A Question of Genes !

[Judy]

Getting back to topic, I seem to remember reading there is a more dominant yellow gene, its not the normal ee but is an incomplete expression of the liver (?) gene which is why you sometimes get colours you aren't expecting in Cocker litters. Can't remember where I read that, sorry.

[southern cockers]

Out of interest are golden cockers sought after, less common ?

In my case it is purely a personal forage !
I have always fancied having a Reiver bitch, but missed the boat & the closest I came was a Reiver dog who would have been totally compatible with my bitch lines but he turned out to be infertile !
So another cul de sac !
I have provisionally reserved a Warlord bitch if Golden, dam is also Golden but obviously would much prefer to breed from my own line if at all possible.
Additionally seeking a fully health tested Stud dog so my potential options are rather limited !

[Strathcraig]

Have you had a look at Andy Platts Rollafields Redbud? I know naff all about cocker colours and always understood it to be a bit of a lottery, but he does seem to be dominant (?) for gold and throws a lot of it it seems.

[Amberquest]

Eoin,

From what you've said it looks like she is dominant liver from what she's thrown as both Griffon and Hooligan have produced golds. It's all statistics, but all 15 she's produced have been liver so I'd be fairly confident in assuming that. I'd be interested to see what the outcome of mating with a gold dog would be though, as the intricacies of recessive genes may then come into play.

[southern cockers]

Scott,
I always thought that breeding for colour was a potential minefield and my views are still something similar.
I think I am correct in saying that Scimitar never bred a Gold pup irrespective of the dams colour so theoretically looking for a dog that has predominate Gold genes and is " colouring" his offspring.
But then if Gold is recessive such an exercise may well be futile when dealing with a dominant liver carrying bitch ?

[Amberquest]

Yes, Scimitar was dominant black as was Spartan, so anything by those two was never gold.

The only mating which you can be confident of the resultant colours is gold x gold. You will only get gold. Put any of the other colours together and it's nigh on impossible to predict unless you've had them tested to see if they carry gold etc

[EssGrouse]

I'm just curious, as per is done with Frech Bulldogs, they are DNA tested to see which colours they can produce...

I'm guessing this could be done with cockers?

[Alice]

I'm just curious, as per is done with Frech Bulldogs, they are DNA tested to see which colours they can produce...

I'm guessing this could be done with cockers?

Yep I think some have done it. Cocker colour genetics baffle me, I've read all the literature but its just way over my head.

[bird]

You can certainly colour test labs so I would imagine you can colour test cockers. A friend tested her yellow lab bitch to be sure she didn't carry chocolate.