by Rick Beauchamp

A number of years back "chocolate" Cocker Spaniels (actually they are liver colored) were enough to send chills through the veteran Cocker breeder-narrow muzzles, flat skulls, high-set and thick ears, yellow eyes. All those faults, along with short necks and buffalo style shoulders made us wonder just why anyone would want to keep them. One could get correct type blacks in a litter while the litter mate chocolates were of disastrously poor type. Still their fanciers persevered and then occasionally a chocolate would come along that looked somewhat like a Cocker should. Again those that fancied the color kept on. Eventually there was a crossover-black type, brown color.

It did not happen overnight, and the percentage of showable specimens resulting from the interim breedings was always small. But it did happen after sacrificing many generations of "show dogs." Now the good chocolates can stand along side good ones of any of the varieties. In fact, in my somewhat experienced opinion, one of the best American Cockers being shown today is, in fact, a chocolate.

The Long Road Back

There have also been cases in which a breed, a color or a characteristic has slipped so far away from correct type there has been nothing available domestically to take it back to the source. The last resort was to turn to a foreign import to help the breed back to where it should be. "Of course," you might say, "definitely the smart thing to do." But let us stop and take a good look at the picture. When a whole breed has gone far afield from its origins, bringing in something that harks back to where the breed should be takes more courage than you might imagine. Don’t forget, these imports, in some cases representing what in fact is an entirely different look, will stand out like a sore thumb. How many of today’s exhibitors would be willing to say, "We are all wrong, you are the only right one"? How many judges are going to take the one dog that is different from all the rest and acknowledge its correctness? I am afraid anyone who thinks this courageous step is going to be met by cheering thousands is rather naive. No, the purist will have to spend several generations working the lost qualities into his line so that the changes are not too abrupt. He must juggle the good with the bad, the negative with the positive, what is right with what is wrong. Imagine taking the average good (Is that an oxymoron? Oh well, you get what I mean!) Boxer from Germany and plunking it down among the glamorized version of a good many of the Boxers holding forth in America today! Getting what you want and what is really correct may take far more time, effort (and often criticism) than that which the modern exhibitor is willing to contend with. Getting where you want to go is seldom a matter of a single breeding. Let me give you an example.

Dedication

Those who know the English Springer Spaniel breed well, know the breed has a myriad of extremely serious genetic problems, some of which provide a serious threat not only to the breed but to the people who own the breed. A small group of those devoted to the Springer have turned to English imports to help them out of the bind they are in. Now, the "English" English Springer Spaniel has a significantly different "look" than its American cousin. A major difference is the British concept of rear quarter angulation. Generally speaking, the British tend to see ideal angulation both in the Springer and most other "well angulated" breeds corresponding to the line from hock to foot falling just barely behind a line drawn down from the buttocks. Americans are inclined to see this hock-to-foot line extending significantly beyond that point. So? A big deal? Actually it is. This gives the British English Springer an inclination toward a slightly rounded look to the croup and it at least appears to the American viewer that the rear quarter is turned under the dog somewhat. Who is right and who is wrong in this case is immaterial. It looks strange and different and the American breeders who have gone to the English dogs for the many qualities they can provide must deal with this problem. Out of dedication to their breed they are doing so. They are willing to take those few steps back to eventually rid their breed of problems they consider devastating. Not everyone agrees with what they are doing. Only time itself will prove how successful they have been intheir ultimate goal.

Finding the Formula

The dogs we bred in one of the breeds I was deeply involved in were very successful for what they were-good silhouette, great angles fore and aft, beautiful ground-covering profile movement. We bred for that style and we got it generation after generation. When breeders needed correct balance and proportions and good movement, they came to us. We had it all, except for one thing-we didn’t have as much of the "pretty" we wanted to go along with it. Don’t think for a moment the dogs weren’t capable of winning. On the contrary, they won a lot. But they didn’t have quite enough of those "extras" that separate the well made dog from the typey dog. We were bound and determined we would have both. We tried several different experimental breedings: a bitch from our line (lets call it "Line A") to a dog from another line that had the type characteristics we lacked but wasn’t anywhere near our line when it came to style and movement. Lets call that "Line B." The formula was "Line A bitch X Line B dog" and for the sake of this article we will call it "Combination 1." Results were less than good. A few of the offspring that had the type we were after, lacked our movement. Those that maintained our basic style and movement didn’t measure up type wise. The real result read: no forward progress in the first cross. Next (twice in fact) we tried breeding the other way around. The two breedings were made with sister bitches we had purchased from Line B to one of our own dogs (Line A). The formula here was "Line B bitch X Line A male. " Lets call those two breedings Combination 2a and 2b." The resulting offspring, while better representing the blend we were after, still did not succeed to any great degree. We were not ready to give up. We were really convinced the cross-over could be accomplished. Our next attempt was to breed a bitch from "Combination 1" to a dog from "Combination 2." No significant results. We again reversed the procedure and bred a bitch from "Combination 2" to a dog from "Combination 1." Results, while a shade better than the previous attempt, certainly didn’t take us where we wanted to go. Doubt began to set in. Perhaps what we were so positive we could do just couldn’t be done. When asked about our experimental breeding program at a party one night I said jokingly, "Oh, its going full speed ahead-all down hill!" While it was funny, the lack of success was beginning to weigh heavily. The only thing we hadn’t tried was mating individuals from Combination 2a and 2b together. These would be our final attempt we decided. If this wasn’t the answer, there was no answer.

Success At Last

One bitch missed (she proved to be barren), the other conceived-three puppies. Three of the best puppies we had ever bred! Magnificent type, lovely balance and the movement which distinguished our line. Of course mother nature did not give it all to us. The two males turned out to be the largest (a bit too large) and the smallest (a bit too small) respectively we had ever bred. The perfect size and exquisite type bitch which we kept for ourselves hated the show ring and never completed her championship. The dogs did. The large male went to a country where the bigger dogs are quite popular and he has done exceedingly well there even under judges who were not particularly fond of his size. Further, he has produced himself over and over. The small dog went to yet a different country and was not only successful in the ring, he was an excellent sire as well. We haven’t bred the bitch from the litter yet but will shortly. All told from the seven breedings there were twenty five puppies produced over the several year period. Twenty- two lived to maturity. Of the twenty-two, only five (including the final three) were shown and four finished. Certainly not a very high percentage of show dogs but what we wound up with in the end far surpasses anything we had ever bred previously. Most important, they are producing their own outstanding type and soundness.