally may not believe in mating a merle to a merle, some breeders
may choose to do this type of breeding. Why would someone
attempt this type of breeding knowing that there is a risk of getting
defective puppies? Breeders who choose to breed merle to merle
are trying to produce a non-defective homozygous merle that can be
used for breeding. The reason a breeder would want a homozygous
merle is that homozygous merles generally produce 100% merle puppies.
While a normal merle will statistically produce 50% merle puppies, a
homozygous merle may produce 100% merle puppies. Obviously, a
healthy homozygous merle is an asset to a merle breeder's breeding
program and would be much sought after. (Merle is actually
considered an incomplete dominant gene and, while a dog that inherits
2 merle genes is considered a homozygous merle, it is possible for a
homozygous merle to produce non-merle offspring.)
Of course, there
is always a risk that the only homozygous merle puppies produced in a
merle to merle breeding will be defective. However, even a
defective merle can often be used for breeding. Using a
defective merle for breeding is not a problem as long as it is never
bred to another merle. The defects that may occur in a
homozygous merle are NOT directly hereditary and there is only a risk
of getting defective puppies if a homozygous merle is bred to another
merle. (When breeding a homozygous merle to another normal
merle, the risk for defective puppies is double that of breeding a
normal merle to a normal merle - 50% chance of defective puppies when
one parent is homozygous instead of a 25% chance.) A homozygous merle, defective or
healthy, will NOT produce defective puppies if breed to a non-merle.
The risk of
getting defective homozygous merle puppies is a risk that a breeder
must be prepared to face if they choose to breed two merles to each
other. If a breeder chooses to do a merle to merle breeding,
they must ask themselves two questions:
- Am I willing to
keep any homozygous merle puppies long enough to fully evaluate them
for possible defects?
- If defects are
present, am I willing to cull these defective puppies or
provide them with a permanent, lifetime home?
If you are
unprepared to do either of the above, then do not
breed two merles to each other! YOU are responsible for
any puppies that you bring into this world (healthy or not) and if you
are not willing to deal with the negative consequences of your
decisions, then you are not a responsible breeder and should not be
breeding dogs!!
Some homozygous
merle puppies may have characteristics that will make identifying
possible defective pups simpler. For example, in a homozygous
merle solid colored dog (black, brown or buff/red base coat with or
without tan points and with NO parti factor), you may see white
markings where the dog's two merle genes have overlapped. If
these white areas appear around the eyes or the base of the ear, then
there is a chance that the puppy in question COULD be defective.
The white markings described above are not indicative of parti
factoring like normal white markings. These areas of white are
the result of two overlapping merle genes lightening the coat color to
white. For example, on a solid black puppy, let's say the dog's
first merle gene lightens 2 areas of a particular puppy's coat to blue
- the left ear and the tail. Now let's say that the dog's second
merle gene lightens the right ear AND the tail. We now
have a black dog with lightened areas of blue coat on both ears and
with a WHITE tail. The second merle gene overlapped the first
merle gene on the tail and this results in white coat. This
solid colored homozygous merle dog with white markings is still a
genetically solid colored dog! These white markings are
NOT the same as those seen on chest/throat/toes/etc. of a mis-marked,
parti-factored solid dog.
Breeders must
keep in mind that since it is impossible to see the inner ear and eye
structures in newborn puppies, surface markings on the dog may be
misleading. Since it is abnormal fetal development in the inner
ear and eye that causes defective merle puppies, visible white
markings on the eyes or ears may not always indicate a defective dog,
even if the dog is genetically a solid. The reverse is
also true - a defective homozygous merle puppy could have “normal”
merle coloring on the surface, but could have defects due to
overlapping merle genes marking the inner ear or eye area.
Since Cockers
have a parti-color variety, this further complicates identification of
possible defective puppies. Parti-colors, especially in certain
bloodlines, may routinely be very open-marked (mostly white) and/or
may have white on or around the ears and white around one eye.
So, if there is any chance that a dog could carry parti factoring,
white markings in the eye and ear area are not an automatic indicator
of possible defects.
When breeding
parti-color merles, defective homozygous merle puppies are often primarily
white with small areas of color. These dogs will often have a lot
of white on the head. (Even genetically solid homozygous
merles may have predominantly white coats.) Parti-colored merle
puppies with colored coat surrounding the eyes, over the ears and with
a lot of color on the body should be sound.
Obviously,
identifying defective merle puppies is not simple. Of course,
suddenly realizing that that cute 4-6 week old puppy you have raised
is blind or deaf (or both) can be a heart-breaking revelation.
Making the decision to put down this otherwise healthy 4-6 week old
puppy can be devastating if you will be unable to provide ongoing care
for the dog. Remember, if you are not willing to provide for
this defective dog for its lifetime, you cannot foist it onto an
unsuspecting buyer or expect a rescue or shelter to be responsible for
your mistake. Even giving a defective merle puppy away is not
always a simple solution as you must always be prepared to take this
dog back at any time in the future should the owners become unable or
unwilling to care for the dog. A lifetime commitment to your
puppies is your responsibility as a breeder. Before you decide
to breed merle to merle, please think long and hard of the possible
consequences of such a breeding.
Another fact to
keep in mind when considering doing a merle to merle breeding is that
if you are unwilling to cull defective puppies or you cannot keep any
defective puppies, those dogs that go out into other homes will be
representatives of the Cocker Spaniel breed and of YOUR breeding
program and ethics! This color is already under fire and facing
severe prejudice within the breed community. If merle breeders
hope to make any headway in getting this color to be more widely
accepted, we cannot afford for breeders to behave irresponsibly or to
breed indiscriminately. PLEASE, if you have any interest
in merle Cockers and choose to engage in breeding the color, do not
engage in breeding practices that will negatively affect the way merle
dogs are perceived. The best way to do this is to:
- Avoid merle to
merle breedings (eliminating the possibility of defective
homozygous merle puppies).
- Educate all
puppy buyers regarding the risk in breeding merle to merle.
- Above all,
place your puppies responsibly!
The first step in
preventing accidental merle to merle breeding is to correctly
identify the color of each of your breeding dogs. To be sure
that each dog's color is correctly identified, breeders should find
out the colors of their breeding dogs' parents and littermates.
If you see a dog's parents and littermates, then you should be able to
make a reasonable determination of whether or not there is a chance
that the dog in question is or could be a merle. Since merle
cannot hide within the gene pool and merle puppies must have a merle
parent, it's reasonably simple to calculate the chance of your dog
being a merle by seeing the dog's parents and littermates. If
there are 6 pups in your dog's litter and none of them are merle, then
you have a 98%+ probability that your dog is not a merle. If you
visually inspect this dog's parents and neither of them appears to be
merle, then there is even less chance that your dog is carrying the
merle gene. If your dog is a merle, you should be able to
identify this color pattern in one parent and in approximately 50%
your dog's littermates.
In the above
paragraph it should be noted that I said "if you see" your dog's
parents and littermates. When I say you should identify the
color of your dog's immediate relatives, this does not mean that you
should simply ask the breeder what color your dog's relatives are.
Breeders may not know themselves what color every dog in a litter is,
so insist on seeing the dogs parents and littermates in person or in
clear photographs. If you must settle for pictures, you would
like to see pictures of each side of each dog and another picture
showing each dog's head with the eye color plainly visible. By
seeing your dog's immediate relatives you will be able to make your
own determination of your dog's color genetics and this will allow you
some measure of confidence when it comes time to choose a mate for
your dog.
Unfortunately,
being absolutely certain that your dog is not a merle may be more
difficult than it sounds above. This is because there are
cryptic merles and sable merles and the merle pattern of these dogs may not be readily
visible. Luckily, there are a couple of other simple steps
that breeders can take to further assure themselves that their dog is
not a merle. One of these steps is to thoroughly research
your dog's pedigree. The reason it's important to research your
dog's pedigree is that as of this time, ALL of the merle pedigrees
that have been researched have traced to one particular dog.
Therefore, if you were to trace your dog's pedigree and you found this
dog in your dog's background, then you would know that there is a
chance your dog could be a merle. The dog that all breeders
should be on the lookout for in their pedigrees is
"Rusty Butch",
a buff male
(AKC registration #SC914708)
whelped 10-20-1979.
Another option
for determining if your dog is a merle is to do a test breeding.
As stated above, a merle dog will statistically produce 50% merle
puppies in each litter. Therefore, if you breed a dog that you
think could be a merle to a dog that you are absolutely sure is NOT a
merle, then you can "test" to see if the dog in question will produce
merle puppies. For your test breeding, be sure to avoid breeding
to a sable since sable can mask (hide) the merle pattern and this
would be counter-productive. (It would be best to avoid breeding
to a buff or red and white as well since sable and merle
markings/patterns are difficult if not impossible to see on dogs
with these colors.) If you do a test breeding and you get merle puppies, then you will know that your dog is, in fact, a merle
and must be bred with caution.
Again, if you
choose to breed merle Cockers, PLEASE breed and place your merle dogs
responsibly!
