COLOR IN COCKER SPANIELS 



Study of Eighty-nine Matings Shows Numerous Correlations in Color and Indicates 

 That Inheritance Is Along Same Lines as in Pointer Dogs — Analogies 



in Other Breeds 



W. U. Barrows 



Assistajit Professor of Zoology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 



and 



J. AIcL Phillips 



Director of Pasteur Institute; Owner, Scioto Kennels; Columbus, Ohio. 



OXE of the few serious pieces of 

 research work on the inherit- 

 ance of coat color in dogs is that 

 reported in this journal last 

 year by C. C. Little. He showed^ that 

 in Pointers, black, brown (liver), and 

 yellow (lemon, orange and tan) are 

 inherited in true Mendelian fashion, 

 segregation showing the colors to be due 

 to two factors. 



Little's data were from the American 

 Kennel Club records. The authors of 

 this article have utilized private records,- 

 comprising eighty-nine matings ; in each 

 case the record includes the names and 

 colors of the grandparents, parents and 

 offspring. With this material, we tested 

 Little's conclusions, to see to what 

 extent, if any, they hold good for 

 Cocker Spaniel dogs. 



It is, perhaps, worth emphasizing 

 that our records include every pup born 

 in a litter, whether these dogs were 

 later registered or not. Dogs are in- 

 cluded here that are in some cases 

 considered undesirable from the breeders 

 standpoint, and would not ordinarily 

 be shown or recorded. To the genetist, 

 this is naturally a distinct advantage, 

 and makes private records rather more 

 trustworthy than stud- or herd-book 

 records' on which most investigators are 

 obliged to rely. And as we were per- 

 sonally acquainted with the owners of 

 the dogs, we were able to take every 

 possible precaution to ensure accuracy 



in the records and descriptions of the 

 colors. For these reasons we feel that, 

 although the total niimber of matings 

 studied is not large, the results are 

 worthy of confidence. 



The colors of Cocker Spaniels are 

 ordinarily spoken of as blacks, livers, 

 reds, and lemons, the reds and lemons 

 corresponding to the yellow colors of 

 Pointers. It is well known that livers 

 may occur in two shades, one a dark 

 chestnut, the other a lighter, more faded 

 liver color. The reds vary from ma- 

 hogany to lemon, through the red and 

 orange shades. The colors known as 

 lemons are difficult to distinguish from 

 the reds, in fact a good many reds are 

 registered in the Kennel Records as 

 lemon, and some lemons as red. The 

 lemon color may be a brilliant lemon or 

 dull buff, almost without lustre. In 

 distinguishing red and lemon the final 

 test is the color of the offspring when the 

 doubtful animal is mated with a recog- 

 nized lemon. As a rule a lemon pup is 

 cream or white at birth, and becomes 

 darker with age, while a red shows 

 considerable color at birth. 



Our method in attempting to deter- 

 mine whether or not the scheme sug- 

 gested by Little would hold for Cocker 

 Spaniels was as follows: a table was 

 constructed to show what results might 

 be expected when a dog of any color 

 type was crossed with a bitch of any 

 color type. This arrangement is re- 



1 Coat Color in Pointer Dogs, Journal of Heredity, Vol. V, no. 6, pp. 244-248; June, 1914. 



- The largest number of records are from the Scioto Kennels. Others were furnished by O. B. 

 Hark, Mrs. M. G. Faber, Mrs. Bonner, Mrs. Walls, F. E. Curtis and Mrs. F. J. Frank. We take 

 this opportunity to thank them for their interest and help in this study. 



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