Coat Colours in Working Cocker Spaniels
Working Cocker Spaniels are loved for their drive, intelligence, and their long, floppy ears! In the UK, there are a wide variety of, often, solid or patched coats that Cocker Spaniels have. The more traditional Working Cocker Spaniel colours, include: Gold, Liver, Black, and Roan patterns. But with the rise in popularity of the breed, there has been a shift in how coat colours are referred to and even accepted by the Kennel Club.
To clear up any confusion, this guide breaks down all the coat colour options seen in Working Cocker Spaniels, explains what each one actually is, and clarifies the difference between recognised colours, traditional working colours, and colours that are the result of cross-breeding.
Traditional Working Cocker Spaniel colours
These are the colours most commonly seen in established UK working lines and are officially accepted by the Royal Kennel Club.
Solid Colours
Black
The solid colour black can have white ticks or marks on all areas of the body, but its primary coat colour is Black.
Sometimes, a black cocker spaniel can have brown-tinted fluff on its body. Although their dominant gene colour is black, the brown fluff indicates that they also carry a recessive gene for liver or gold. This ‘fluff’ is actually their undercoat, which can push through their top coat if not shed or hand stripped. This undercoat is more common when a dog has been spayed/neutered or had its coat clipped.
Liver
The solid colour, liver, is often casually referred to as brown or chocolate. However, the official name for this coat colour is liver.
A liver cocker spaniel can also have white ticks or marks on their body, most commonly on their chest. However, their primary coat colour is a shade of brown. They have brown pigmentation too, so their nose, eyelids, and lips are brown rather than black.
Gold
The solid colour gold can be a rich colour, casually referred to as Red, or a lighter colour, casually referred to as Lemon. However, officially, both of these colours are Gold.
A gold cocker spaniel can have a black nose and black paw pads, or a brown nose and lighter paw pads. This is caused by whether they carry the liver gene or not. So a dog with brown pigmentation carries two copies of the liver gene. While a gold cocker spaniel with a black nose carries none or only one copy of the liver gene. The brown pigmentation in a gold cocker spaniel isn’t as common.
Roan Colours
Blue Roan
A blue roan cocker spaniel has a mixture of black and white hairs all over their body in a mottled pattern. They can have solid patches of black on parts of their bodies, often the ears and tail.
But the roan pattern develops as the puppy ages. A roan puppy is born white with black patches and their coats darken as they age. You can usually tell that a puppy’s coat will become blue roan as their pigmentation is black (paw pads and nose).
Orange Roan
An Orange Roan cocker spaniel has a mixture of gold and white hairs in the roan mottled pattern. Again, they can have solid patches of the gold colour on their body.
While blue roans have black pigmentation, orange roans have brown pigmentation, meaning their nose and paw pads are brown. This is one way that puppies can be identified as roan when they are born almost completely white.
Liver Roan
A liver roan is a mixture of brown (liver) and white hairs, in the roan mottled pattern. They can have solid patches of brown on their body but this is less common.
Liver roan cocker spaniels will always have liver pigmentation, so a brown nose and brown paw pads. Although a liver roan is uncommon as both parents must pass on a dominant liver gene for a puppy to be a liver roan dog.
Other Colours
And Tan
The ‘and tan’ colour is any solid or roan coat colour with golden points. This is commonly found on their faces, around their eyes and mouth, but it can be anywhere on the dog’s body.
For example, a black and tan cocker spaniel has a black coat with some golden points. Similarly, a liver roan and tan cocker has white and brown hairs with some points of gold.
Parti Colour
A Parti Colour is when the dog has ‘and tan’ as well as white ticks or markings. This coat colour is less common for working cocker spaniels.
They have three colours on their coat, usually distinct tan points on their faces, and either white and black or white and liver coat colour.
Variations Of Traditional Colours
Lemon
Lemon is a very pale yellow pigment, genetically a very light form of gold. It is a colour that has been adopted due to pet demand and selective breeding for lighter colours.
Although recognised by the Kennel Club for puppy registrations, it is not a traditional working cocker colour and is not part of the Kennel Club breed standard.
Red
Red is a dark colour that is essentially a gold coat colour. In recent years, red has become extremely popular in the pet market but has not traditionally been a working cocker colour.
It is also not officially recognised as a working cocker spaniel colour by the Kennel Club.
Chocolate
Although commonly referred to, chocolate is actually liver. There is no cocker spaniel colour that is known as chocolate. The brown colour is always recognised as liver.
Merle
Merle is not a natural Cocker Spaniel colour. It creates a mottled, patchy pattern with diluted areas and is caused by a specific gene that does not exist in purebred Cockers. Merle Cockers cannot be Kennel Club registered as purebred.
There is a lot of controversy over the merle coat colour as it is widely regarded as unethical within responsible breeding and Merle dogs are often marketed misleadingly as “rare” or “exclusive”. However, the merle colour is the result of cross-breeding, often with breeds such as Border Collies or Daschunds.
What colour does not tell you
Although different colours are more popular than others, its important to understand that coat colour does not determine drive, temperament, trainability, or suitability as a working or pet dog.
In Working Cocker Spaniels, behaviour is shaped by:
Breeding selection for work
Early life experiences
Training methods
Lifestyle and environment
Colour is simply pigment!
