A Discussion of

Coat Colour

Genetics in the

Lakeland Terrier

Chapter 8— Liver

By

Ron Punter

Liver/Chocolate/Brown - the bb gene A recessive Red homozygous for Liver gene will have a liver nose.

The first Gallaher cigarette card featuring a Lakeland I saw looked Liver and Tan but have since seen much darker ones so probably that's just a function of the printing process but in real life Liver is a very distinct colour. Liver has long been in the standard but it omits to say Liver and Tan. Even though it’s not spelt out it’s clearly implied and will be legitimately produced from the Lakeland Terrier gene pool and nobody could sensibly argue that Liver and Tan is not an acceptable colour. The American KC standard does precisely list it: “A saddle may be blue, black, liver, or varying shades of grizzle” The American standard is generally much better written as regards colour although they do have an “alternative” registration code for “Brindle” which would be untypical in a Lakeland Terrier.

These pups are already trained to do a “down stay” at 7 weeks old. Two rather different looking Livers.

An interesting observation from the principle breeder of Liver and Tan Lakelands in the UK: “You know how the Black and Tans have a sort of grey in their coats when they are about ready to strip, especially the grizzle ones. The Livers do not get that only gold.”

Page 2 As the bb changes all eumelanin not just in the coat : Noses will always be Liver in a Liver and Tan also the eyes will be lighter. The first standards only mentioned a black nose. From about the 1960’s The Lakeland Terrier Club included a note about Liver noses in Liver dogs . When the KC revised standards in about 1980 we got them to include Liver noses in Liver dogs. I well remember the debate at the LTS, I was chairman at the time. Most people even though they might not understand the genetics are fair minded and it was decided that if the standard allows Liver and it’s impossible not to have a liver nose then the standard must allow it. Someone queered if a red nose in a Red dog should be allowed but that did not find favour on the grounds that it is possible to have a black nose in a Red dog even if some people were finding it difficult to breed one at that time! There have been at least three mutations over time that have produced changed structure in the Tyrosinase Related Protein 1. These are often labelled bc, bd and bs though they all have the same effect -produce eumelanin granules which are smaller and rounder in shape which appear not as black but a lighter colour -basically brown. These three can be genetically tested for at the time of writing, more could follow. It would first need to be established which type is present in Lakelands. The Liver coat colour in Lakelands gives an object lesson in how a recessive gene can be carried forward for many generations before coming out . Years ago I had a dog at stud that carried it and he was line breed to Ch Tarnbreck Comet. Other breeders who had produced Livers in the north of England had Comet in the pedigrees as the common denominator.

Page 3 People who have had a Liver often would like to have another and a farmer with a Liver bitch specifically wanted to mate her to a dog, not too closely related, that carried Liver. It was a 50:50 chance and could not offer any guarantee but happily he did get his wish and bred a Liver puppy to run with its mother. Don’t know of many Livers in the north of England nowadays. It’s mostly Rachel Chamness (Kelda) in Devon that is keeping the colour going. On geographical location one might think that Liver came into Kelda line from Joe Blackburn’s Culverdale breeding. Joe showed a couple of livers and had a stud dog that Biddy Morris thought a carrier. It was Joe who wrote the note that the Let us in! LTC put on the standard The Liver colouration is not so obvious about the nose colour. In in an adult as it is in a whelp. fact it would seem that the Kelda liver strain too comes from Comet. Chocolate Drop of Ashgate, born 1986 is the last Liver and Tan that I can remember in the show ring, he was not breed by Miss Morris but was used by her and has brought the Liver colour into the current Kelda pedigrees he is of Northern breeding from two kennels that used Comet fairly extensively. The other dog carrying the Liver gene into modern Kelda is Kelda Henry of the Tors –traced him to Ch Tarnbreck Comet on both sides of his sires pedigree in fairly short order! Pedigrees of Liver and Tan’s in the USA indicates that a grandson of Comet, Ch Scartop Crazy Horse might have taken the gene across the Atlantic.

Page 4 A stud dog has much more chance to influence a breed than ever a bitch can, in the case of passing on the gene for Liver coat colour its not a problem and those with a preference for the colour have cause to be grateful to Ch Tarnbreck Comet. However its a clear illustration why it’s a problem in breeds with inherited diseases and how a problem from way back comes to the fore again when decedents of an undetected carrier are mated together. Thankfully genetic tests will soon make it easy to breed out health problems and limiting a particular sires influence in a breed will no longer be an issue. Genetic testing should soon be sweeping away much of the criticism of pure bred dogs.

Liver and Tan youngster trimmed out for show.

The colour is not very obvious in this photograph and might never be as obvious as it is in a whelp. A lot depends on just how the light falls.

Page 5