Yesterday I chatted to Ian about colour fading which is primarily but not exclusively found in bitches. Basically the saddle continues to receded through life, leaving middle aged to older bitches with little saddle at all. Bitches with strong colour get away with it quite well, but faded bitches with a pale tan like Asha are really not in favour .. that we know from experience!
Nikki and Seffe are the top two bitches. Nikki with her beloved kong was very red and Seffe was quite ginger. I don't really have many photos of them on line as youngsters - they are all in albums.
The bottom photos are both of Krizzie about 4 years apart, the difference is amazing isn't it.
In the top boxes we have Tali - photos taken about 11 years apart, again in older years like her mum and grandmother her saddle was broken and fading - but the ginger colour which came from Seffe was very eye catching.
In the bottom box is Asha. Around 22 months after winning SYB at Blackpool and now, only weeks ago, muddy, happy but very pale and faded. When I kept Asha I was aware her colour was poor, but colour is of secondary importance and her conformation in my opinion was superior to her sister. Of course sadly in the ring her colour has often been her downfall.
I mated Asha to a dog called Tirgram Robbi - from here there was some dramatic changes to colour, well to saddle paling in the bitches.
The sister Ziva, top and Jezi bottom have both kept more defined saddles than their ancestors. Ziva is particularly impressive, now at 8.5 years old she still has a solid saddle - to be honest colour wise you can see she's changed very little. Jezi again is a very poor colour and has a slightly receding saddle, but less so than her mother.
Ziva was mated to Nico - a dog with a very strong black saddle and a black mask, now he has really stamped his mark on Blanik bitches!
Sammi at the top is Ziva and Nico's daughter. She has a predominantly black saddle, a lovely mask and a darker eye than her mum.
Kaiah is Sammi's daughter, both are pretty similar but Kaiah for me on conformation has the edge. I hasten to add on conformation alone - Sammi has something very very special about her .. I adore her. In the first photo Kaiah is only 6.5 months old and still wearing her puppy coat, the second photo was taken in October and does show some fading in the saddle down her spine, time will tell just how much she will fade. As they say .. Watch this space.
