[Cloverb]

Hi!
I've been digging through the forums for a few days eating up all the coat genetics information. It's all SO FASCINATING! I've got a little rescue boy that has been confusing me since day 1!

I adopted Oswald (Wally) late June of 2019. The rescue had no information about him/his age. My vet thought he was probably roughly 1-2 years old, his energy/behavior led me to think closer to 1. (Also he had a strange body type, originally looking more like a short/ cobby jack russell.) I've been estimating him as adopted right before his 1st birthday, which would make him at least 4.5 years old now.

When I got him he had a dark brown topknot/ears and distinct dark patches on a pale creamy body. After his first haircut the patches got lighter and by October 2019 were almost invisible when shaved. He was mostly a silvery cream color with darker head, but when I let his hair grow his guard hairs would make him noticeably darker/more brown, almost like a dirty/dusty cloud color.

Since then it's like he's gotten lighter every haircut. The only hint of his spots is when I let him grow out to at least 2.5 in of untrimmed hair. The recent photos are from Jan 2022 to now. He's very fluffy and silvery off-white on his undercoat/roots. His guard hairs are a dusty cocoa brown and white mix.

His embark results have him as Ee, bb, Ssp, NN, cream/cream at KITLG, and KB/KB. His non-expressed traits are at/at for tan points, Ee for one copy of recessive red, NI for ? regarding the saddle tan, and rr/mm for no roan/merle.

I've posted about him in a coat color genetics group before and got a 50/50 response of he is either Cafe or merle (especially since he was born blind). But from what I can tell, he can't be merle because of his embark results and he completely changed coat color in effectively 6 months from when I got him (which seems pretty fast).

What color is Wally? And what happened to his spots? (The spots sold me on him when I first saw his profile). Why does he have pink spots on all his paw pads and random white nails?

Any guidance on my little mystery-man would be much appreciated!

 

[Puppy Love]

Welcome to you and your precious little Oswald! I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I will be able to help you with your questions.

 

[twyla]

Short answer they faded or cleared when his coat lightened
This is the same poodle my girl Beatrice

 

[Cloverb]

Short answer they faded or cleared when his coat lightened
This is the same poodle my girl Beatrice
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Beatrice is absolutely adorable! I'm a sucker for the tiny girls!

I didn't know that things like spots would clear along with the base coat color change. It's definitely a wonder of genetics!

 

[twyla]

As for his feet they probably had white on them

 

[Cloverb]

As for his feet they probably had white on them

That would make sense. I'm guessing that means I got him when he was already changing color, not right before like I thought.

Any thoughts on if he's cafe au lait or silver beige? Or is the unconfirmed age keeping it from being narrowed down further?

 

[twyla]

Age of change is what determines silver beige and Cafe au lait, Beatrice was Cafe au lait
My girl baby was silver beige

 

[ThePoodlesMoody]

Yep. Even the spots can essentially disappear.

Apple was all chocolate brown. She is now mostly white. Her official color is silver beige. Poodles are weird like that.

 

[cowpony]

I agree with suggestions that he is a cafe or silver beige parti. However, it looks to me as though his white spots aren't truly white; they look more like a very light brown when I view the photos on my computer. If what I think I see really is there (and isn't just some weirdness introduced by the camera), then I wonder if he's got the additional bonus of some kind of ticking or roaning. The effect of both the ticking and the roaning genes is that the underlying dark color will partially resurface into areas with white spots. Roaning & ticking are found in both Cocker Spaniels and Lagatto Romagnolo dogs.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

Oswald sure is a cutie whatever his color! I hope you don't mind me asking, but how does he do with everything being blind? There must be some unique challenges. Perhaps a good topic for another thread.

 

[Cloverb]

I agree with suggestions that he is a cafe or silver beige parti. However, it looks to me as though his white spots aren't truly white; they look more like a very light brown when I view the photos on my computer. If what I think I see really is there (and isn't just some weirdness introduced by the camera), then I wonder if he's got the additional bonus of some kind of ticking or roaning. The effect of both the ticking and the roaning genes is that the underlying dark color will partially resurface into areas with white spots. Roaning & ticking are found in both Cocker Spaniels and Lagatto Romagnolo dogs.

When he was younger he definitely had more visible ticking. I was convinced he was partially lagatto romagnolo because of how much he looked like one. His embark says 100% small poodle, but it doesn't really rule out a cross further up his line.

 

[Cloverb]

Oswald sure is a cutie whatever his color! I hope you don't mind me asking, but how does he do with everything being blind? There must be some unique challenges. Perhaps a good topic for another thread.

He does great without his sight! He's a little trouble making menace who follows his nose into all sorts of chaos.
Most people can't tell he's blind with the exception of how he pinballs around bouncing into things. I even trained him to look up and pose for the camera!
He has no hesitation navigating, which could be partially because he's never known anything but being blind. He knows direction words like step up/down, careful, and left/right which help him feel more confident in new places.

All in all he's not much different than an average pup! He does unfortunately mark as a way of scent navigating and can't see other dogs' body language, but that's honestly the only big difference.

 

[94Magna_Tom]

He does great without his sight! He's a little trouble making menace who follows his nose into all sorts of chaos.
Most people can't tell he's blind with the exception of how he pinballs around bouncing into things. I even trained him to look up and pose for the camera!
He has no hesitation navigating, which could be partially because he's never known anything but being blind. He knows direction words like step up/down, careful, and left/right which help him feel more confident in new places.

All in all he's not much different than an average pup! He does unfortunately mark as a way of scent navigating and can't see other dogs' body language, but that's honestly the only big difference.

Sounds great! A happy dog! I was hoping to hear exactly this! 😍