Suwannee Cockers
The Place for Natural Merles and Sables
ABOUT SABLES
The Sable marking in American Cockes has a history of controversy within the breed, although no one disputes that there have been Sable marked Cockers for many decades. And Sable is a dilute marking and not any particular color. In fact Sables could be shown in the American Cocker Spaniel AKC show ring until 1997, when a color fight broke out within the national breed club that resulted in the ultimate ouster of the Sables from the American ring, although they can still be shown in both Canada and Europe. This ouster came after over 30 Sables had been awarded their AKC championships, and we have several of these Sable champions in some of our dogs' pedigrees. But that was all for nought, and the marking was summarily kicked out, and unfortunately Sable American Cockers are now rather unusual, although not yet rare. But for the show breeder it is both difficult and expensive to maintain dogs in a marking that cannot enter the ring, and we searched for over two years for a mahogany red Sable and white dog, who ultimately turned out to also be a hidden or Cryptic Merle.
But we did not know that Max was a Cryptic Merle when we originally purchased him as our first Cocker stud dog, and it took awhile for us to realize that we were actually looking at Merle puppies! So our Max is "double-trouble" in that he is a mixture of two "outlaw" colors in American Cockers--Sable and Merle. However Max, pictured above, to the left, and below, is outwardly a mahogany red Sable and white, with no Merle hairs on his body, with only his blue eyes and some "blue" or grey diluted hairs within his black tipped ears to show that he is also a Merle. But Max also throws a "blue dilute" gene, and blue eyes are not limited to Merle dogs, so only the fact that he throws Merle pups makes him also a Cryptic Merle. We have never seen another dog with Max's coloring and genetics, and thus he is a very interesting dog genetically.
The author saw her first Sable and white Cocker back in the early 1950's--a beautiful mahogany red Sable and white neighbor's dog--so we never realized that there was this controversy over the Sables in American Cockers, as well as the Merles, until we came back to the American Cocker breed and discovered that the Sables had been kicked out! We have never quite figured out exactly what the controversy is all about, but we have read that apparently some breeders feel that there is enough doubt about the Sable color's "authenticity" in the breed to ban it from the ring, so if true, this is essentially the same argument as that against the Merles.
Sables in any breed are created by a dilution gene, called the Agouti gene, on the A Locus, and Sables come in both solids and partis, and in many different colors and shades, so they are often difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with them. And as both buff on the E Locus and Dominant Black on the K Locus are epistatic--or hide--Sable, the Sable allele may be unseen for generations before it may pop up again, often to the surprise of the breeder who is not thoroughly familiar with the marking, and/or their dogs' color and marking's pedigrees. However, this does not mean that Sable is "recessive," as Sable is dominant on the A Locus. Dominance and recessiveness are concerned with the alleles on just one gene, but epistasis refers to the interactions between genes. Also the Sable dilution can wait until a pup is several months old to appear, often after the dog's color and markings have already been designated on its papers, so the Sable dog is frequently mislabeled on its pedigree, thus further confusing the situation, as then the pedigree will give no indication that the dog in question is actually a Sable.
The two pictures of solid Chocolate Sable pups from Max, featured above and to the right, show the first thing that a breeder will usually see to indicate that they are looking at a Sable--the lighter patches of color around the pup's eyes--and the dilution is further along in the older dog in the upper picture. The second and younger pup, on the right, has light eyes, but this is probably due to his chocolate dilution, and not to his Sable dilution. But over time in what is called "Shaded Sable," the diluted Sable undercoat will usually come in all over the colored areas of the dog's body, leaving an overlay of darker hairs of the darker base color of the dog--either Black or chocolate. The Shaded Sable overcoat can also be diluted itself, in which case the dog is usually called a "blue Sable," although this term can also be used for a Sable dog that has a greyish toned undercoat. So Sable color terms can be very confusing!
However the diluted Sable undercoat comes in all colors and shades, from "blue" to "cream" to "tan"--sometimes called "Chestnut"--to the deeper mahogany red--but all are diluted from a deeper base color. The alleles on the A Locus for both Sable and tan points are thought to be due to the same dilution mechanism, but it is thought that the more recessive tan ponted allele somehow restricts the distribution of the Sable dilution to just a few areas of the dog's body--usually small tan areas above the eyes, some tan on the muzzle and on the feet--and sometimes up the legs, as in "Terrier Tan"--and under the tail.
But the Shaded Sable dog does not have this restriction of the diluted hairs to just the tan points, and the diluted Sable color thus covers all of the colored areas of the dog, with just a few darker overlay hairs left on the dog. This darker overlay is usually darkest on the tips of the ears and on the sides of the body--see the picture above of Max's side, with the concentration of the black overlay hairs being the thickest on his sides, especially just behind his front elbows, and on his ear tips. The dark overlay hairs can usually be seen only in a dog with longer hair, and not in a dog that is clipped, but this depends on how many hairs are actually diluted by Sable, as the amount of dilution varies greatly from Sable dog to Sable dog.
Max has many hairs that are diluted from black to red by the Sable gene, but many Sables have much fewer diluted hairs, and thus these "mimimal Sables" have a lot more hairs of the original base color. Solid Sable Cockers also often have solid black muzzles--called "black masks" in other breeds, or at the least a black line of hairs running up the muzzle, as on Casey, the solid Sable girl shown just above. And notice the much lighter cream colored areas around Casey's eyes, which lighter color is a sure sign of Sable. And in the picture of a mahogany red Shaded Sable and white pup, just below, you can see the deep red diluted Sable color, with the black shading on the tip of the ear.
So the "Sable dilution effect" differs in various Sable dogs, first according to color, and then according to how many hairs are involved in the dilution itself. Some Sable dogs have just a few diluted hairs, and some Sable dogs are totally diluted, with no overlay of darker hairs at all. The latter dogs are called "Clear Sables," as opposed to the "Shaded Sables" which have the darker overlay hairs--like our Max--and clear Sables are often confused with true Buff Cockers, but Buffs come from a totally different gene called the Extension gene on the E Locus. There are also two different types of Red dogs, with one red type caused by the recessive Buff gene on the E Locus, and another red type being the color black diluted to red by the Sable gene on the A Locus. So we do suspect that many Buff and Red Cockers are actually clear Sables, thus carrying the Sable gene forward undetected from generation to generation.
Of course Sable alleles can be carried by Buff and Dominant Black dogs, and the silvery Buff colored dog pictured above, named Darlin, is the dam of Mr. Darcy, the young Chocolate Sable pictured to the right above, and we believe that Darlin is a Buff dog who throws Sable when bred to the right male, as she threw so many Sable pups when bred to our Sable-Merle Max. Her genetic code would be "e e" for Buff, "K k" for Dominant Black, and either "Ay Ay" for clear Sable or "Ay at" for Shaded Sable. For a full explanation of how the Sable alleles work in Cockers, please see our Coat Color and Markings section, under the discussion of the A Locus.
Our very dark Sable and white girl named Riqui, shown above, is a very minimal Sable, with just a bit of red Sable dilution showing in her black parti coat. Her sire is a solid mahogany red Shaded Sable, and her dam is a chocolate and white.
However not all breeds have Sable in the same manner as Cockers, and some breeds, like Pomeranians, have dark tipped Sable hairs, rather than the Shaded Sable pattern. In other words, each Pomeranian Sable hair is banded in different colors, rather than the dog having different colored hairs--some hairs the darker base color, and some hairs the diluted Sable color--and the dark tipped Sable breeds are actually closer to the original Agouti banded pattern found in the wild. And some breeds, like Borzois, exhibit both Shaded Sable AND banded Sable within the same breed!
This young Sable and white Cocker boy named Trevor has many shades of Sable in his coat. He is from our Max and Suzy Q.
Trevor has magnificent Sable coloring.
Sable can combine with Merle in several different ways. Sable can completely hide Merle, as shown in this picture of our Sable-Merle girl named Leyza, at six weeks old. Only Leyza's one blue eye gives a clue as to her Merle status, as her nose eventually filled in with dark pigment.
Another way that Sable can combine with Merle is in a Calico type pattern, as shown in this picture of the back of our Sable-Merle boy named Zecchino. His Shaded Sable patches are interspersed with black patches and Merle patches, but his Merle patches are mostly confined to his head and tail areas.
A third way that Sable can interact with Merle is with both markings intermixed in the coat, as shown in this picture of our now retired Sable-Merle girl named Zelda. Zelda's diluted Merle areas are a red Sable color, and her grey Merle markings are confined to her muzzle area. Zelda and Zecchino are full brother and sister, but from two different litters.
And this is how Zelda's very unusually marked Sable-Merle coat eventually grew out. And as you can see, her original red Sable coloring did lighten considerably over time. Both Zelda and her younger brother, Zecchino, are from the silvery buff dog named Darlin and our Max.
And finally this is a picture of Hunter, who is a solid, light red Sable with a black mask, shown at about 14 weeks old. Hunter is from our Max and a solid red girl named Sparkle.
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