# Do reds and browns tend to fade?



## Pucks104 (Jul 24, 2012)

I was reading an older thread on color earlier and began to wonder if reds and browns tend to fade as they get older? I showed my DH a picture of a deep red and he actually said that is a really cute dog. So I thought maybe I would explore red breeders - mini and toy. But I wondered if the reds stay deep red for their life time or do they tend to "wash out" over their lifetime?


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## Erin (Dec 11, 2012)

Reds inevitably do wash out... It's hard to find color fast reds. Ask to see a breeders older dogs and see what color they are. Browns, as in chocolates, I don't know about. But for instance, most apricots fade to cream or almost white.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Yes, they almost always fade. A deep red can end up a nice apricot or a washed out color. The best way to tell is to look at the parents. Did they fade? Not all browns fade, but most of them do. Some don't fade until over 5 years old. Some of the faded colors are pretty, too! 

Also, some dogs get darker. My cream turned apricot (she was from two nonfading blacks). Her sister turned pure white! She had an odd silvery color to her as a little puppy. I have heard, and have seen it, that a pup as a newborn with an odd silvery cast (like a weimeraner tone) tends to darken or hold their color. Sometimes they are a funny color when they are little like mine was. My pup had that odd tone and her sister did not even though they were mostly the same color at 8 weeks old. 

My black puppy is from two nonfading blacks (mom was over 6- last litter- and Dad almost 9!). I am pretty sure he isn't going to fade, but never say never! I chose one of the blackest puppies in the litter (who woud have thought that they was a variety of black colors!).

Look for a litter with nonfading parents and chances are better for a nonfading puppy. Or, if you are set on red look for a faded red that is a pretty apricot. 

To be honest, when they are there in your house, the color doesn't mean much at all.

PS The minis and toy reds hold their color better than the standards do.


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

outwest said:


> To be honest, when they are there in your house, the color doesn't mean much at all.


So true! And even when they're not in your house. There is a brown standard poodle that faded to cafe au lait here where I live and he's stunning! Even with his matching cafe au lait nose. His owner keeps his topknot huge and a beautiful clip on him, wow. I LOVE that dog! When he goes prancing by all heads turn.


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## Pucks104 (Jul 24, 2012)

*Thank you*

Thank you to all who answered. This forum is a wonderful resource to someone trying to learn about poodles! I know that the puppy that comes home with us will be the "smartest, most beautiful poodle ever" as I am sure all of yours are to you. That's why I am trying to learn as much as I can and determine which breeder I want to get my pup from before I even start looking at sweet little puppy faces. Too hard to turn down a wiggling puppy dishing out puppy kisses!


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

Red minis and toys tend to hold their colour better than Standards. There is no tried and true way of knowing if colour will hold. There is a test for the dilute gene, but no test for the grating gene and one or both of these factors can come into play with a fading dog. You can have ten red pups in a litter, two fade and eight hold, or two hold and eight fade. Or you can get a litter that darken over time. It really is a shot in the dark.


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## sulamk (Nov 5, 2011)

My toy was apricot at 10 weeks faded to a cream by 6 months now at a year is darkening to apricot again. She has that sheen that Outwest mentioned. Her mother is light apricot almost cream and father red.


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## Poodlemama99 (Feb 12, 2010)

Our apricot faded to white except for a bit on her ears and both my reds faded as they aged. More of a solid apricot color by the time they were 2 or 3. Never seen vibrant red adult. 


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Yes, both tend to fade!


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