COAT COLOR IN POINTER DOGS 



Examination of Stud Book From Mendelian Viewpoint Suggests That Relation 



of Brown to Black is the Same in Dogs as in Other Small Mammals 



Which Have Been Investigated, and That There are Two 



Types of Yellow — Practical Breeding Rules. 



C. C. Little 

 Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, Massachusetts. 



THE time and expense necessary 

 to conduct, on any considerable 

 scale, a series of breeding experi- 

 ments with pedigreed dogs, has 

 led to few efforts to investigate the laws 

 of inheritance in their case. The work 

 done by geneticists with other small 

 mammals has, however, shown that if 

 Mendel's Law can be used successfully 

 in the breeding of dogs, a large number 

 of new and interesting forms might 

 well be produced. 



Since the actual breeding experiments 

 with dogs are not likely to be undertaken 

 for some time, the question naturally 

 arises as to whether it is possible to 

 obtain from already existing data any 

 information which would be of use to the 

 scientific breeder. 



Knowing that the American Kennel 

 Club has for years registered and re- 

 corded pedigreed and full-blooded dogs 

 of almost every recognized breed, I 

 obtained their stud book (Vols. 11-29 

 inclusive) to ascertain whether or not 

 they contained available data on color 

 inheritance. I found that in nearly 

 every animal color was recorded, and 

 that in several breeds the colors were 

 simple and distinct enough to serve as 

 fair material for tabulation. As E. N. 

 Went worth has recently pointed out in 

 this journal, it is advisable to avoid, 

 in so far as {jossiblc, stud book records 

 which would be apt to b? distorted as 

 a result of favoritism to one color at the 

 expense of one or more others. 



After some hesitation, with this fact 



in mind, I chose i:)ointers as a breed 



combining the greatest number of 



advantageous points with a minimum of 



244 



disadvantageous ones. Some of the 

 points may now be considered in detail. 



ADVANTAGES OF THE MATERIAL. 



First: The colors of pointers are dis- 

 tinct, being black, brown (liver), and 

 yellow (lemon, orange or tan), on a 

 white ground. Between these three 

 colors — black, brown and yellow — there 

 is little or no chance of confusion. 



Second: The pointer is a well-estab- 

 lished breed supposed to have been 

 imported to England from Spain early 

 in the eighteenth century, and then to 

 have been crossed with the "brach" or 

 the foxhound. From this cross the 

 modern pointer is supposed to have been 

 evolved by a process of inbreeding and 

 selection. On the authority of Shields, 

 a French encyclopedia, in defining the 

 "brach" or "braque," states that it 

 possessed the spotted coat, short hair 

 and colors of the modem pointer; facts 

 of considerable imi)ortancc and evi- 

 dence in favor of the braque as one of 

 the ancestors of the pointer. 



Third : No one of the colors is desired 

 for breeding or showing to the exclusion 

 of the others. Of course there are 

 doubtless local preferences for one or the 

 other color and these are probably well 

 marked, liut for the most part it can be 

 said that pointers are as free from such 

 preferences or prejudices as any other 

 breed. It is at least sufficiently free 

 from them to assure the absence of any 

 wilful deceit in describing the color of 

 any one animal. Lee, Compton and 

 Westbrook all state that at the present 

 time li\'er is the most ]:)opular color, 

 then comes yellow next in favor, and 



