Merles Kattery Kennels Breeder of American Cocker Spaniel Merles

Controversial Topic with the
ASC and other Cocker Spaniel
Breeders.
Unable to be shown for
conformation.
Links @ bottom of page to
more Merle Information.
All we ask is that you read the
info and form a decision of
your own.

By now you should realize we have several Merle Cocker Spaniels. Mocha, our first
Merle is a Chocolate Merle, Smorez is our Black and Tan Merle, Willow is our Blue
Merle and Tan and Caramella is our rehomed Chocolate Tri Merle. We have actually
added several merles over the past year so it's easier for you to view them by their
purrple dog tag links on the left.

When we first came across a merle cocker spaniel we instantly were enthralled with
the color and pattern. Unique to say the least and very striking. Cocker Spaniels are
beautiful dogs and yet few people realize there are other colors than buff or black!
Parti colored cockers have become more and more popular in recent years, as have
sables and now it is our belief that merles are as well.

There are some Cocker Spaniel Fanciers who believe that a merle is a mixed breed
somewhere along the way, it is my humble opinion that they are and always have
been a full pure bred cocker spaniel, just not always a desirable color and thus the
breeders who have them in their lines covered the situation up. Unheard of you
might think, but not really considering that similar things have happened in not just
one breed but many. White Boxers being the most widely heard about. Breeders
who had a white pup immediately "culled" it by putting it to death and of course
since it is undesirable they did not tell anyone about it. In a highly competitive often
backstabbing political world like Dog Fancy it is easy to imagine such a thing
regularly occurring.

The ASC (American Spaniel Club) is older than
the AKC and is far from immune to such
controversy. Sable cockers who are now
disqualified for American Conformation (they are
accepted and actually sought after in Canada
and Europe) were once championed in the ring
but due to a "political" movement within the ASC
are now no longer part of the Breed Standard.
The thing with Sables is that @ least we are
allowed to register them as the correct color,
where as with Merles we are told by the AKC
(American Kennel Club and world reknowned
and approved Dog Registry) to register merles to
whatever they most closely resemble. It is the
AKC's policy to only accept a breed standard as
specified by the 'parent club', in this case the
ASC.

Why is this such an issue?

There are a couple of reasons why this is isn't a good
idea.

Foremost is that there is controversy (and some
evidence to support this) regarding breeding two
merle cocker spaniels together. Apparently if both
parents are merles, there is some evidence that
suggests it can result in more than average blind, deaf
or deceased puppies. There is ongoing research to
isolate the merle gene and its affects on sight and
hearing and there are tons of opinions from all kinds
of people as to what causes this.

The next one that comes to mind is that Roan

Cocker Spaniels are being confused with Merles

and they are actually 2 different "types" much

like a solid is not a parti and you seldom should

cross the two in breeding unless you want

"mismarked" puppies. I have more info on

Roans here

for you to read. There are some

rumors even that some in the ASC are trying to

eliminate Roans as an acceptable type of

american cocker spaniel. If an unknowledgeable

breeder acquires a "roan" that is actually a merle

and breeds it to another merle there is a potential

for problems later.

happen to think that alot of the misinformation

on Merle Cocker Spaniels is being said and

spread by those who feel threatened by their

popularity with the Pet Owners. I think that all

cocker spaniels are beautiful but some others

might not and want only their "chosen" type to

be acceptable. It boils down to dollar signs and

elitism really.

Bold and Brazen Show Breeders

(and those that

would like to believe they are the only individuals

who do anything worth doing)

often label

everyone who has anything to do with Merles as

either a puppy mill or a backyard breeder and

neither term is meant complimentary. They

throw health concerns as an issue to make Merle

Breeders sound cruel and money hungry. When

in fact that often is NOT the case. I certainly

don't believe that to me my case.

While it is true that a breeder should breed only to improve the breed, if
it is true as it has been suggested Merles were not originally part of the
breed than by infusing new DNA we are contributing positively to the
breed. If we were to even pretend that as see no accurate reason that
someone who breeds merles is not new "DNA" to cocker spaniels we
are helping to improve it not make it worse. Inbreeding and
"linebreeding" being nearly the same thing are accepted practices
amongst well triumphant show kennels and all that does is compound
a potentially bad gene in their dogs, which certainly doesn't help to
improve the breed. I also have to point out here that according to the
AKC that it only takes 5 generations of documentation to become a
"purebred" and since that has been documented for Merles twice over
and then some its silly to pretend they don't exist.

Acceptable testing and health screening for Cocker Spaniels is being
done on Merles (it certainly is being done on mine) and they are not
inferior cockers at all. In my involvement with rescues I know first
hand that a good pedigree does not mean a dog will meet
conformation or be healthy its entire life. 2 of my rescues come from
fantastic lines and yet the one (CaptainRezQ) had juvenile cataracts
before he was 2 years old and Toby had both cherry eyes and goggled
eyes (another undesirable conformation trait in cockers).

ANY Breeder who tells you that there are NO health concerns with their
breed in my opinion is one to avoid. As with any form of life (dogs,
cats and yes even people) nothing is without its potential for not being
exactly what one individual or another finds desirable. Don't take any
one side or another as being the only information available. Research
for yourself and read more than one viewpoint and than you can make
an informed decision.

What does all this mean to you?
Well for now any Merle puppies aren't properly registered
with the AKC altho there are other Dog registries that will
register them correctly as Merles. We choose to stay with
the AKC because of its policies regarding registering dogs
the only one we currently disagree with is not forcing the
hand of the ASC to recognize Merles as a type of American
Cocker Spaniel. Otherwise the AKC is the oldest and most
accurate in its record keeping, which is all the AKC really is.
Being AKC registered does not always imply a better quality
of dog, it helps but isn't the only standard.
In order to better help identify any Merle dogs or puppies
that come from KatteryKennels all Merle offspring will be
AKC registered with a different Prefix than non Merles. All
KatteryKennels Merle puppies Will say Kattery'Z vs
Kattery'S. This idea was adopted by breeders of White
Dobermans which is another contraversial registration
issue.

These are my feelings on Merles and I have done enough research on them that I feel I am well
informed, no one is an expert and I did indeed take time to study and research opposing
viewpoints. I own 8 of them, they are as healthy as any other cocker here as are their parents
since I keep in touch with their Breeders. I do hope my information on them has been helpful in
your interest on them and I am willing to try to answer any questions you might have in regards
to them. Please send me an e-mail.

An unmistakeable
trait of a Merle is the
blue eye, or partial
blue eye. If that is
present it is said that
the dog is a merle for
certain. However not
all merles have blue
eyes.

Most of our information regarding merles comes from research online and talking to other
Merle Cocker Spaniel Breeders.

A great resource for Merle Cocker Information

We do not endorse or recommend any of the topics, information or breeders
associated with these websites, we are simply giving you a source for additional
information and caution you to verify everything for yourself. We would never
attempt to mislead you or have you simply accept our word for something so
controversial. We instead would like you to become more informed on the subject
so that you can decide for yourself.

What is a Merle? The term Merle refers to a certain "patterned" type of
American Cocker Spaniel. It is often confused and thought to be a color
The merle gene typically lightens the dark part of the dog's coat and
produces a blue/grayish color of fur in certain unpredicatable areas. It can
also lighten all or part of an eye or both eyes. It is often "hidden" in buffs
or sables later on in the dog's life.

This website contains our photos and info about our Breeding Program and some other related information. We invite you to
check out our website to learn more about us and the cocker spaniels here. Please use the links on the left or upper portion
of each page to navigate this website.
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