YORKY CLUB MAGAZINE #13 -- August 2009

"More About Color And Texture (part III)" by Hugo Ibanez-Hornung

The subject of color and texture is endless and mystifying… This is what I wrote last year, “More About Color And Texture” (The Yorkie Club Magazine, #11-Dec. 2008). Frankly, I had no intentions of writing another article on this subject so soon. But, what prompted me to do so, was an unexpected surprise.

Mrs. Gordon (Wildweir), the most experienced and successful breeder in America (look at my article, The Yorkie Club Magazine, #8 - Nov. 2007) was willing me her copy of The Color Of Horses, that gesture along was a privileged but to top that, she also included the original copy of the treatise What colors a Yorkie written by her late sister Janet Bennett, based on this particular book. I was familiar with this treatise, I was present when it was red for the first time by Mrs. Gordon at a Seminar at The Yorkshire Terrier Specialty in California in the 70’s.
Moreover, since this treatise is her property now (Mrs. Gordon) was giving me permission to use it any way I wished.
Needless to say my curiosity was aroused and tantalized. The opportunity to use both significant sources was immense and convinced me that I must do it with hope that it might help the novice to navigate the uncertain road of Yorkdom. The Color Of Horses was written in the 70’s by Dr. Ben K. Green and illustrated by Doral Dickenson’s exquisite paintings. I knew of the existence of this book when I started breeding Yorkies, and also aware that the book had a limit printing edition – was printed deluxe – and by then was out of print.
Well, many moons have past, as incredible as it might seem, here I have a copy, thanks to Mrs. Gordon. What horses have to do with Yorkies, you may ask? Plenty.

According with Dr. Green, when it comes to color and reflecting light and the way one perceives it, it applies to all mammals. How did he arrive to this conclusion? Well, he spent many years diligently horsing around with horses’ hair. Dr. Green split thousands of hairs with the purpose of determining what causes the color of hair and how it is perceived by the human eye. We will discuss the subject later. As I mentioned before in my previous articles, genetics are not my forte, never was. It seems too complicated to fanthom. But, the truth is – whether the study of genetics is comfortable with you or not – if you are breeding dogs seriously, you are a practicing geneticist.
You don’t have to be a genetic genius to breed good dogs, if you have common sense. I cook delicious gourmet meals – so my friends tell me – (my second hobby) and I do it every single day; however, I never graduated from “Le Cordon Blue”.

What I will try to do – after reading carefully The Color Of Horses and Miss. Bennett’s treatise - is extract, draw out a capsulate version of the two, along with my thoughts, opinions and stories. Some of you will find it familiar, some interesting, some boring and yet, some not bothering to read it at all.
That’s fine.
I was a teacher – a professor – for thirty years, if one were to reach one student (in this case a novice) among hundreds, it was always worth it and rewarding. So here we go.
Now, I don’t want to give you faulty hopes. This article will not provide you with the magic formula or the silver bullet to the perfect color. This is not what it’s all about. As you well know such a formula genetically or by alchemy does not exist in our universe or parallel ones, not yet. I will take it back – yes, it is possible by alchemy, if you know what I mean. What it is, is that this information will give you a better understanding of what we are dealing with and the complexity of it all.
As I was beginning to read The Color Of Horses, what struck me the most besides the reflection of light affecting color applies to all mammals was Dr. Green’s emphatic declaration that the Mendel’s Law does not apply to animal life. This is significant because in some books on breeding from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, breeders were applying and relaying on Mendel.

Let me repeat Dr. Green’s assertions:

1. The way we perceive color is the same for all mammals and

2. Mendel’s Law does not apply to animal life.

We are going to explore both assertions. Let me start with the Mendel Law. I am sure you remember it (High school – science 101) but if you don’t, let me refresh your memory. Pull up a chair, this is a fascinating story.

Gregor Mendel (1822- 1884) was an Austrian monk (Augustian order) who instead of being on his knees praying for our sins, he was monkeying around with peas – as my science teacher Father Fernadez wittely used to say. Fr. Gregor (let’s call him Fr. “Greg”) spent years and years growing peas in the backyard of the monastery. Some of them were red and some white. He decided to mate (pollinate) the red peas with the whites, the result from these matings were all red – none was white or half and half.
When he mated two of the red flower children from the crossing, he was astounded to find out that although most plants bore red flowers, every once in a while a plant had white flowers. He also experimented with tall plants and shorts ones and getting the same results. In the meantime Fr. Greg kept careful notes.
After thousands of crossings, he discovered that the results always had an exact ratio. One out of four plants had white flowers and three of four had red flowers - Ave Maria! - he shouted to himself.
In the meantime while Fr. Greg was having a ball with his peas, the rest of the congregation was becoming increasingly fed up and sick of eating peas either with soup or mix with other vegetables, so when Fr. Greg told his brothers of his findings, the monks were jubilant and perplex, mostly happy.

The brothers did not understand Fr. Greg’s finding, they were just happy because they did not have to eat peas ever again. Unfortunately, his brothers were not the only the ones who could not comprehend his theory, it extended to his scientific peers.
His work was relatively unappreciated until the 1900’s, and it was not until the early 1920’s and 1930’s that the full significance of his work was recognized particularly in relation the evolutionary theory.
You may wonder what possessed Fr. Greg to play around with peas? Perhaps two reasons: he was born into a poor farming family, he knew how cultivate, and the Agustinian order in which he was accepted was a teaching order.
The Abbot sent him to the University of Vienna to get a teaching diploma in Biology and Mathematics, apparently Fr. Greg was not up to the task and he fail his exams, however, while at the university he was influence by Frank Unger, a biologist whose practical view of inheritance, free from spiritual influences, seemed to reflect his own farming background.

Today, Fr. Greg is considered the father of genetics. Isn’t it an Austrian beautiful success story or what?
As to why Fr. Greg’s theory does not work with dogs? Well, we must keep in mind that Fr. Greg was dealing with simple plant life and not with the complicated structure of a dog.
He based his findings on peas which have fewer chromosomes, human beings have 23 pairs of chromosomes, a total of 46, horses have 32 pairs for total of 64 and dogs have 39 pairs for a total of 78.
Why is it significant? The more pair of chromosomes contain by species, the more genetic variables are possible. This is why Yorkies and other breeds are not an easy task, especially Yorkies. Why? Well, as you know we have to deal not only with a silky coat but also with three different metallic shades of gold and the metallic dark blue and both have to have a precise demarcation.

Dr. Green says that:

“The strongest evidence against applying Mendel’s Law to animal life is clearly shown by a fact which has been proven many times. In the case of sires and dams of equal breeding, the sire marks his dominant characteristics on the female offspring, and the dam marks her dominant characteristics on the male offspring".

I consulted with Mrs. Gordon about the dominant factor and she concurs with Dr. Green and so am I, as well as some other vintage breeders.
One can only speculate and wonder why the breeders of the 19th and early 20th century who relied on Mendel’s Law were not as successful as we are. And, yet we are still in penumbras, it is like playing black-jack or canasta where 70% is luck and 30% is skill.
Still, many faults can be eradicated from a bloodline and superior qualities introduced by a combination of selectivity, common sense and understanding the laws of heredity as we know it today.
More than 50% of the desirable qualities of our Yorkies are controled or influenced by recessive genes: if a breeder has the fortune to luck into these recessives, it would be piece of cake to lock them into his genetic pool forever.

To be continued in the next issue ...

We will discuss:
- how we perceive color
- the structure and pigment of gold and blue hair based on the Palomino (gold) and the Grulla(blue) horses.
- color placements or markins.
- coloring of the hair and skin
- the hair quality, texture.
- the opinion of some vintage breeders and much more