About Sable Cockers
Updated August 8, 2016
Introduction to the Sable
American Cocker Spaniel:
Sable
cockers have
always been a part of the cocker spaniel breed.
In the
beginning, there wasn't much ado about the color pattern. Most didn't breed
for it, but it did pop up now and again
Sable
can be found in the Springer Spaniels and English Cockers as well; which
is where our American Cockers derived from.
It has
also been one of the hottest "color" topics and color wars in the history
of the cocker spaniel.
The
sable pattern has been traced back into the early 1900's, where many were
registered as mahogany, and some were registered as sable.
In the
early AKC stud books, the breeder/owner could register a dog whatever color
they wanted to.
In other
words, there were no set colors or patterns as per the standard they had
to go by when registering a color or pattern at the time.
So often,
you would see many different colors and markings listed than what you see
today through AKC.
Once
the AKC had their official color & pattern list from ASC, some of the
colors such as mahogany that were listed in the actual
old
AKC stud books, had been changed to red by AKC in a online pedigree search
at AKC.
Sable
is NOT a rare "color" like some say. It just isn't bred as often
as the normal colors by the show community.
Many
show breeders still have and breed sables, even though they cannot be shown
in the USA.
But there
are still many sables around. And like all colors, some are very nice representatives
of the breed standard,
while
others are not.
Do your
homework if looking to purchase a sable. Buy one from a responsible breeder
who has the overall health,
temperament
and quality first and foremost and not just the "color".:-)
History of the current
Sable Cockers
At
one time, sable cockers competed in the American show ring with all other
colors. Many achieved their AKC championships.
In the
late 70's things started to change, and a 12 year fight ensued over the
sable issue.
It wasn't
until the 1990's that due apparently to Parent Club politics and some disgruntled
breeders in a private war with each other,
sables
were thrown out of the show ring and so far have never been allowed back
in.
Many
have tried to get it voted back in, but politics and unethical practices
during that time by the ASC board has managed to either get the voted count
counted
against the sable, and has since refused to allow the club to vote on this
matter.
(*See the link to the Sable Time
Line below, for
more
detailed information about this matter)
One of
the problems were that the parent club didn't know where to put the sables
in the show ring, because of the overlay, according to ASC,
they
weren't considered a solid color. The parti sables were shown with the
partis.
In todays
world, the parti sables should be shown with the partis, the black sables
in the black variety and brown sables shown in the ASCOB ring.
But
some still feel that solid sable isn't actually a solid and since it has
no white, the solid sables shouldn't be shown with the parti.
Back
in the 1960's a little cocker was born called *Jolie Buttons. She was a
black girl who was very tightly inbred. She was bred to
a parti
and they produced a Mahogany (sable) named Sir Benjamin VII.
She
again was bred to a tricolor parti named Birchwood Bacharach, and they
produced another Mahogany (sable)
named
Birchwood Mahogany Key, and a sable girl named Birchwood Mahogany Mirth.
*A
little story about Jolie Buttons:
I
(Connie) have been doing a pedigree of Jolie Buttons. I took it out as
far as I could. I did an inbreeding report on her,
and
the pedigree is massively inbred. The number 1 dog she is bred on is Ronie
II..30 times.
This
dog has more influence than any other dog in the pedigree. If you take
his pedigree back, his great grandsire
is
CH Rowcliffe Red Chief who was a sable.(in the original AKC stud book)
Ronie
II himself was bred on Red Brucie 26 times and Robinhurst Foreglow 35 times,
who
was also thought to be a sable (Mahogany).
Jolie's
grandsire on her dam's side was also CH Rowcliffe Red Chief.
There
are no tan points to stop the sable from being passed down, so Jolie when
bred to a tan pointed dog..would
have
had no problem producing sable.
Jolie
was bred to BIRCHWOOD BACHARACH, a tricolor, and they produced BIRCHWOOD
MAHOGANY KEY
who
was registered (in the actual AKC stud books) as a mahogany.
She
was also bred to BROADLAWN'S CBS, a red & white parti and produced
a sable, Sir Benjamin VII.
Now
before anyone says..they couldn't have produced sable since Broadlawn's
CBS wasn't tan pointed...his dam was, or at least carried
the
tan point gene..
Broadlawn
CBS's dam was CH KAMPS' KLEMENTINE, registered as a red & white but
DID carry the tan point
gene
as she did produce tri when bred to CH Begay's Tan Man.
To see
the inbreeding report click HERE
(will come up as a PDF file)
This
was in the the early 1970's and these dogs were behind many (but not all)
of the sables of today, and the breeding that started the huge
discussion
on sables with the ASC.
Here
is a partial list of some of the 30 or so sable cockers who achieved their
AKC championship before they were removed from the conformation ring.
List
of Cocker Champions, Color and Breeder/Owner..NOTE:Not a complete list
CH
Artistry's Soot And Cinders
CH Barnestorme's
Back Burner
CH BeGay's
It Is Miss Elizabeth
CH Bi-Nan's
Different But Luvable
CH Campbell's
Kismet
CH Campbells
Another Color II
CH Canter
Go For Blue Ice
CH Charisma's
Chasin' Rainbows
CH Glori-Land's
Miscjones
CH Karavan's
Silk 'N Sable
CH Lancer's
Billy Bob
CH Legend
Dudley Do Right |
CH
Legend I'm A Ten
CH Legend
Precious Memories
CH Nosowea's
No Label
CH Samurai's
Classic Gold, CD
CH Samurai's
Dust Devil
CH Schiely's
Shakespeare
CH Schiely's
Silk N' Sable
CH Seven
Arrows Dunmorr Dynasty
CH Trojan's
Charcoal Sketch
CH Wyndsong's
All Fired Up
CH Wyndsong's
Fancy Pants
CH Wyndsong's
Flash Of Lightin' |
Chatosha's
Night Odyssey, Hobbi-Hill's Half Carot, Lancer's Amaretto and Lorolet's
Mahogany Maverick,
were
pointed but were pulled from the ring when sables were disqualified.
Some
of the earliest sables listed in the AKC and CKC (Canadian Kennel Club)
stud books were:
.
Brown
Bear (5-10-1927) Brown Sable
Gypsie
(5-19-1930) Orange Sable
Hosking's
Nancy (11-26-1924) Orange & Sable
Old
Elms' Sable Sue {Red* F } A247244
Pete
Holt (11-07-1939) Red with Black Ears
Rockfield
Muffy (4-15-1909) (CKC) Sable & White
CH Rowcliffe
Red Chief (11-1-1931) Sable
Ruben
R (11-14-1911) (CKC-12525) Red Sable Male
Sable
Bomber (5-12-1941) Sable
Sable
Broc (5-12-1941) Sable
Sable
Nipper ( 10-09-1944) Dark Sable
The
Pied Piper Of Fieldhead (6-11-1934) Tan w/ black hairs
Zipper's
Sable Boots ( 12-18-1938) Sable w/ white markings |
Sables are still being bred
and can still be shown in conformation in Canada and other countries. But
because of the American Spaniel Club,
the AKC will not allow the
sables to be shown in the USA. They can still compete in performance, and
many have achieved performance titles.
Another problem, is sabling
is considered a pattern, like the roans etc. But it is listed as only a
color with AKC.
This needs to be addressed
and changed as there are red sables, brown sables, black sables and clear
sables. There are also sable roans.
Breeding Sables
(A quick, confusing course
on sable genetics)
There
are no health problems associated with the sable pattern.
The
Sable gene is on the same locus (genetic marker) basically as the tan point
gene. The dog has to have this sable or tan point gene or carry it in order
to produce sable. They are represented as "ay" and "at". If a dog has 2
ay "genes" it will be what people call a clear sable; and really won't
appear to look sable..it will basically look like a buff. If it has 2 "at"
genes, it will be tan pointed ( e.g.: Black & Tan); If the ay "gene'
pairs up with the "at" gene, then the dog will look and be sable. If a
dog only carries 1 "at" gene, it will not look tan pointed, but it WILL
carry for the tan point gene. This is why you can breed a sable to a solid
dog or a dog that doesn't have tan points, but does carry for them (e.g.
has a parent who is tan pointed) and produce sable. You cannot breed 2
tan pointed dogs together and produce sable, as the tan point gene will
cancel out the sable, since the sable gene has to be on the locus for "ay
or "at". Not all dogs carry the "at" or "ay" gene. So you have to study
coat colors in your pedigrees to see. Just because you have sable in your
lines, does not mean you can produce it.
For instance,
one of my earlier girls was black & tan. Her sire was a sable. Because
there was only room for either the ay or at genes to sit, she received
both "at" genes and was black and tan, canceling out the sable. Her littermate
got one of each and was a sable. The only way she would ever be able to
produce sable, would for her to be bred to a sable. She would not be able
to produce it if she was bred to another tan pointed dog or a dog carrying
tan points.
Sable is a pattern but can
basically be explained as tan points "Gone Wild" on a cocker. The area
where the tan points are on a normal tan pointed dog,
spread out all over the coat
eventually.
The overlay on the coat, the
nose and eyerim color is the actual color the dog is.
But because the tan points
have spread out, the dog appears red, mahogany brown, buff etc. with a
darker color overlay.
Sable is a pattern and what
it does is it does not inhibit the tan points in a dog to stay in the normal
areas, so it spreads out
underneath the topcoat of
the dog.
The correct color for the
dog is the overlay such as a black sable, which actually would have been
a black & tan dog, but the sabling spread
out under the coat and made
just the overlay black. In a brown cocker, it would be a lighter tan color
with the brown overlay, nose and eyerims.
In partis, it would be the
same; the dark areas would be sabled with a darker overlay on the spots
and the color of the dog would be the
overlay over the spots, eyerim
and nose color.
So to produce sable, breed
a sable to a dog with tan points or a dog known to carry tan points. You
can breed a tan pointed dog to a
non tan pointed dog that has
a sable parent, or grandparent and so on, as long as there is no tan points
gene between the
sable in the pedigree and
the current non tan pointed dog.
Sable to sable breeding of
course, produces sable too with no health issues associated with the sable
pattern.
It's
not too hard to get the basics on the sable gene, once you figure it out
. :-)
Bottom line,is to produce healthy
and bred to standard, then add the sable as the icing on the cake ;-)
Breed for quality..
and not just color/pattern.
Sable Article
Written by Dr Francis Greer
from the book "COCKER CHAMPIONS
in Story and Pedigree” Volume 2
(Special Thanks to Martin
Belcke (CockerSpaniels.com) for taking the time to write this out &
sending to me)
Sable
The
advantage of having the color history of a breed is no better illustrated
than in the controversy which arose a few years before
these
books were published.
The
appearance of sable and sable/white Cockers shocked many breeders.
It was rumored some years later by those who were
not
familiar with the breeding program that produced the litter that the Cocker
dam had probably been bred by a Beagle.
Dr. Little
found that the sable gene is almost nonexistent in Beagles or so rare as
to be insignificant. Dr. Phillips’ technical article
on the
inheritance of sable in Cockers was published in “The Journal of Heredity”
in 1938.
The
article contained photos of the two subjects (a mother and son), both sable.
The sable
female was bred to a black dog which carried tan points recessive.
This produced a sable male which showed large
areas
of tan in the tan points areas. The experiment confirmed Dr. Phillips’
theory of sable inheritance and the dominance of
sable
over tan points.
The
registered names of the two sables were not given in the article (it is
not a practice to call the subjects by registered names).
The
names of the breeders and owners were given, and a search is now underway
to identify the bloodlines from Stud Book records.
Sable
patterns in Cockers is relatively rare although it is (and was) probably
more common than appears in the Stud Books.
Breeders
of previous eras tended to register them simply as “red,” disregarding
dark hairs or visible indications of
tan
points pattern in the normal locations.
A disconcerting
aspect of the color to genetic novices is the production of some blacks
in litters from two “red,”
one
of which is actually a sable.
This
seems to be a violation of Dr. Phillips’ statement that buff to buff breeding
can give only buff.
Dr.
Phillips’ reputation is not tarnished; buff to buff gives only buff as
long as both are genetic buffs.
A sable
does not have a buff or red coat by virtue of the normal buff genes.
His lighter color comes from the action of the
sable
gene, and his breeding behavior with buff is controlled by his basic color
– black or liver.
The pedigree
of CH Dogwood Rouge et Noir is in the pedigree section of this volume.
The name indicated that there must have
been
some black in his red coat; he was registered “red” by Lucy and Hagood
Bostick who owned him.
A photograph
was necessary to examine his appearance since both Bosticks are now gone,
but I expected to find one.
Beth
McKinney, English Cocker breeder and historian, knew of old magazines,
found his picture in the February 1939 AKC Gazette!
In black
and white, the photo showed a dog that might well have been a black/tan
because the tan pattern was so obvious.
During
the entire period when Rouge et Noir was shown, black/tans were still shown
in particolor classes.
The
only chance for an answer to his color was to locate his show record.
Beth
delved into show records and found that he had earned all his points from
the Solid Color Other Than Black classes.
His
chance of actually being sable rose to 99%.
The
next project was to see if his pedigree contained the lines of known sable
producers. And it did.
Ch Billy
Obo, Jr., his son, Ch Obo Donatello, and his sire, grandsire, and near
relatives are ubiquitous in most sable pedigrees
and
have been shown to have produced sables directly in some cases.
The
black bitch involved in the recent legitimacy conflict has 12 crosses to
Ch Obo Donatello, known carrier of the sable gene.
The limited
number of sable pedigrees chosen for this chapter illustrates the gene’s
distribution geographically.
They
come from the East (Ch Dogwood Rouge et Noir), the Midwest, the Southwest,
the far West, and from a combination of far
West
and Midwest bloodlines meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A more
extensive discussion of sable genetics and known sables is included in
a booklet nearing completion for those interested
in the
subject.
It is
probable that the sable gene was preserved in Canada at the time those
breeders were actively engaged
in developing
dark red Cockers.
It is
fortunate from the standpoint of genetics that Canadian-bred Ch Obo Donatello
was brought to the States at an early age.
He was
outstanding; many bitches were sent to him, and a large number of his puppies
were registered.
Only
AKC records provided color information, but many breeders were still averse
to the procedure.
I have
traced 143 of Ch Obo Donatello’s sons and daughters out of 54 different
bitches.
He was
black, but he carried the recessive genes for liver, sable, and parti-color.
He did not carry tan points or buff.
His
sire, Ch Billy Obo, Jr., remained in Canada until his breeder F.J. McGauvran,
moved to California in 1922 and officially
registered
“Obo” with the AKC as his kennel prefix.
I have
traced all of Ch Billy Obo, Jr.’s AKC-registered offspring (69) out of
28 different bitches.
He had
recessive liver and particolor, and to addto the possibilities, it seems
that he had a recessive buff gene as well as sable.
CREDITS
The research on sable
would never have reached its present stage without the help of others who
have contributed greatly. First, I am thankful that
Don Harrison and Ed McCauley
described the color of their black bitch’s first litter. Together,
we worked months studying the limited sable literature and
planning the second litter.
The result was both confirmation of Dr. Phillips’ research and birth of
a litter containing three solid sables and two open-marked
parti-colors. It
was Don who engineered our recent acquisition of the Journal of Heredity
containing Dr. Phillips’ article.
Our sincere appreciation
goes to the American Genetic Association and the editor of The Journal
of Heredity, not only for furnishing a mint-condition
copy of the February
1938 (Vol 29, No 2) Journal, but also for giving us permission to reprint
the photos on pp. 67 and 68 in
Dr. Phillips’ “Sable
Coat Color in Cockers,” pp. 67-69.
Beth McKinney of Redmond,
Washington, deserves unlimited gratitude for her tenacious searching for
a photo of Ch Dogwood Rouge et Noir and her equally
spectacular unearthing
of his show record which covered a time span between October, 1935 and
the late spring of 1938.
From COCKER CHAMPIONS
in Story and Pedigree” Volume 2, Austin and Greer. Copyright 1983
Sables have been a hot issue
for many years now. Many of us would like to see the sable allowed back
in the show ring.
Some sable affectionados would
prefer they weren't because they don't want the newer show lines bred into
them, and
changing the quality that
they are. Others who prefer to breed champion show lines, would like the
sables to be allowed
back in the ring as they feel
it would also help add new blood to the gene pool.
No matter what anyone thinks,
sables are here to stay, and are a very pretty sight to behold.
Several years ago, the question
was asked to why sables weren't allowed in the AKC ring and it was answered
quite accurately by Evelyn Bravo, Chantrel Cockers.
I'll take a stab at an answer.
First off, sables were never
really accepted. The former versions of the standard were simply
not very specific with regards to color.
It is only the current
version (approved in 1992) that has specific colors listed in each variety
and the any color other than listed disqualification.
Sables first began to appear
in the show ring in the '70's (before my time). There were many who
did not like the color. A few, I believe 3, solid sable champions
were finished before a clause
about the hair shaft being of uniform color was added to the ASCOB variety
section of the standard (I think in the early '80's - again
before my time). Since
the parti section was left untouched, and did not actually list all of
the acceptable colors, it was left to the judges interpretation as to what
where
allowed colors. So
in the '80's you had the situation where sable & whites were shown,
some judges put them up, some judges ignored them and other judges disqualified
them.
At the end of the '80's,
the AKC Board of Directors wanted to make all of the breed standards follow
a similar format.
This set the stage for the
open discussion of the standard and the proposed changes that occurred
at the 1990 Summer National in Atlanta. (This was not before my time.
I was there and sitting
in the front row.) One of the changes proposed by the standards committee,
chaired by Dr. Al Grossman, was to specifically list the allowed colors
in each variety and add
the disqualification clause for any other color. In the new version
proposed by the committee, neither the solid sable or the sable & white
color were
listed in the colors for
the ASCOB or Parti variety.
It was the position of the
committee and the ASC board that the then current version of the
standard did not allow sable
& whites and judges that did not disqualify them were in error.
The
membership in attendance expressed an overwhelming support of including
sable and sable & white
as allowed colors. To compromise, the ballot that was sent out at
the end of the year had two options, A & B, to vote on for varieties
and colors
(I can't remember which
option had what).
One choice had sable listed
in ASCOB and sable & white in Parti and the other did not.
Here is controversy point
#1: the ASC constitution specifically states that changes to the
standard are to be presented where you check a vote "for" or "against",
not
check "A" or "B" as was
done.
Controversy point #2:
(Keep in mind that a 2/3 majority of the number of votes cast is needed
to approve a standard change.) There were several ballots returned
with
neither the "A" or the "B"
box checked, in essence, abstentions. According to Robert's Rules
of Order, abstentions are not counted when calculating the total number
of votes cast.
If the ballots with
neither box checked are regarded as abstentions and not used in determining
the total number of votes cast, then the option with the sable and
sable & white color
had the 2/3 majority votes cast for approval. The ASC board counted
the blank ballots in determining the total number of votes cast and the
allow sable
option just missed having
the 2/3 majority to pass. Since neither option had the required 2/3 majority
to pass (according to how the ASC did the counting), the section on varieties
was left unchanged.
However, the new disqualification
section, which had the any color other than those listed clause, did pass.
The AKC board refused to approve the standard with the
new revisions because it
now had an "any color other than those listed" disqualification clause,
but the color variety section did not specifically list the colors.
In late 1991 the ASC board
sent out another standard change for approval. The accompanying letter
(and I wished I had saved it) said things like the AKC board insists
we have this vote before
they will approve the standard change, it is a mere formality, etc.
The letter never mention sables. The standard section that was sent
to be voted
on with a "for" and an "against"
boxes to be checked was the color variety section from the first ballot
that did not list sables or sable & white.
The ASC board did not send
out the section that has just barely not passed (or really passed if you
go by Robert's), but the section that had what they felt was the correct
interpretation of the colors
allowed by the then current standard, ie, no sables. Busy with the
holidays, many ASC members just checked the "for" box and mailed it back
in, never realizing until
told later that they had just voted to exclude sables. The vote passed
with an overwhelming majority, the AKC board approved the new standard
and it went into affect
the spring of 1992. Five years later a petition to change the standard
to allow sables had enough signatures to cause a vote. The 1997 vote
had a
majority, but not a 2/3
majority and did not pass.
"Rumors"
With regards to why the color
sable is not accepted by many, a persistent rumor is that it got into the
cocker gene pool via a beagle. A black bitch named Jolee Buttons,
owned by Ed McCauley of
Birchwood cockers, produced the first modern sable offspring. Ed's
father, with whom he lived, had a hunting pack of beagles, which is what
started
the rumor that Jolee got
with a beagle to make the sables. There are two things that make
this rumor
ridiculous:
(1) the beagle pack
was all female.
(2) the gene that
makes the sable color in cockers is a different gene than the gene that
gives the beagle it's color and saddle pattern.
There was some evidence that
the board was trying to keep pro-sable people from joining ASC just before
the 1997 vote. When the board was not allowed to discuss the
membership candidates behind
closed doors, they tabled everyone's application to the next meeting.
As to what it will take to
get sables voted in, my answer dead bodies. Too many high mucky-mucks
within ASC have in effect (if not in actuality) said "sables will be
admitted over my dead body."
In all seriousness, until these people are out of the picture I do not
see sables being allowed. Now please, don't anybody take this as
direction to go out and
kill anyone!!
Fortunately, most of these
people are already senior citizens. I'm sorry if this seems negative and
down. As scarce as majors are, I sure wish sables were being shown!
Hope this answers your questions.
Evelyn Bravo
Sable Links
For
more information on sables you can click on the links here:
UPDATE:
I have composed an indepth website dedicated
to Sable Cockers. It has all of this information as well, including pedigrees,
photos,genetics,
other articles, history and more
Feel
free to visit!!
Sable
Cockers
"Sable
Coat Color In Cockers"
This is an excerpt out of
an article by James Mel. Phillips
Dated 1938, published in Journal
Of Heredity #29
"The
Sable Timeline"
The
story about how Sable cockers were duped out of the ring
We
Do Have A Standard
An article
written by Michael Allen that helped fuel the fire AGAINST sables
and
helped to get them thrown out (due to a personal vendetta she had against
another breeder at the time)
Sable
Cocker info from Artistry Cockers
Her
story about her sables, including CH Artistry's Soot N Cinders, and sable
genetics explained
For more information
on Sables, join our Sable
Cocker Discussion Group on Facebook!
©2007-2017
Written and Compiled by Connie Bliss-C'lestial Cockers
All
Rights Reserved
If
you want to "Borrow" this page for your website, please give credit
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