SUNCATCHER'S ZAFFRE ZECCHINO
THE SECOND THAT THIS LITTLE BOY WAS BORN, one of five partis in a litter of seven puppies, we knew that he was different, as can be seen in the picture of him at one day old, across the top of this webpage. He was the smallest puppy in the litter--smaller by half than the largest puppy--but he has never been weak, and he has always been a scrapper, able to hold his own among the larger pups and dogs. But we had never seen such markings on a Cocker puppy before. So we did some online research and did find some similar markings--but on Calico cats, "Japanese Brindle" rabbits, and African wild dogs--but not on Cockers.
Zecchino is rather small, weighing only 17 pounds at almost five years old, and we will be surprised if he ever weights over 20 pounds. And in addition to his amazing markings, he has an engaging personality, being very friendly and outgoing, and he has become more of a house dog than some of our other dogs. We notice that the smaller dogs prefer the house more, whereas the larger dogs seem to prefer being outdoors more.
The partly pink nose is called a "butterfly nose," and it is a sign of a lot of dilution. But the above left picture was taken when Zecchino was about two years old, and since that time the black color has slowly covered more of the center of his nose. But Zecchino still has some pink spotting on either side of his nose. And his outdoor kennel is in a very shady spot so he can avoid sunburn on his pink nose spots.
But it's not possible to tell if a newborn puppy has a butterfly nose, as all of our puppies are born with mostly pink noses. And often they have mostly pink muzzles as newborns too, as the picture of Zecchino taken at one day old on the right shows. And we can't even tell if a merle bred puppy will have blue eyes until it is over four to five weeks old, as all puppies have blue eyes that gradually turn dark sometime soon after four weeks old.
But permanent blue eyes in Cockers are usually from the merle gene which is co-dominant and not recessive. So only genetic merle dogs can throw merle puppies--even if the parent does not have any merle markings itself. So any Cocker puppy from a merle breeding can have blue eyes, even if neither the merle parent nor the merle puppy has actual merle markings. All that matters is that a merle dog have one co-dominant merle allele on the merle gene.
This picture, taken at seven months old, shows Zecchino's seal markings--the greyish spots--and some black spots on his back. Zecchino only has merle spots on his muzzle and on his tail, and his coat would be good for camouflage if he didn't have all of that white.
Zecchino, shown at ten months old, has just a tremendous coat, which fans out around him when he lies down.
Zecchino has a little black "love spot" on the top of his head, which is suppose to bring good luck to Spaniels and their owners, and it shows the exact place to kiss the dog on the head.
And above is a close up picture of Zecchino's coat markings as an adult, taken from the side, with his head to the right, showing his "calico" markings with large patches of solid colors in bands across his back--interrupted by white splotches--but with no actual merle spotting on his body. And canine color genetic experts that we have consulted think that Zecchino's unusual markings are a result of the merle gene interacting with the seal gene somehow, and that the lighter spots on his back--with a light undercoat and a darker overcoat, are actually spots of seal markings. And we all realize that these are not true calico markings, which are sex-linked, tri colored spots found in female cats. And we do know that Zecchino is "KB/ky" on the K Locus, which is what is thought to be first required to produce seal markings.
Zecchino as a newborn was small, but not skinny, and from the minute that he was born we were fascinated with his unusual markings.
Zecchino was only six inches long when he was born, but he was looking strong at five days old.
Zecchino at two weeks old was starting to show his really unusual markings.
Zecchino was starting to try to sit up at almost three weeks old.
Zecchino at three weeks old, finally sitting up, and this was about the time that we realized that his white areas were really very, very white, with no ticking at all.
Zecchino at twenty-five days old.
Zecchino at almost four weeks old, sitting up and checking out the world.
Zecchino at 30 days old, already showing the beginnings of his tremendous coat.
Zecchino, at about six weeks old, had big, bright blue eyes, and he still does. His name, Zaffre Zecchino, means "blue sequin," referring to his glittering blue eyes, and somewhat to his being what is called a "blue merle."
Zecchino, at two months old, proving that he is a chip off of the old block, as his sire loves to fetch tennis balls.
When we clipped Zecchino, at about four months old, we were expecting merle, and not "calico" large spots.
But Zecchino looks fabulous in his fully grown out coat, as shown in this picture once he was an adult, posing out in one of our dog yards And Zecchino is the sire of several of our Cocker girls and of all three of our Kobetan girls.
Goodbye!
To see Zecchino's pedigree, please look at his sire's pedigree page and his dam's pedigree page.
CONTACT INFORMATION
WE ARE LOCATED IN THE NORTHCENTRAL FLORIDA AREA just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico. We can be contacted by E-mail at:
jolie.chiens@gmail.com
“I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better.”
George Bird Evans
