Colors and Markings of the American Cocker Spaniels
This is Mark he is a Blue Merle and White with tan points
There are a vast amount of colors and markings of the American Cocker Spaniels is amazing and wonderful. You can enjoy the beauty of some that we have on our Past puppy picture page
Colors and Markings
Black
Black cocker spaniels sport shiny, jet black coats, with no hint of brown. For show dogs, the AKC allows a small amount of white markings on the chest and/or throat, but nowhere else. Black is the second most common color found in the breed, behind buff.
ASCOB
ASCOB stands for Any Solid Color Other Than Black. These colors range from a very pale cream called silver, to buff, which is the most common color found in cocker spaniels, to shades of red and golden, solid sable or open sable and brown cocker spaniel. The shades will be uniform across the dog, and sometimes white is seen on the chest and/or throat. Lighter shades of the color can sometimes be seen in the dog’s feathering, which is the longer hair that covers its legs, chest, abdomen and ears.
Parti-Color
These cockers have two or more solid, well-broken colors, one of which must be white. The other color can be any of the colors found in solid-color dogs. Black and white is the most common parti-color combination. The white must cover at least 10 percent of the body. If the ratio of white is very high, this is described as open markings. Roan is described as a mingling of colored hair mixed into the white and is considered a parti-color. Parti-colored dogs with tan points are sometimes referred to as tri-color dogs.
Tan Points
Either solid or parti-colored cockers can have tan points. The point can be from lightest cream to darkest red. For show purposes, the tan points are restricted to 10 percent or less of the dog’s coat. The tan points are found over each eye, the underside of the ears, on the cheeks and sides of the muzzle, on the feet and legs, under the tail, and sometimes on the chest.
Merle
Blue cocker spaniel is a black and white dog often with tan points. A Red Merle cocker is a brown and white cocker spaniel often with tan points. They come either solid or “parti”. Parti is where there are Merle patches on a white body.
If this is a color you would like I would please ask you to look into the history, health issues and story behind this color. One source that I liked is at Merlecockers.com (this web is a required read.)
The American Spaniel Clubs view on
The Merle American Cocker Spaniels is very enlightening. There is a beauty about this color that I personally love. Yet in the Cocker Spaniel world it is a very controversial color and one to not take lightly if you want to breed, as there are known health issues that can be common, yet that does NOT mean they will have, for this color more so than any other color. Purchasing this color from me will cause your return policy to void for health reasons that are common to the ACS that occur at a younger age than they would normally occur for this breed. Yet each health issue is different and needs to be discussed if one arises.
You can always enjoy all the different Colors and Markings by owning more than one cocker spaniel!