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Merle Coat Colors 101
A merle is a merle is
a merle
Right? Wrong!
Originally most people called
merle cockers "blue merle", once they stopped calling them roans.
This was just a catch-all
phrase for merle.
Since AKC still has not
been allowed by the Parent Club to list merle as a pattern in cockers,some
have elected to either put the word "merle" in the registration name, and/or
some are attempting to list the merle cocker as the actual COLOR it is.
Remember-MERLE is a PATTERN,
not a color. Much as sable and roan are both patterns and not a color.Even
though some who doesn't appear to be well versed in color genetics in the
Parent Club have managed to get AKC to list certain patterns as colors...
So we have a merle cocker
in front of us.What color is it? It's pretty simple in MOST cases to figure
out the color, providing it is just a merle pattern and not mixed with
sable pattern, roan pattern or what some of us merle cocker fanciers call
the "calico" cocker.
This page will be a work
in progress as we show different colors of merles so you can decide what
color your merle is and register it correctly, instead of registering it
as a roan, which it isn't.
Here are the easiest ones
to help determine what color your merle is
There are more examples
on the Photos page
Blue merle
also known as a black merle
A blue merle or black merle
is a black cocker with the merle pattern
Remember merling is like
throwing bleach on a colored garment and
everywhere the bleach hits,
it dilutes the color. Merle is just like the bleach.
When you look at the blue/black
merle, you will see shades of gray or silver splotches
where the merling "bleached"
out the black hair.
The black that you see,
is the actual color of the dog. |
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Brown merle
Also known as a chocolate merle
A brown or chocolate merle
is a brown/chocolate cocker with the merle pattern
When you look at the brown/chocolate
merle, you will see
shades of grayish or light
tan splotches
where the merling "bleached"
out the brown hair.
The dark brown that you
see, is the actual color of the dog. |
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Brown or
Black or particolor merle with tan points
A brown or black merle is
the same as a black and tan
or brown and tan only it
has the merle pattern.
The dog would be listed
as a black & tan or a brown & tan
For some reason, the tan
points are not
merled in a dog.
BUT some of the same color
in tan points can show
up as a patch on the dog's
body where it wouldn't
normally have this color. |
 

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Particolor
merles
Black & white particolor
merle
is a black & white parti
color cocker that has the merle pattern. White hides merle, so the only
place merle will show up
is in the colored spots of the parti.
Again, the parti that is
black & white merle, would have the ligher grayish color with the black
spots in it. |
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Brown &
White parti color merles
Brown & white particolor
merle
is a brown & white parti
color cocker that has the merle pattern. White hides merle, so the only
place merle will show up
is in the colored spots of the parti.
Again, the parti that is
brown & white merle, would have the ligher grayish/tan color
with the dark brown spots
in it |
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This classification
is a little more complex
Buff or
red merle including particolors
Sometimes the merling is
extremely hard to see in a buff cocker
Especially since buffs have
lighter shading. Generally if you look at the
back of a buff merle, you
will see the swirled splotches
of a light light color,
almost lemon or off white mixed in with the buff.
Other times, you may have
to look for a blue eye, a blue chip of color
in the eye or a butterfly
nose.
Buff like white, often hides
the merling. If your buff is a merle,
You will register it as
a buff.or red & white particolor if it is a parti. |
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Sable Merle
Sable merle are 2 different
patterns mixed together.
You have your base coat
color either way,
The overlay like you would
see in a normal sable, is the color the dog is.
Red, brown or black.
Merle tends to blend in
with the sable as the dog ages and it will look more
like a sable than a merle
in many cases.You still often can see the merling
of the hair in the undercoat,
and/or if you shave the dog..
It's up to you to list the
color. Since AKC has sable listed as a color,
you would either have to
register it as a sable or the actual solid color.
Sable merles can be solids
or parti. |
 
 
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A word about
Mismarks
Some solid cockers have
quite a bit of white on their chest, neck toes, even a small amount on
their faces or belly.
These are considered a solid
with white markings. NOT a parti.
A parti is 2 well broken
colors with one of them being white.
Not a solid dog with white
markings.
A black and tan or a brown
and tan (tan pointed dogs) are NOT parti colors either if they are a solid
colored dog with some white markings.
These would be listed as
black & tan or brown & tan with white markings.
Not a tricolor or black
tan & white or brown tan & white.
If you have a merle you
would list it as above.
Merle can cause white markings
as well.
If a double dose of the
merling diluted the same spot. |
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"Calico"
Merles
What we call a calico merle
is a merle with several patches of different color on their body.
Much like a patchwork quilt.Some
breeds call this patchwork, mottling, mosaic, and some harlequin.
Some have so much white
on them some believe it to be a parti, and some don't.
You would have to do some
pedigree research to see
if this could be a parti
or not.
Deciding what color to register
this can be somewhat baffling.
Some say register the dog
as the base coat color.
In other words the color
that shows up the most. If the dog has black on it,
then it is a black. Same
with brown.
If the dog is a parti, then
register it as the dominate color and
if it has tan points register
it as a tricolor. |

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Double Merles
Double merles can be almost
completely white, many have a large amount
of white from the merle
pattern hitting on the same area
different times. Each time
the merle gene hits an area, it dilutes it,
a second time and it turns
that area white.
Sometimes only part of the
area, so you have several shades in one spot.
You have to comb through
the coat to find any darker coloring.
Generally, the dark color
you see, even in tiny amounts, would be the dog's
actual coat color if not
for the merle.
It is advised not to breed
double merle because of the potential health
problems it could produce.However,
our advice if you do have a double merle
would be to put double m
or double merle in the dog's registration name
so others will know. |

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