Barrows and Phillips: Color in Cocker Spaniels 



391 



CHAMPION MEPAL'S THE JUDGE 



By examination of pedigree and the results of previous matings, it is known that this red 

 and white Cocker Spaniel has the formula Be Be, and also carries the recessive bicolor 

 factor. On the basis of this information, it will henceforth be possible to predict with 

 fair accuracy the kind of pups that will be produced from his mating with any female 

 of known genetic makeup. If the latter is red, yellow or lemon, all the pups should be, 

 without exception, red. Photograph from H. K. Bloodgood's ^Iepal Kennels. (Fig. 2.) 



posedly mated to one of class 7. The 

 litter restilting contained one red, one 

 liver, and one lemon. It was recognized 

 at once that for two reds to produce 

 anything but red or lemon was decidedly 

 out of the ordinary. Our data shows 

 that in seventeen matings of red by red, 

 eighty-three red or lemon pups resulted. 

 This one exception, then, cannot well 

 offset such clear evidence that red by 

 red gives red or lemon especially when 

 one considers the difficulty of keeping 

 these active little dogs confined when 

 the breeding period lasts from five to 

 twelve days. 



The second exception occurs in the 

 cross of a black of class 2 with a black 

 which we may call Bob. The first 

 cross yielded six blacks. The second 

 time that this mating: was made its 



result was four blacks and one red. 

 Taken by themselves these two litters 

 are not necessarily incompatible. Two 

 other matings with Bob show conclu- 

 sively that he is class 1. Hence the 

 second litter mentioned above was 

 probably not sired by Bob. In this 

 case whelping occurred several days 

 ahead of time. This, taken with some 

 other evidence shows conclusi\'ely that 

 the mating was not correctly recorded. 

 The conclusion to be drawn from a 

 comparison of the two tables is, that in 

 Cocker vSpaniels the clear colors are 

 inherited in typical Mendelian fashion 

 and can be accurately predicted when 

 the type of the parent is known and due 

 regard is given to the vagaries of 

 chance in fertilization. 



