[Jehn]

While brushing Bauer yesterday I noticed he has a ton of grey in his coat. He's not even 2 yet, so it can't be age. I've heard their true color doesn't come in until around 2 years of age so I wonder if he'll change.. ? His brother is a big silver but he now has red on his tail and back end. Bauer doesn't have any patches but he has a whole lot of single hairs. He almost looks dusty when he's brushed out. His mom was an apricot and the stud was blue, 3 of the pups were black and 1 silver at birth. They were both champion show dogs from an experienced breeder.

Anyone know if he might actually be a blue or is it common for black standards to have greys?

 

[Jehn]

let me see if I can dig up an old pic of his parents...

 

[Purple Poodle]

Well seeing as blue is a fading color he is automatically born with the fading gene so his color will change.

What color is Bauer? Would you mind posting pictures?

 

[shaneyraepage]

My little Chief is black with the peppered grey too. He is only 8 months old. He seems to have more and more.

 

[Jehn]

He was jet black at birth but it seems like he gets lighter every time I bathe & brush him. What's weird is that when he goes to the groomer he's always a lot more shiny and looks darker... but he definitely has a lot of grey. I'm just looking through a disc of pics from Feb. 07 when we got Bauer. I'll post what I find...

Fading color? What does that mean?

 

[Purple Poodle]

Fading would be Blues, Silvers Cafe Au Lait and Silver Beige. Its where puppies are born one color and gradually fad as they age. Kind of like Yorkies.

Did he have white hairs on his feet as a puppy/newborn?

EDIT:

DO NOT breed REDS or APRICOTS to the following colors:

SILVER or BLUE. Breeding red or apricot to silver causes the color to fade even more than they already do as the silver and blue colors carries the fading gene. True I have bred blue to red before due to the fact that was what I had to work with at the time. But if you are truly working to deepen and darken reds and apricots and produce beautiful dogs that hold their color, you do not want to introduce any more of the fading gene into these already fading colors than you have to.

This is from this site about colors.

 

[shaneyraepage]

My Chief did. What does that mean??

 

[Jehn]

Now that I'm looking at the old pics, it looks like Mom was the blue and Dad was the apricot... but he actually looks more cream or maybe even white... I thought I remembered her saying it was an apricot but I could be wrong, it was a long time ago. Have a look at the pics and see for yourself.

To my knowledge he never had a single white hair until he was about a year... He does have white in his feet now though, they are pretty much all over his body. I shaved his face down a bit yesterday and it looks more grey than black, would that be his skin or new growth? (Yeah I shaved it a little too short - my bad!!)

 

[Jehn]

Bauer's parents, Mooner and Casey

Pure black as a pup:

 

[Jehn]

Still just a pup...about 10-11 weeks:

He would have been about 6 or 7 months here, he is about the same age as my daughter...

This was taken in August while camping...

 

[Jehn]

OK, and finally, here are the pics I just took... He looks terrible because as I said I made an attempt at shaving his face but that was a bad idea!! But as you can see he is not jet black like he was as a pup...

The second one is a bit blurry but as some of you know he is a very high energy dog so it's tough to get him to sit still. His tail was wagging away... lol!! He's definitely not the same color he was as a pup... And I just bathed him yesterday, he is not dirty or dusty at all.

 

[mercymoon]

I think he is handsome, he has a nice big muzzle.

Also...we ALL make/have made grooming mistakes in
the past..I know I have, so don't feel bad! LOL!

 

[mercymoon]

Too bad your not in USA Arkansas, I've actually been looking into
adopting a standard.....

 

[Purple Poodle]

Hmm, I'm not really sure what color to call him. I have groomed a lot of black poodles whom have his color. Its just not a clear black.

 

[marepalmer]

If he was a blue, he would have brown highlights (from what I read). Does he? Not sure from the pics? How old is he? It is supposed to take blues two years to clear. If no brown, he's probably just not a pure black like purple poodle said.

 

[marepalmer]

I found this pic of an adult blue who hasn't finished clearing yet

 

[Blue Fox]

My understanding is that, as marepalmer said, if he is blue he will probably have a dark brown highlight to his coat. This can often only be seen in bright sunlight. Our boy who is registered as blue, but we are still waiting to see how he develops, has a very distinct lighter coloured face & feet once clipped. He is starting to grey around the end of his muzzle quite distinctly at 14 weeks and he has the dark brown shading to his coat. It can take up to 3 years for the colour to clear so we won't really know for sometime just what tone of blue he will end up being.

His sire is silver and dam is white.

 

[Jehn]

hmm... don't think he has any brown, so maybe you're right and he's just not a dark black.

 

[SECRETO]

My understanding is that, as marepalmer said, if he is blue he will probably have a dark brown highlight to his coat. This can often only be seen in bright sunlight. Our boy who is registered as blue, but we are still waiting to see how he develops, has a very distinct lighter coloured face & feet once clipped. He is starting to grey around the end of his muzzle quite distinctly at 14 weeks and he has the dark brown shading to his coat. It can take up to 3 years for the colour to clear so we won't really know for sometime just what tone of blue he will end up being.

His sire is silver and dam is white.

Blue Fox,
Your boy looks like he is a silver to me. In one of the pics you posted the hair above his eyes is really changing. He is just gorgeous period !

 

[Blue Fox]

I would love for him to turn out silver! He didn't have white hairs between his pads within a few days after birth which apparently means he won't be a true silver, but I don't really know. Also cause this is the sire's first litter I don't think anyone is real sure what colour this litter will end up being. Perhaps they will be a very light blue in the end. He is definately fading in the fur at the start of his topknot and I have also notice quite grey hairs on his muzzle more towards his eyes over the past day or two also. It is really quite exciting to see him change a little every week.