# Silver or Blue????



## WonderPup

I'm not an expert by any means and I have no doubt somebody can explain it loads better that I can. However I believe blues tend to appear almost black for a long long time. The final color is a lot darker as well. There are several blue owners on the forum who can probably provide pictures. Silvers can be almost white in some of the photos you see. Platnium is a good word I suppose. As babies they are often already silver on their face and feet, my girl was. She'll be 10 months old tomarrow. 

Maybe the variations you are seeing, especialy the blacks with white faces, are young silvers before they turn silver if that makes sense. Saleen was a real dark black all over except face and feet, already they were very light silver. In fact a lot of people thought she was a very old dog rather than a 4 month old puppy.


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## aki

This website has been very informative for me regarding coat colors. I've linked it to the black and blue page, and at the very bottom there are pictures comparing black, blue, and silver poodles as adults and puppies.

http://arpeggiopoodles.tripod.com/poodlecoatcolorsblueandblack.html

It does a good job of explaining what a black and blue should look like. If you look around that site you will find the other coat colors as well.

But regarding your last question, no, silvers and blues do not clear to the same color. Not all blues will fade to the same color either. Some may clear lighter then others because in all honesty, not all poodles are made equally.


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## Raiko

thank you. that was great help!


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## cbrand

Silver and Blue are variations on Black.

I think the best way to think about it (but not a scientifically accurate way) is that Blue comes from one dose of the fading allele laid on top of Black and the color is lightened to a gun metal grey color. Silver gets a double dose and the Black lightens to a sterling or platinum color.

There is discrepancy at the edges of each color..... is light blue actually dark silver? Also, far far too many people call their bad faded Blacks, Blue. Also dogs that get all greyed out from grissleing are sometimes called Blue. I don't think this is a true Blue or Silver color.

If you want a good Silver or Blue, the best thing is to look for a puppy who has a very light face at 8 weeks. If the face is platinum, the puppy will most likely be silver. If the face is a lighter dusky grey, the dog will probably be blue. If you want good color, you probably want to pass on the puppy that has a face that is dark and dusky but not really black. These dogs often end up with that odd middle ground between bad black and very dark blue. I think this is one of the least attractive colors in poodles.

Belle is one of the nicest blues I've ever seen. She really does have a "blueish" tint to her color:
http://www.calaespetresort.com/showdogs.html

I think Jib is a good example of a true Silver. The clearing process takes time, but you can see how light Jib's skin is. Plus, I had to post his page so that you all could feel guilty about the fact that you are just not getting out and doing enough with your own dogs :wink:
http://www.geocities.com/jibandsuzicope/


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## Raiko

I dont have a dog yet =P getting one this june


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## tortoise

I wonder if my dog is not silver and actually a blue? He was looking silver but now his new hair is growing in darker. 

He also has gotten white hairs throughout his body in the last couple of months. He has some patches with darker, coarser, straight, faster growing hair (bummer). The patches first started at about 6 months old. He has white between his footpads also. So that means he is parti-factored, right?

Current color in daylighting:


IMG_9378 by tortoise11, on Flickr

Can you see the new hair is growing in dark? His feet are growing out from shaved and are very dark. His face is not lighter than his body.

Edited to add he is 1 year old next week.


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## tortoise

This is a fresh CC at 9 months old with naked skin showing. His skin color is dark.


Jet's Conti by tortoise11, on Flickr


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## BorderKelpie

Whatever color Jet is, I think he's beautiful. Love him in the CC, I want to learn how to do that style.


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## Siskojan

Chagall the miniature boy is a beautiful silver and there's a blue spoo girl called Kes on about page 13 of the blue poodle thread who really shows off her loveliness. 

My best friend, pictured in my signature, is a lovely mixture - blue brindle. He'll be 4 next week. His stripes are still quite obvious but I think he continues to get darker ie more blue than silver as time goes by.


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## tortoise

BorderKelpie said:


> Whatever color Jet is, I think he's beautiful. Love him in the CC, I want to learn how to do that style.


Go for it!  As long as you don't cut the jacket too short, it doesn't take long to grow out and fix little "learning mistakes" like the rosette placement and shape. It took 3 months for me to get it right/good enough.


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## sweetheartsrodeo

tortoise said:


> Go for it!  As long as you don't cut the jacket too short, it doesn't take long to grow out and fix little "learning mistakes" like the rosette placement and shape. It took 3 months for me to get it right/good enough.


I think you must be super talented my dear. I tried this with Remi and poor thing looked awful... He was promptly shaved almost naked... First and last atempt... SMH he was super mortified to go out to go potty.


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## mom24doggies

IMO, Jet is a dark silver....blues are definitely different. Jet probably isn't finished clearing either. Is he one yet? Whatever color he is, he is a handsome little fella.


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## tortoise

mom24doggies said:


> IMO, Jet is a dark silver....blues are definitely different. Jet probably isn't finished clearing either. Is he one yet? Whatever color he is, he is a handsome little fella.


Thank you! He is 1 yr on Sunday.


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## tortoise

sweetheartsrodeo said:


> I think you must be super talented my dear. I tried this with Remi and poor thing looked awful... He was promptly shaved almost naked... First and last atempt... SMH he was super mortified to go out to go potty.


:lol: Nah, I have good groomer friends to point out all my mistakes. And I'm a stubborn perfectionist so I can't possibly let anything go. Gotta fix it all the time!


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## mom24doggies

tortoise said:


> Thank you! He is 1 yr on Sunday.


 Aw happy early birthday Jet! I've heard that clearing can take several years, and that the colors that do clear continue to lighten as the dog ages. 

I'm in the same quandary with a spoo I'm using for my upcoming grooming competition. You may have see him posted on the progroomer fb page tortoise...name is Milo. He's a very dark dark silver, and his face really isn't terribly light. Plus he has that brown tinge to his coat that blues sometimes get. I do think he will eventually end up a dark silver, but right now he could _almost_ be classified as blue!

Eta: sometimes I feel "bad" for my dogs....I'm always grabbing them up to rescissor an area, or reband their tk, or put some more nasty spray on them. Lol. Hey, at least I give them cookies afterwards! My regular client dogs don't get that. I wish I could, but there are just too many dogs with allergies nowadays.


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## BorderKelpie

Aww, Happy Birthday, Jet!

I'm going to save his picture and try to copy his CC on Bug when I get the courage to try.


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