Suwannee Cockers
The Place for Natural Merles and Sables
Dixie
Dixie is a beautiful solid Merle girl from Sparkle and Max's second litter. She has some white markings, which mixed with her solid black and Merle markings, makes her a very unique looking Merle Cocker. Her family loves to keep her "in coat," keeping her very well groomed themselves at home--not at a grooming salon--and their efforts really show off her Merle markings.
Dixie has very exotic Merle markings, and we love the waves of different colors in her long coat.
There must be something very interesting out in the yard! This picture shows off Dixie's other side, which is even more exotically marked than her left side, with the hightened contrast of her large, jet-black spot against her Merle and white markings.
When Dixie was born--the first puppy born in a litter of six--at first we thought that she was a heavily ticked black and white puppy, as she just didn't look like any other Merle puppies that we had ever seen before. But as we dried her off, we realized that she was indeed a Merle, and like many Merles, Dixie had her own unique markings. But for a long time we called her our "black and white Merle puppy."
It's very difficult to make any predictions about puppies when they are born. For instance, Dixie was one of the larger puppies in her litter, but at almost a year old she only weighed 16 pounds, so newborn size is not necessarily a good indicator of how large--or how small--a dog will eventually turn out to be.
By four days old Dixie was actively moving around on her own, but only to seek out her dam to nurse. Notice how pink her nose was at this age.
By nine days old Dixie was looking very strong and active and putting on weight, but she still looked somewhat like a ticked black and white Cocker to us, instead of a Merle, due to her very light Merled background color. And she almost looked brindled too--look at those black striped markings--so this girl really has very interesting and unusual Merle markings.
By 22 days old Dixie was looking quite white looking, and it was pretty amazing to see her changing almost before our eyes.
But after she turned four weeks old Dixie started turning very dark, which again was a change that took us by surprise.
And by the time that Dixie was six weeks old her dark areas were definitely "taking over," leading us to then think that she might be a Sable-Merle.
At eight weeks old Dixie went home to her new family, who had been waiting for her for months--since before she was even conceived! But Windy, the older Sheltie in the family, really wasn't too sure about this new intruder, and she let everyone in the house know about it!
But Dixie knew where to take refuge, putting a body between herself and the older dog.
But soon friendship and sharing prevailed.
And by the time that Dixie was ten weeks old she had settled right in, with her basket, all of her toys, and her chewies.
And Dixie was even interested in looking at her picture on the computer screen.
But mainly she was interested in being herself, a beautiful Cocker Merle puppy.
As she got older Dixie liked to go out into her back yard, which backs up to a pasture, and we're told that she really likes to bark at the cows out in that pasture. No cows here in this picture though--just another adorable picture of Dixie at about three and a half months old.
By five months old Dixie was still working on those chewies! Notice that her nose had turned completely dark, but that she has one wedge of blue at the top of one of her eyes, which are both otherwise brown.
By six months old Dixie was starting to grow out her coat, and she was looking more and more like her dam--our red Sparkle--in every way except her coloring.
And this closeup shows her emerging Cocker "look" even more.
And by eight months old Dixie was really starting to look like a grown-up Cocker.
But by eight months old a Cocker's coat is usually just starting to grow out, and it can take up to two years for a full coat to emerge.
But by eleven months old Dixie's coat was looking quite full.
Cockers generally like to swim, having come from retrieving Spaniels, and here Dixie seems to be contemplating whether the pool is warm enough for a swim. And this picture gives us a close-up look at her beautiful Merle-marked neck. We do think that Dixie, like her full sister named Zadda, is a "tweed" Merle, with different types of Merle markings scattered over her body.
But if the water is too cool, one can always lounge in the sun on the pool chair.
And all that exertion swimming can make a girl awfully hungry.
But there's always someone handy to help groom that beautiful coat.
"Hey, I'm not Bat Girl"!
"Is all forgiven"?
But once dry, Dixie is back to her gorgeous self.
And here is out latest picture of Dixie, posing with her family during the Christmas season of 2006.
We thank Dixie's family for providing us with these wonderful pictures of her, and for allowing us to show them to you. Dixie lives with her family in Parrish, Florida, in the Southern part of the Tampa Bay area.
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