History of Sable Cockers:

Sable cockers have always been a part of the cocker spaniel breed. 
Sable can be found in the Springer Spaniels and English Cockers as well, and which is where our American Cockers derived from.
It has also been one of the hottest "color" topics and color wars in the history of the cocker spaniel.
The sable pattern has been traced back into the early 1900's, where many were registered as mahogany.
In the early AKC stud books, the breeder/owner could register a dog whatever color they wanted to.
In other words, there were no set colors as per the standard they had to go by at the time.
So often you would see many different colors and markings listed than what you see today through AKC.

Sable is NOT a rare "color" like some say. It just isn't bred as often as the normal colors by the show community.
Many show breeders still have and breed sables, even though they cannot be shown in the USA.

But there are still many sables around. And like all colors, some are very nice representatives of the breed standard, while others are not.
Do your homework if looking to purchase a sable. Buy one from a responsible breeder who has the overall health, temperament and quality
first and foremost and not just the color.:-)

At one time, sable cockers competed in the show ring with all other colors. Many achieved their championships.
In the late 70's things started to change and a 12 year fight ensued over the sable issue.
It wasn't until the 1990's that due to the Parent Club politics and some disgruntled breeders in a private war with each other,
but who unfortunately had the clout, sables were thrown out of the show ring and so far have never been allowed back in.
Many have tried to get it voted back in, but politics and unethical practices by the board has managed to either get the voted count 
counted against the sable, and now refuses to allow the club to vote on this matter. (*See the link to the Sable Time Line below, for more detailed information)

One of the problems were the parent club didn't know where to put the sables in the show ring, since they weren't considered a solid color, 
because of the overlay.
The parti sables were shown with the partis.
In the beginning, there wasn't much ado about the color. Most didn't breed for it, but it did pop up now and again.
 
 
 
 

Back in the 1960's a little cocker was born called Jolie Buttons. She was a black girl who was very tightly line/inbred. She was bred to
a parti and they produced a Mahogany (sable) named Sir Benjamin VII. 
She again was bred to a tricolor parti named Birchwood Bacharach, and they produced another Mahogany (sable) 
named Birchwood Mahogany Key, and a sable girl named Birchwood Mahogany Mirth.
This was in the the early 1970's and these dogs were behind the sables of today.

Here are some of the 30 or so AKC champions that were produced from these lines:
 
 

Chatosha's Night Odyssey ,Hobbi-Hill's Half Carot, Lancer's Amaretto and
Lorolet's Mahogany Maverick, (were pointed but were pulled from the ring when sables were disqualified)

Some of the earliest sables listed in the AKC (and CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) stud books were:

Sables are still being bred and can still be shown in Canada and other countries. But because of the American Spaniel Club,
the AKC will not allow the sables to be shown in the US. They can still compete in performance and many have achieved performance titles.
Another problem with the sables, is sabling is considered a pattern, like the roans etc. But it is listed as only a color with AKC.
This needs to be changed as there are red sables, brown sables, black sables and clear sables. There are also sable roans.
Sable is basically tan points "Gone Wild" on a cocker. The area where the tan points are on a normal tan pointed dog, spread out all over the coat eventually.
The overlay on the coat is the actual color the dog is. But because the tan points have spread out, the dog appears red, mahogany, buff etc.
with a darker color overlay. the correct color for the dog is the overlay such as a black sable. Which actually would have been  a black & tan dog, 
but the tan points spread out under the coat and made just the overlay black.

Breeding Sables
(A quick, confusing course on sable genetics)

There are no health problems associated with the sable pattern.
The Sable gene is on the same locus (genetic marker) basically as the tan point gene. The dog has to have this sable or tan point gene or carry it in order to produce sable. They are represented as "ay" and "at". If a dog has 2 ay "genes" it will be what people call a clear sable; and really won't appear to look sable..it will basically look like a buff. If it has 2 "at" genes, it will be tan pointed ( e.g.: Black & Tan); If  the ay "gene' pairs up with the "at" gene, then the dog will look and be sable. If a dog only carries 1 "at" gene, it will not look tan pointed, but it WILL carry for the tan point gene. This is why you can breed a sable to a solid dog or a dog that doesn't have tan points, but does carry for them (e.g. has a parent who is tan pointed) and produce sables. You cannot breed 2 tan pointed dogs together and produce sable, as the tan point gene will cancel out the sable, since the sable gene has to be on the locus for "ay or "at". Not all dogs carry the "at" or "ay" gene. So you have to study coat colors in your pedigrees to see. Just because you have sable in your lines, does not mean you can produce it.
For instance, one of my girls is black & tan. Her sire was a sable. Because there was only room for either the ay or at genes to sit, she received both "at" genes and was black and tan, canceling out the sable. Her littermate got one of each and was a sable. The only way she would ever be able to produce sable, would for her to be bred to a sable. She would not be able to produce it if she was bred to another tan pointed dog or a dog carrying tan points.
It's not too hard to get the basics on the sable gene, once you figure it out .LOL

Sables have been a hot issue for many years now. Many of us would like to see the sable allowed back in the show ring.
Some sable affectionados would prefer they weren't because they don't want the newer show lines bred into them, and changing the quality that they are.
No matter what anyone thinks, sables are here to stay, and are a very pretty sight to behold.

Sable Links
For more information on sables you can click on the links here:

"Sable Coat Color In Cockers"
This is an excerpt out of an article by James Mel. Phillips
Dated 1938, published in Journal Of Heredity #29
 

"The Sable Timeline"
The story about how Sable cockers were duped out of the ring

Do We Have A Standard
An article written by Michael Allen that helped fuel the fire AGAINST sables
and helped to get them thrown out (due to a personal vendetta she had against another breeder at the time)

"Sables Are Cockers Too!"
Website all about sables and a email list for sable fanciers

Sable Cocker info from Artistry Cockers
Her story about her sables, including CH Artistry's Soot N Cinders, and sable genetics explained
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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