# apricot color



## zyrcona (Jan 9, 2011)

Melodyp77 said:


> I was talking with a breeder about coloring breeding and she said that apricot was a pure color. I asked what she meant and she said that you will always get apricot no matter what you bred your dog too. Is this true? if not what does pure color mean, if anything? I have never heard of such a thing.


A 'pure' colour does not have any meaning in terms of colour genetics.

Presumably she meant that if you have an apricot dog you will always get apricot puppies regardless of the colour you breed to. This is incorrect.

To be apricot, a dog has to have a particular genetic combination. If we are ignoring non-solid colours that may have apricot patterns, the first of these is ee. e is recessive to E (anything that is Ee or EE will be some kind of black or brown colour) so if you breed an apricot to an Ee dog you will get on average 50% ee and 50% Ee. If you breed an apricot to an EE dog you will get 100% Ee.

An ee dog can be any colour from white to deep red. The genes that control this have not yet been identified, but there is theorised to be at least one termed C, and possibly another termed R. Apricot dogs bred to white dogs tend to produce various combinations of pale apricot and cream. Apricots bred to reds tend to produce a combination of dark apricots and light and medium reds.


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

Melodyp77 said:


> I was talking with a breeder about coloring breeding and she said that apricot was a pure color. I asked what she meant and she said that you will always get apricot no matter what you bred your dog too. Is this true? if not what does pure color mean, if anything? I have never heard of such a thing.


I don't think this breeder really knows what they're talking about.


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## Jacknic (Sep 14, 2010)

Melodyp77 said:


> I was talking with a breeder about coloring breeding and she said that apricot was a pure color. I asked what she meant and she said that you will always get apricot no matter what you bred your dog too. Is this true? if not what does pure color mean, if anything? I have never heard of such a thing.


NOT true! I would not buy a puppy from this person or take breeding advice. Clearly does not know what they are talking about, but claims knowledge with such confidence -- the worst kind of breeder IMO.


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

For instance, Sunny is an apricot by registration, and looks very cream with the apricot stripe on his back, darker apricot ears and some apricot by his feet. That has always confused me, too.


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## Melodyp77 (Mar 4, 2012)

Thank you. I didn't feel she was accurate in her info but I tend to doubt myself. Do you need color testing in your dogs or just look at the pedigree and determine from that what genetics are in the line?


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Unfortunately, I am the wrong person to ask about that. It's just that Sunny's registration lists him as an apricot, yet he is a cream with apricot "highlights" -- not that dark at all. When I heard apricot I always had thought of a much darker apricot --- but I do believe the sire is much darker apricot than Sunny so perhaps that determines? I am sure one of the breeders will jump in here to answer...


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## zyrcona (Jan 9, 2011)

Melodyp77 said:


> Thank you. I didn't feel she was accurate in her info but I tend to doubt myself. Do you need color testing in your dogs or just look at the pedigree and determine from that what genetics are in the line?


You can do a bit of both. There are genetics tests for some colours: black, brown, phantom, sable, brindle, parti.

There are no tests for other colours: apricot/red/white (you can test to see if a dog is one of these colours via ee, but not which) and the genes responsible for clearing (café, silver, etc) so you have to rely on studying the colours of the ancestors and sometimes gambles and guesswork.


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## Marcie (Aug 2, 2011)

My little GiGi was represented to be an apricot. She was a breeder surrender and the breeder had red toy poodles and a few that were apricot. GiGi's ears, and nose are brown with shiny brown nails that look like they were painted and the rest of her is a lighter color. To me she looks more ginger color.


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## Marcoislandmom (Mar 15, 2012)

Ginger is not a color. That term is oftentimes used to describe a light red dog. GiGi definitely an apricot. The give-a-way is the brown nose. Reds have black points.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Marcoislandmom said:


> Ginger is not a color. That term is oftentimes used to describe a light red dog. GiGi definitely an apricot. The give-a-way is the brown nose. Reds have black points.


Reds and apricots both should have black points. Liver points occur and are acceptable in both red and apricot, but not preferred.


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## Marcoislandmom (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks for the clarification re: nose. Almost all of the reds I have seen have black points.


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## poodlefaerie (Aug 7, 2012)

liljaker said:


> Unfortunately, I am the wrong person to ask about that. It's just that Sunny's registration lists him as an apricot, yet he is a cream with apricot "highlights" -- not that dark at all. When I heard apricot I always had thought of a much darker apricot --- but I do believe the sire is much darker apricot than Sunny so perhaps that determines? I am sure one of the breeders will jump in here to answer...


Apricot gets lighter as the years go by. I don't know about akc, but in fci an apricot poodle must not have cream color in any part of his body. If you went to a fci show, only because of his color would not get an excellent( even though he had excellent structure and temperament). His color is due to his genetics, an ancestor of his would probably have been cream ?


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

I do not agree with Marcoislandmom's statement at all. There are lots of apricots with black points and lots of reds with brown points. It depends what is in a dog's ancestry and also/or on its diet. If this statement were accurate, would a dog with winter nose be called red half the year and apricot the other half, depending on its nose colour?


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Not sure, the breeder did show him in conformation and continues to show his son. He did very well, although did not finish. Shown in CKC. Also, saw pictures of the "grandpups" and they are very similar color to Sunny.


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## Melodyp77 (Mar 4, 2012)

This breeder is just someone I came across and have started chatting with. This site has been very informative. thanks all


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Sunny's breeder sent me an email, sort of an Apricot 101 if you will. Here is an excerpt. ("Moxie" is Sunny's sire.)

Apricot is a difficult colour to produce and keep as it is what is known as a “fading gene” in that is has inherently fading properties. Often apricot colours that you see on poodles are actually a pale red colour and as time goes on, will fade out even more. Moxie has kept his colour, but any of his offspring have faded into creams. To get back into Moxie’s colour I would go back into red for a few generations. I know of a couple of breeders that are trying to breed apricot exclusively and they always end up with creams or reds, as well as the apricot colour. It does not breed true.


When I looked at Sunny's pedigree, for example, I was fascinated by the myriad of colors represented in his pedigree. For instance, the sire of Sunny's litter was apricot, and the dam was cream. The sire was a result of a black/white breeding, and the dam of his litter was result of cream/silver breeding. I know his breeder does not "breed for color" but breeds for health, temperment, etc., but has generally bred the cream/apricot/brown and black. I find it all fascinating. Color has always been secondary to me, as the temperment and health is the most important. I think many times breeders breeding solely for color sometimes lose sight of the other important traits here in the US anyway.


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## zyrcona (Jan 9, 2011)

ArreauStandardPoodle said:


> I do not agree with Marcoislandmom's statement at all. There are lots of apricots with black points and lots of reds with brown points. It depends what is in a dog's ancestry and also/or on its diet. If this statement were accurate, would a dog with winter nose be called red half the year and apricot the other half, depending on its nose colour?


A snow nose is still genetically black. The poodle will still show the other characteristics of black points, such as black eye-rims, lips, and paw pads. A brown nose is genetically brown and comes with brown eye rims, lips, and pads. A puppy's pigment colour will be obvious a week or so after birth. My apricot poodle came to me as a puppy with black points, and has since developed a snow nose that has a pinkish-brownish hue to the tip of it during the winter. My puppy is brown and has a brown nose. Technically a brown nose that turns pinkish is also a snow nose.


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## Marcie (Aug 2, 2011)

Marcoislandmom said:


> Ginger is not a color. That term is oftentimes used to describe a light red dog. GiGi definitely an apricot. The give-a-way is the brown nose. Reds have black points.


You are right, I was trying to describe her color, as the color of a ginger root. To me an apricot is more on the golden side i.e. butterscotch I would have thought. 

I had to take another look, and you are right, her nose is dark brown. I guess I never really noticed. Her eyes are rimmed in black and her ears are the color of an Irish setter. 

Thank you, I didn't want to call her an apricot if she wasn't really an apricot. But I guess I alway knew she was a "brown noser" the way she always tries to make up to me!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Marcie said:


> You are right, I was trying to describe her color, as the color of a ginger root. To me an apricot is more on the golden side i.e. butterscotch I would have thought.
> 
> I had to take another look, and you are right, her nose is dark brown. I guess I never really noticed. Her eyes are rimmed in black and her ears are the color of an Irish setter.
> 
> Thank you, I didn't want to call her an apricot if she wasn't really an apricot. But I guess I alway knew she was a "brown noser" the way she always tries to make up to me!


Again...the color of her nose does NOT have anything to do with wither she is apricot or red.


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## Marcie (Aug 2, 2011)

CharismaticMillie said:


> Again...the color of her nose does NOT have anything to do with wither she is apricot or red.


It's ok, don't panic, I understand.... I was just trying to make a joke about her brown nose. I did read your post about the nose not having anything to do with whether she is red or apricot. I appreciate the information. I was just curious. She could be a faded red since when I got her she came in with a bunch of red toy poodles. They told me she was 7 years old which could mean she faded? 

I just wanted to know since so many people ask me when we are out what color she is. I don't want to give out false information. At least Sasha is white.


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