# Does Chocolate Brown Fade?



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Practically all poodle colours fade, to a greater or lesser extent. Some lines keep their colour better than others - Poppy is still a fairly dark apricot at 9 years old, although she is considerably lighter than she was as a puppy. I think brown, like the reds and apricots, is particularly prone to clearing to a lighter shade. You can get an idea of the eventual colour by looking at the parents and other dogs in the line, but I have to say that I have never seen a dark brown adult poodle - all the ones I have known have cleared to some shade of more or less milky coffee by the time they are two or three years old.


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## barbiespoodle (Apr 25, 2010)

It is very possible to get a non fading brown or if you prefer, chocolate. What you need to look for is the color profile in the pedigree. If it's basically chocolate and black, then there is a good chance the color will be stable. If there are any of the dilute colors, silver, cafe au late, blue, cream, in the pedigree, there is a chance but not an absolute, the color will fade. Check out the coat color by the skin, if there is any fading, there is a good chance the coat will fade. 

Your best hope is to not only look at the parents color, but if possible, see the grand dam or sire. And many breeders will tell you true if their line fades. I had that with two spoos ago, the breeder outright told me her blacks get a lot of white hairs by the time they were 5 and sure enough he did, but he was also the best spoo I ever had, I didn't care about his color, he was the dog of my heart. 

Also, one of the top best dogs I've had in my many years of poodles was a faded brown mini, again, I didn't see her color, just her. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that many of us have a color preference, mine being black spoos, but in the end, it's the dog him/herself that matters most, color is just secondary to personality. Once apon a time I actually swore I would never have a parti, then I found I couldn't leave a most dead parti behind, actually almost made it to the door because I didn't know he was a parti until I got there, of course I turned around and took him, cussing myself the whole 3 hour ride home. 10 years later when I loss this wonderful spoo suddenly to bloat, it took me a year to get over him enough to get another and I swore this time I was going to get my preference, a black. Long story short, Roland is now 10 months old, the apple of my eye and a parti, lol.


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## doditwo (Nov 7, 2017)

I’m not sure where you’re located or what size poodle you’re looking for, but you may want to contact my breeder, Black Pearl Poodles, in San Francisco. Lina specializes in intense black miniatures, but she recently acquired a lovely brown Italian and will be starting a litter of browns from him in November. I don’t know which of her dams will be the mother.
Here he is- Guilfo:










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## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

Wow doditwo that brown boy has beautiful color! Very nice! Do you know how old he is in the pic?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

A good breeder of browns will not be calling them chocolates. Labs can be chocolate, but poodles are brown. An onwer might want to call the dog chocolate, but to my way of thinking a breeder is not demonstrating good knowledge of the breed if they call their dogs chocolates. Most browns and reds do fade.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Well I have never had a dark brown poodle but I have had a silver beige and currently have a cafe au lait. Reddish brown puppies end up Silver beige, dark reddish brown puppies end up cafe au lait, from all my reading a dark brown puppy that almost looks black will end up that dream chocolate brown or as said previously have only black and brown in their pedigree.
I think Cafe au lait and Silver beige are wonderful colors


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

If I am not mistaken, in France, and probably in other European countries, you cannot breed a black to anything but black. I suppose it might be the same with browns, which would explain why we see such nice dark browns and blacks in European litters.

Do you want to import, lol ? Or look for breeders who import from European lines.

There is a French member who comes here sometimes and he has a brown poodle, very dark, just like in the picture above. I forgot the member’s name but his dogs name is Chôco.


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## doditwo (Nov 7, 2017)

chinchillafuzzy said:


> Wow doditwo that brown boy has beautiful color! Very nice! Do you know how old he is in the pic?



Guilfo was 14 months old in the photo, born in Italy in November 2016.


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

Had 2 reds and they both faded, one at about 15 months and the other at 3 yrs


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## mashaphan (Sep 4, 2014)

Yes,the browns do fade,and in my case,pretty early. When I saw a photo of Otter's dam,I'd have sworn she was silver. (but it was taken under harsh lighting.) I'd PREFER Otter stayed dark, and when he is clipped (short) he is still very dark (almost 2 yrs) ,and his tk is pretty dark-oddly,his tail has an odd grey stripe (!).

The correct term is brown,but it DOES sound dull.:bounce:

i wonder if color enhancing shampoo would help? Anyone have experience with this,or will I eventually have to Lady Clairol his coat?

Martha


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