Silver fox
Black fox bred by Sarah Yeomans
Silver fox is recognised in black, blue, chocolate and lilac. The feet, sides and rump should be evenly ticked with white and the belly should be pure white. A fox is genetically a tan with a double dose of chinchilla (c^ch), which dilutes the yellow pigment to white. Poor foxes can retain a creamy or yellowy border to the belly. The chinchilla gene also has a slight effect on black pigment, and can make it appear very dark brown, so selection is key in the breeding of black foxes in order to control this.
The variety was standardised by the NMC in 1936, with the credit going to Dr N J Pickard who three years earlier had given the fancy the chinchilla mouse. To create a silver fox from scratch, a tan of the correct top colour and a chinchilla can be mated together to produce agouti tans. These tans should then be bred with each other for a 9/16 chance of agouti tan, 3/16 chance of chinchillas, 3/16 chance of black tans and 1/16 chance of a black fox.
The variety was standardised by the NMC in 1936, with the credit going to Dr N J Pickard who three years earlier had given the fancy the chinchilla mouse. To create a silver fox from scratch, a tan of the correct top colour and a chinchilla can be mated together to produce agouti tans. These tans should then be bred with each other for a 9/16 chance of agouti tan, 3/16 chance of chinchillas, 3/16 chance of black tans and 1/16 chance of a black fox.
Chocolate fox bred by Sarah Yeomans
When recreating foxes from scratch, try to choose tans which have tan ticking along the flanks and on the rump. Although this is undesirable in tans it is necessary in foxes in order to get the white ticking required by the standard.
Blue foxes have an advantage in that blue dilution has the effect of diluting yellow pigment as well as chinchillation, which is useful for breeders of foxes (but not blue tans!). Care must still be taken not to let the top colour become too light or mealy. This also goes for chocolate foxes, which should be a rich deep chocolate rather than a milk chocolate colour.
Blue foxes have an advantage in that blue dilution has the effect of diluting yellow pigment as well as chinchillation, which is useful for breeders of foxes (but not blue tans!). Care must still be taken not to let the top colour become too light or mealy. This also goes for chocolate foxes, which should be a rich deep chocolate rather than a milk chocolate colour.
Best AOV black fox bred by Joanne Stockbridge
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BIS black fox and Best Marked black Dutch bred by Sarah Yeomans
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