In the late 1980's, a dog was bred to two cocker females and produced "merle" cockers.Now whether this dog was merle or the 2 females were merle was anyone's guess.
The owner of these 2 females registered the merle offspring to their sire as a cocker named Rusty Butch.. 

Because there was no DNA testing back then and no internet to ádvertise" these rare merles" on, they were quietly bred and sold  around the USA for about 25 years.
ALL merle cockers have been traced to one of these 2 breedings. Anyone else who claims their merles do not,  is a case of fudged papers....:-)

It wasn't popular until recently when the internet came into play and demand for the unusual and/or the chance for higher prices 
encouraged some breeders to breed merle cockers.
Many merle cockers now have champion pedigrees behind them and some are very nice quality.
There are still many that are not....

The American Spaniel Club has not allowed this pattern to be listed as a legitimate cocker color/pattern because they feel it is not a spaniel color, nor so far,
can it be traced back farther than the breedings which took place in the 1980's. Although this has been over 25 years, and rule of thumb, if a pedigree breeds true for 5 generations, 
it IS considered pure-bred.
There have been rumours of other breeds introduced to this breed over it's inception, but the merle issue is the most volatile.
Because of this, right now, the AKC cannot allow merle breeders and owners to register their merle as a merle and in the past have strongly encouraged them to register them as roan;
which they are NOT. 
For more info on Roan, please visit my page (Roan Cockers)

It is not that merle owners are fraudulently misrepresenting their cockers by registering them as another color, it's that AKC only has a list of acceptable colors that ASC has given them. 
Unfortunately, it's not just the merle that cannot be correctly registered; there are other colors as well, which ARE acceptable colors that can be shown; 
but ASC forgot to list these with AKC and these dogs colors and patterns also cannot be registered correctly either.
such as blue, blue and white and brown roan & tan as well as sable is not listed correctly since it is a pattern and not a color as it is currently listed.
 

Most of us had come to the conclusion that this was an impure breeding that happened many years ago, but recently, it has come to light that there is a possiblity that merle COULD 
have been in the lines and mutated as scientists have found that all dogs carry the merle gene, although in most breeds it is an unactivated gene: m (non-merle).
Some have postulated that perhaps the m (non-merle) gene mutated into the M (merle) gene along the way, and this could possibly  be how the pattern emerged in cockers; and because it was a mutation, 
it would happen in just 1 dog, such as what happened in the 1980's.
They have also proven that the M gene can also mutate back to the m (nonmerle) gene as well..

There have been several of us who have worked and researched diligently over the past several years on the merle issue and have spoken with many of the old merle breeders as well as the new.
There have been many ideas and opinions shared on how the pattern came about in the cocker; many feel it was just an impure breeding that took place more than 20+ years ago.
Some feel that since sable, white, buff and roan can often hide the merle pattern, this color could have been passed down for many generations before this, and there may have been a possibility
that this could have always been with the breed, although there has been no mention of it, so far.

Many years ago, a lot of show breeders when attempting to breed for a certain color, often would "bucket" any pup that had a coat color that was undesirable. 
Of course, this would not have been mentioned, as the breeder would not have wanted other breeders to know that particular color or pattern was in their lines. 

There have been some old black and white photos found in old cocker books that have cockers that surprisingly appear to resemble the merle pattern, including very light colored eyes.
Of course, the dilute gene is a part of the cocker makeup, and a true dilute gene can also lighten the color of a dogs' eyes all the way to blue as well.
But this doesn't mean it carries the merle pattern. To confuse us more, merle also causes dilution.

Because color genetics were not well understood many years ago, many breeders most likely wouldn't have thought much about having a merle cocker, or something unusual;
especially since the cocker can come in so many different colors and markings as it is.

Merle recently has been discovered to be found on the SILV gene which causes the silvering in mice (and all dogs). 
They have also stated that this is an ANCIENT gene. Since most if all, canines came from basicly the same dogs, then it appears that they mean that the merle gene is present in all dogs.
 

Many have been hysterical over the merle gene carrying a lethal gene. 
The lethal gene does not appear unless 2 merles are bred together.
Then there is also a chance the offspring will not all be afflicted.

Dogs produced from 1 merle parent aren't any unhealthier, generally than any other color. 
The offspring that are NOT merle from a merle parent are the same as any other dog. 
They do not carry the lethal gene because they are NOT merle. 
Merle is NOT recessive, which means it cannot be carried hidden through generations and then appear. 
One of the parents has to be merle in order to produce merle.
If one of the parents are not merle, then there is NO merle. Period. The lethal gene is carried with the merle pattern ONLY.

Again-if the dog is not merle then there is NO LETHAL GENE.
The lethal gene associated with the merle pattern is safe UNLESS it is doubled up with another merle .
It takes 2 merle parents to produce the lethal gene.
 

Make sure the breeder you acquire your merle from is informed about merles.
The best way to breed merle is to breed to non-merle. Do not breed merle to buff or sable or roan, as they can hide the merle pattern. (The idea is to produce the visible merle pattern, right?)
If you have a dog out of a merle parent that you plan to breed, and you are not sure if it is a merle or not, then be safe and breed the dog to a non merle dog. 
If no merles appears in the resulting litter, then the dog is not merle.

There is now a merle test to see if your dog is merle. This can be found at: Genmark 
*UPDATE: Genmark has stopped the merle test because it is not accurate in ANY of the breeds
IDEXX company has now purchased the test and was offering it but now has since stopped on Cockers as well, since results are not accurate.

Breeding merle cockers is not for the uninformed, it is best to learn genetics and study dogs and their lines.
There are many merle cocker breeders who breed poor quality cockers in an attempt to make a fast buck, there are also others who 
breed very lovely merle cockers who fit todays standand in type and function, the only thing unacceptable is the merle pattern.. 
Although the American Spaniel Club is up in arms, there are many show breeders today who quietly own and/or breed merle cockers.
Merle, if bred responsibly, are often very pretty with unusual colors and markings, and can be as healthy or healthier, in some cases, as any other cocker. 
Many other breeds have merle as part of their standard and have been breeding them safely and successfully for hundreds of years. 
Learn from them. It applies to all.

For more information on merle cockers and to read about the uproar from all sides of the issue, please visit my 
website that I and a few others have put together.
Merle Cockers-Fact or Fiction
 

© Connie BC-C'lestial Cockers 2003-2011
All Rights Reserved
 
 
 
 

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