Colour Predictions - Solid Colours
Bookmark and Share

Cocker Spaniel Coat Colour Inheritance

Parti-Colour Examples

Solid Colours - Cocker Spaniels

These are the combinations in the Solid Colours. Each combination could have tan points subject to the parents carrying the 'at' gene and the recessive 'k' gene - tan points are usually not visible on a solid red coloured cocker due to the fact that tan and red look identical to the human eye.

Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA
Solid Black parents (not carrying any recessive colours) - all offspring Black (& not carrying any recessive colours)
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Solid Black x Solid Black (mother carrying recessive red) - all offspring Black (50% carrying red 'e')
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Solid Black Father and Mother - (both carrying recessive red 'e') - 75% Black, 25% red (50% of the Black's are carrying red 'e')
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Solid Black Father (not carrying for red) x Solid Red Mother (all offspring Black - all carrying red 'e')
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Solid Black Father (carrying for red 'e') x Solid Red Mother (50% offspring red/50% black - all black offspring carrying red 'e')
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB ee AA
Solid Red Father x Solid Red Mother (100% red offspring)

As red 'ee' allows phaeomelanin (yellow) but prevents the extension of eumelanin (black), mating two red dogs together should only produce red offspring as black/liver cannot be produced where eumelanin is not present.

However, it is possible for red dogs to not be the typical 'ee' genotype, therefore black/liver offspring can result from a mating of what appears to be two red parents.

Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
bb ee
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb Ee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb Ee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bb ee
Image of dog subject to copyright
bb Ee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb ee
Solid Black Father (carrying liver & red) x Solid Gold Mother ('bb' liver genotype) (25% black, 25% liver, 50% gold with 25% of those with pink noses/light eyes)
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee kk atA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee kk atA
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee kk atA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB Ee kk atA
Solid Black & Tan Father x Solid Black Mother (not carrying tan) (100% black offspring all carrying tan 'at')

All offspring from the above combination will be black.  The offspring will carry for tan & they will also carry the recessive homozygous 'k' as both parents have the recessive 'k'. The father has to carry recessive 'k' as he is Black & Tan.  If the mother carried either 'Kk' or 'KK' the results would be: 'Kk' capable of producing tan if she also had the "tan gene" 'at' and if 'KK' she couldn't produce offspring with tan even if she carried the tan gene.

Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat
Solid Black & Tan Father x Solid Black & Tan Mother. All offspring from the above combination will be black & tan.
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk Aat
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE kk atat
Solid Black & Tan Father x Solid Black Mother (carrying Tan 'at'). 50% of the litter Black & 50% Black & Tan. All offspring carrying tan (& the double recessive 'k')
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb EE AA
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb EE AA
Image of dog subject to copyright
bB EE AA		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bb EE AA
Solid Black Father (carrying Liver) x Solid Black Mother (carrying Liver) - 75% Black & 25% Liver Offspring. 50% of the Black offspring carrying for Liver. If one parent were Liver themselves the inheritance would follow the same pattern as the Black x Red combination, only the dogs would be Liver and not Red!

Two black parents carrying for two traits 1. red 2. liver:

    Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
    Ee Ee ee ee
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright		 Bb Image of dog subject to copyright
BbEe		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BbEe		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbEe		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbEe
Bb Image of dog subject to copyright
BbEe		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BbEe		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbEe		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbEe
bb Image of dog subject to copyright
Bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
Bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbee
bb Image of dog subject to copyright
Bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
Bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbee

To summarize, we expect 25% Black (carrying red/liver), 25% Liver (carrying red), 25% Gold (with black noses/dark eyes - carrying liver) & 25% Gold with brown noses/lighter eyes (liver modified by 'e' which prevents eumelanin (black) from being produced). If these were both blue roan parents (not carrying for parti-colour i.e. 'and white') we'd have the same result (25% blues, 25% livers, 25% oranges, & 25% orange with light eyes & pink noses).

This can be simplified to:

Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb Ee
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
Bb Ee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbEe
Image of dog subject to copyright
Bbee		 Image of dog subject to copyright
bbee
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ssp Rr
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ssp Rr 		Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE SS Rr		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ssp Rr
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE spS Rr		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE sp sp RR
Black Father (carrying Roan & parti-colour) x Black Mother (carrying Roan and parti-colour). 75% offspring Black (50% carrying Parti-Colour), 25% offspring Blue Roan (carrying Parti-Colour).  Although 25% of the Blue Roan pups carry double recessive for open marks they will be blue roan due to the dominant 'R' allele.
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE ss RR
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE SS rr		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE SS rR		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ss rR
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE SS rR		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ss rR
Black Father (not carrying roan) x Blue Roan Mother. 100% of the offspring will be black. All of the offspring will carry for roan.
Female
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE spsp RR
Male
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ssp Rr		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ssp RR		 Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE Ssp RR
Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE spsp rR 		Image of dog subject to copyright
BB EE spsp rR
Black Father (carrying Roan & parti-colour) x Blue Roan Mother (carrying parti-colour). 50% offspring Black (with potential white patches = 'mismarked')/50% offspring Blue Roan, 25% of the Black offspring carrying for parti-colour ('Sp'). 50% of the Blue offspring carrying for parti-colour but not parti-colour themselves due to also carrying dominant 'R' Roan. Note the mother carries recessive parti-colour, however as she carries dominant Roan ('R') the she will be Roan herself.

Notes:

Every individual has a full compliment of genes i.e. a black dog is BB EE AA (black = BB, not carrying red = EE and not carrying tan = AA). Prior to conception the cells have undergone division so the new offspring inherits only one copy from each parent and therefore acquires the correct number of chromosomes (78 chromosomes making 39 pairs). There are 76 Autosomes in the canine & 2 sex chromosome which make up the 39th pair of chromosomes in dogs; colour is carried on the Autosomes i.e. not on the sex chromosome 'XX' (female) or 'XY' (male).

As mentioned the main coat colour genes are the 'A', 'B' & 'E' alleles and therefore although the other genes will be present they are not shown in the Punnett squares (in the examples on this page) unless they have an obvious connection to the coat colour and are all based on Mendel's 3 : 1 ratio. In addition to this, when the parents carry for more than one trait, the Punnett square should really have the genes broken into subgroups (one group for each trait - showing the dominant then recessive allele) in order to give a complete picture of probabilities.

For reasons of space I haven't done this (apart from one example of two black parents both carrying for liver and red) therefore the predicted outcomes for multi-gene traits do not show all the combinations unless the alleles for each trait are split! For a single locus ('B'), we have a 2 x 2 square with 4 cells. For two loci ('B' & 'E'), we have a 4 x 4 square with 16 cells. With three loci ('B' 'E' & 'ay'), we would have an 8 x 8 square with 64 cells, for four genes we'd need a 16 x 16 square with 256 cells and so the list goes on until we have split each series of genes into separate squares!

If you wish to more accurately predict the coat colour combinations for a planned litter it would be a good idea if you built your own Punnett square to calculate the expected colours.

The gender of each parent in the Punnett squares are interchangeable, i.e. where an black father is mated to a gold bitch, it could be in reverse i.e. the mother is black & the father is gold.

This information is copyright to Chris Pritchard. If you plan to use this information as part of course work or any other published material please credit Powerscourt Cocker Spaniels.

Back To Top