Author Topic: Orange Roan Show Type...not many  (Read 5202 times)

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Offline Barnyboy

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Orange Roan Show Type...not many
« on: July 30, 2018, 11:24:33 AM »
I have an Orange Roan Show type Cocker Spaniel, I had him from 12 weeks, he is now 5 years. I used to live in London and walked him every day over Hampstead Heath were we would meet hundreds of dogs all sizes and breeds but never met one like mine. I now live in a village in Hampshire and walk my dog in woodland, on beaches and along the River banks as well as parks and meet hundreds of dog walkers but can honestly say I have seen no more than about 4 dogs like mine (as in breed & colour) I have seen loads of Working Cockers and different coloured Show Type but so very few Orange Roan.....why is this? I was wondering if they are not a popular breed for some reason. I don't show him, he is my baby not a show piece.
I love my boy, he's adorable and I wouldn't be without him but I do wonder why there are not more like him about.

Offline ChrisS

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Re: Orange Roan Show Type...not many
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2018, 10:51:29 AM »
We have a 17 week old orange roan boy who is also a sable. The KC don’t recognise his colour be cause of the sable element. He was from a litter of 9 and 3 were the same colour. I can’t say I’ve seen many his colour either up on the North Notts/South Yorks border. He is a real head turner when we are out and lots of people comment on his colour.
If I can figure out how I will post a photo at some point.

Offline ElaineH

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Re: Orange Roan Show Type...not many
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2018, 01:50:08 PM »
Our orange roan boy is now 10 and the breeder we had him from had about 3 girls of that colouring at the time. When we brought him home he was the first orange roan in the area, or at least I hadn't noticed any others. Lots of people commented on his colouring and one of our walking buddies, when choosing a second dog, waited until her breeder had an orange girl for her. One elderly man tried hard to convince me that our boy wasn't really a cocker since "they don't come in that colour!" and he couldn't be persuaded that Morgan was the genuine article.

At the moment there don't seem to be many cockers locally but those I notice are orange roan, so perhaps they're not so unusual after all. There used to be quite a few blue roans round here but not anymore.

Our other boy is black and white and he really does turn heads when we're out. I've been waiting for that bloke to tell me that Hugo must be an imposter too!
"Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends"  Alexander Pope

Offline elaine.e

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Re: Orange Roan Show Type...not many
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2018, 03:30:55 PM »
My orange roan show type boy is 14 and was one of three in a litter of five, the other two being blue roan. It's not a rare colour by any means, but certainly a lot less common than blue roan, and less common than black and gold solid coloured Cockers I think. I don't know much about genetics, but blue roan and black are the dominant colour genes in the breed.

I'm in Hampshire too (New Forest) and see many Cockers, probably more workers than show types, in the full range of colours. Blue roans are the most common colour I see in show types and liver or black in the working types. Some of that will be due to blue roan being the most common colour overall in the breed, but I think it also partly depends on breeders in the local area.

Fashion also dictates colour. When my first Cocker puppy, a gold show type, came to me 31 years ago, chocolate/liver roans were very few and far between in show types but were becoming sought after and their numbers were on the increase. Nowadays, sables (even though not eligible for KC registration) are very popular and I wonder if that will lead to some of the more unusual colours falling out of popularity and the public eye to the point where they become rare?

Offline ChrisS

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Re: Orange Roan Show Type...not many
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2018, 05:27:02 PM »
I’ve added a photo to my profile as a cheat. Smudge got his name because in the first few weeks he was white with 2 smudges of orange. One on his head and one on his back. He now only has 2 bits that are white. One on his head and the last three quarters of his tail.