Welcome to my merles page.
I am a proud breeder and owner of Champion Sired Blue Merle Cockers!

This is Emily
Her PEDIGREE
Her PAGE


Emily's littermates....


My love for Merles has started years ago when I had a long conversation
with Karen Hitchens in Illinois and Polly Swanson a well known Roan breeder.
That was when I learned the difference between Roan and Merle.

I purchased my first Merle male his name was Outlaw from Karen Hitchens.
He was a blue merle and tan male parti,
he himself did not have blue eyes but produced it.
3/4 of his litter when bred to ANY color produced merles with blue eyes.
His mom was a double merle.

The reason that I got Outlaw was because I loved the dynamic blue eyes
that most merles have. 

Years later, I purchased a blue roan female from Coreen and Gary Kitto
who went on to have babies and she placed in a pet home.

I state this to let you know that yes I do know the difference between Merle and Roan.

Today, I currently own both coat patterns both merles and roans.
Including a Champion blue roan and tan male named Shazam
aka Ch. CVJ's N Aj's Can't Buy Me Love

I had sold Outlaw to a breeder in Canada approx 4 yrs ago
because I had the opportunity to have Emily from Karen.
 

Photo of the coloring of Outlaws back- this clearly shows
what a blue merle cocker spaniel looks like when shaved down.

How in simple non technical terms how to describe the coat pattern.
It is like having a pair of black jeans where you spill bleach.
Where the bleach hits is going to be a grey/bluish and may have some black where the bleach did not hit, it may little spots of black or big spots of blacks.
Some may have tan points where the tan is suppose to be but that can be effected
as well and look lighter in color and eyes may or may not be effect..
Normal brown eyes turn blue and so do not.

Later, I was given a merle girl named Emily from my friend Karen H.
She had bought her from Karen P. and didn't have a boy to breed
her to and I had plenty so she gave her to me with wanting a puppy back.
Karen did get her puppy back but later decided she no longer want to breed Cockers

The puppy that Karen got was named Chilly.
Chilly came back to me as Karen was getting out of Cockers all together.
He was very much a escape artist and I didn't want a miss hap of not only breeding
merle to merle but also breeding to his mom..
He was bred to a non merle and then placed.

Emily is our last merle here at our house.
Emily will be 6 yrs old in 2010
She has produced exquisite puppies.
She had her 4th and last litter of puppies Jan 2010.
She retired in March 2010 and is living with her new owners Mike and Jan G.
who are 30 minutes from me,
including her son and grandson, who are both fixed.
She too will be fixed and living a very spoiled life.


Merles puppies just born.


OUR MERLE FUTURE:
At this time we have no future merle breedings planned.
We however are looking forward to our 2nd and 3rd generation merles
 I will always own merles-do not know if I will
always continue to breed them but owning a merle will always be in the cards.
Right now we do not have any adult merles we are concentrating playing with our pups.

Shania who is out of Ch. Che-Lee's Superstition and Emily
was placed with Gayle M. and in hopes one day to breed her to a champion
to add more standard into the pedigree.
Which in 2009 that is exactly what happened.
Shania was bred to AM/CAN Ch. Harmony's Phantom Of The Opera aka Aaron
who has produced multiple champion kids both in the USA and Canada.
We got the chance to get two puppies from this breeding a girl and boy.
Looking past markings, head type and coat type Bentley was better wise in structure.
Bentley will have a page of his own and photos will soon. 
He will be our future merle here at our house.




Kali a sable merle girl that is out of Emily's last and final litter.
She has one brown eye and one blue eye.
She was the only merle in the litter.

PEDIGREE


STARTING OUT:
When I got a merle puppy I didn't even know if I wanted to breed merles.
It was an option that Karen gave with Outlaw.
I was scared because I didn't want to goof up and I didn't want deaf and blind puppies.
Which can happen if you do not know what you are doing or have not researched the pedigree.
I was harassed by show breeder with both verbal and emotional abuse
because I own and breed merles.
I was turned down by many show breeder from quality cockers because of it.
But complained about because at that time I didn't have quality, catch 22 there.
When I finally decided to continue to breed merles I noticed they didn't have
a so great pedigree as far as Champions are concerned and some if not most
were pet in quality.
They looked more like and English cocker with long bone structure in the face.
To me that was not pretty to the eye.
And the coats on them were still back to the 50's-60's look with a fine texture coat.
Not the plush, thick, down to the ground abundance of coat we have now.
No matter what the other breeders said about me I loved the merles and wanted the best ones
that I myself knew I could produce.
That is why it has been easy for others to spot my merles both by breeders and pet owners.
You can usually spot a merle that was bred by me. 
I like my merles to be very open marked and have blue eyes but not always a deal breaker.
I have always liked the parti merle over the solid merle but have bred both.
They should look as close to what a cocker should look like, including having a nice head.
I have came a long way since Outlaw.

Emily has produced awesome puppies.
Photos of her kids, her grandkids and now great grandkids are just arriving.
You can see them below.

I have tried to better the merle by breeding to champions and then back to champions again.
Some of my merles that I have produced have looked like show dogs.
I once stacked a merle and took pictures and sent them to well known breeders.
With them coming back and telling this dog should finish easily.
Then I had to laugh and tell them this dog has blue eyes!
This did not sit easy with some show people.
Some show people do not like the word Merle and dismiss the coat patter all together.

I have breed the merles to top breeders champions.
I have introduced B-Mac's in my line who once
was the given the title of Breeder of the Year!
She herself was found to have a merle cocker!!!!
Another current litter was out a champion black/white.
Her father is Multi BISS Ch. B-Mac's N Lil People Ragin Cagin
who was a Westminster Variety Winner in 2009
I like merles to look as close to standard but with the merle gene.
Breeding them to top dogs has allowed my merles to have the edge
and pedigree that regular parti breeders wish to have in their lines.
But I do take in consideration of other breeders who do not want me to
breed merle into their lines, with that note I do as asked.


 Rocket who's grandfather is Multi BISS Ch. B-Mac's N Lil People Ragin Cagin



And ...

Blast who is Rockets brother!
Both Rocket and Blast are out of Ch. PBJ's Boot Scootin' Boogie
Blast resides in a pet home in Iowa.





I have also been told that some show breeders
have merles as well but they keep them behind close doors.
Some breed them and sell them as pets with no papers in local newspapers.
Others just have them for their uniqueness.

It was also told to me that a well known professional handler (JW) from KS
was very interested in purchasing a merle a long time back from
another breeder and stated to them this dog could finish.

But because the show breeder who like them and handlers who like them
do not want to crap from their peers because the show world is very political
they deny it and act like it never happened.

I have always loved merles and when I started showing I thought
that I had to either choose breeding merles or showing
I have found that untrue and I am going to do both.
I should not have to be offended by other breeders
I should not have to make others happy by not breeding merles at
the expense of my own happiness.


MY GOAL:
My goal is to one day have merles accepted by ASC so we can at least register
them correctly without confusion of them being Roans or any other coat type or color!
Do I want my merles to show, yes..  Just like the sable people want the sables to show.
Will it probably happen in my life time, No! 
Am I going to push for my merles or any merles for that fact to show, No!
I just want them registered correctly and without it being a Z list.
 

HOW DO YOU KNOW A MERLE JUST BY A PEDIGREE:
Usually it is as simple as looking at a pedigree to tell if you cocker has
come from a roan or merle.
 There are key dogs in the merle pedigree that say hey, "I'm A Merle".
See back in the 60-80's and if not 90's
cocker breeders didn't really know what merle was or if they did they didn't have
a way just like today to register them correctly.
They also didn't have internet to see what other breeders where breeding
and how to describe the dog other than it looked BLUE.
When I see a pedigree that maybe 4-5 generations back and says the word,
"BLUE" or BLU" it makes me have red flags.
Asking myself is this dog a Merle or a Roan.
Then if I see the word "LAKE" it is like waving a HUGE red flag.
Lake is another key word in most merle pedigree's as it is documented
that most merles go back to one single dog named Rusty Butch
his ancestor is Prince Alex Of Iron Lakes.
If I see that it tells me I am a MERLE!
My rule is no matter what, if you know you have a merle no questions asked
Put the word "MERLE" in the registered name.
It makes it much easier to say, "Ok, that is indeed a merle".
I also like to see that done when you have a litter of puppies not only on the
merle puppies but non merle puppies. 
Trying to make it easier on the next generation.


With this link I hope this has helped someone who may have wondered if they
have a roan or merle.
Also it has allowed me to showcase some of my beautiful cockers and what they can
look like no matter merle or not.
We will continue to breed merles to please the eye!

I also suggest that you check out my Roan page on my site.

Prissy is a blue merle and tan female
Outlaw x Scrunchy
 

This is Quest he is out of
Kami a choc/white female and Chilly
He is very close in markings as Sky at the bottom of the page.



Joey
He is out of Chilly (merle) and Kami.
Emily grandson.
I so love his personality. 
He so reminds me of his grandpa Vino.
This photo makes this boy look big but being so close up taking photo is the reason.
 

Piper is a blue merle and tan girl out of Chilly.
Here she is modeling her new hair cut!
 

Chilly as a 8 week old puppy aka Aj N Keisue's Frostymerl
Chilly's 1/2 sister is a Champion see Tru on females page.
 

This boy is a blue merle solid with both blue eyes.
He is out of Chilly and mom is Ebony who
goes back to some really nice champions.



He was 5 weeks old in this photo.
So his stacking job was not great at all.
But this give you an idea of the markings and coat type on a solid merle.
 

Black is blue merle and tan male
He has a nice head with a correct ear set.
Ch. Che-Lee's Superstition x Emily

Blue Merle and Tan with blue eyes.
Ch. Che-Lee's Superstition x Emily
 

Adam is a blue merle and tan he is in a great pet home nearby.
Here he is below as well playing with a tennis ball.
This photo below shows you his bright blue eye!



Adam is out of
Ch. Che-Lee's Superstition x Emily



Adam aka Chance all grown up.
Photo taken March 2010
I can not thank Mike and Jan enough for providing this boy a wonderful home!

Kc is a blue merle and tan male with bright tan points.
This puppy is stunning in my eyes!
Ch. Che-Lee's Superstition X Emily
 

These two pictures are of Cyan who lives
at Penunuri's Cockers
As you can see she has both blue eyes and a butterfly nose.
She is out Ch. Che-Lee's Radio Flyer x  Emily
 

This is monster. He is a blue merle and tan with light tan points.
His name is Aj's N Shandilyn's Full Throttle Merle
Ch. Che-Lee's Radio Flyer x Sky
He lives with Becky Salow from Shandilyn Cockers.

Sky aka Aj's As Clear As Day
This little girl is a blue merle and tan
 90% of her body is white the only coloring was her face & ears!
Sky is a niece to Outlaw
 

 
. 
Below are three photos to show the coloring a little bit better when
they are standing up instead of just face shots.

This girl is merle, although she is a red/white.
As you can see in her eye in the corner she has just a touch of baby blue.
No, this is not the camera messing up or a light issue.
Red/whites can be merles too!
Aj N Keisue's Frostymerl x CVJ's Sassafras



Blue merle boy out of
Aj N Keisue's Frostymerl x Ch. PBJ's Boot Scootin' Boogie

 

Bentley who is Champion Sired
AM/CAN Ch. Harmony's Phantom Of The Opera x Aj's N Mully's Merled N Sable
The dam herself if out of Ch. Che-Lee's Superstition aka Wizard on Males page of site.
Bentley is staying here at Aj Kennels and will have his own page later on.

Bentley in both of these photos Summer 2010.

Kali a sable merle girl.