# Colour Change in Cream/Apricot Standard Pup



## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

hello fellow genetics geek! i'm still very much in the learning stages but will chime in with what little I do know! 

i too have heard that creams often throw abstracts, especially when they have long lines of creams/whites behind them. abstracts very often turn out to be dogs with one copy of the piebald gene (what makes partis); this is pretty easily seen in a loudly marked piebald bred to a solid, producing a litter of abstract puppies with varying degrees of white. 

since creams and whites tend to fade, the abstract coloring is "hidden" and with good show careers, those piebald carrying poodles have helped keep piebald present in a breed where solids were long preferred.

there is a breeder fairly local to me who appears to have a line of dogs that are born light but darken as they age. I'm not entirely sure what causes this but it's very interesting. 

there are only three base colors in poodle: brown, black, and red. whites, creams and apricots are all actually red dogs with varying levels of color intensity. there's no "cream" gene, the only identified (though not actually identified on the canine genome) genetic lightening is the fading gene that causes blues, silvers, cafe au laits, and silver beiges. I have heard that the same fading gene is what can cause lightening in born-red puppies to apricots and creams and born creams to ice whites, but i'm not certain of that. If it were true, then most ice white poodles would carry one or more fading genes, so blackxwhite liters should more frequently produce blues, but they don't. so that's a fun puzzle!


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## Hellhound Barkery (Mar 7, 2017)

I've also heard most of that information before from multiple sources!  But thank you so much for posting a reply, it's nice to know that there's another breeder out there who has darkening pups.

I know he hasn't darkened all that much, but you can see in some photos of his light apricot siblings that they have more pigmented ears as opposed to the rest of their bodies. I was really surprised when the breeder sent photos last night, because his ears are starting to take on a reddish tint that they didn't have before. And you can clearly see the difference between Pazelle's colouring and his cream sibling's colouring. His mother comes from white/red-based lines, I believe, and his father from a deep red one. Both parents have pretty much held their colouring but are both just two years of age. I'm going to attach another picture of Gracie as a puppy, because to me, it seems like the only thing that's lightened on her are her ears. I am thinking that because Loki is such a deep red, and because the breeder has said that his red-based pups tend to darken, that Pazelle's colour will hold or continue to darken a bit. He may even start to clear to a lighter colour once he is older. I think a lot of dogs who clear to a lighter colour tend to have lighter faces and feet when shaved, though? His seem to match his hair colour. I've searched for other red and cream breeding pairs, but can't seem to find many. I've also looked at a lot of threads on here about creams and apricots, but can't really find a dog who was born light and continued to darken with age.

I personally don't care what colour he clears to though, I'll love him all the same.  I believe he is registered as apricot, though. I'm more excited than anything to see how he'll transform in the next few years. Colour changing in poodles just make them that much more exciting!


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

i agree - watching their colors change is very exciting! i've got my two blues to watch, and it's really neat to see the differences in how they're changing despite their closeness in age. Jasper is very clearly grey all over, whereas piper is only just starting to get grey hairs along her spine (in addition to her face and legs already being grey) 

you've probably also found this out yourself, but be wary of a lot of the "genetic" information out there on poodles. Lots of it is old and outdated, and some is just totally wrong. I'm in a poodle group on facebook and there's so much misinformation still being given out as if it's gospel. *rolls eyes* We poodle people also have different names for colors than most breeds (dilute and phantom come to mind).

I've also just followed you on instagram so i'm looking forward to see how Pazelle grows up!


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## Hellhound Barkery (Mar 7, 2017)

Thank you so much for the follow! Your dogs are absolutely gorgeous.  <3

And yeah, haha, I've managed to come across quite a few outdated articles and websites. ESPECIALLY on Facebook, my goodness. -sighs- I still read them, though, just to compare them to updated research. ^_^


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