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Labradoodle
Colour
Genetics
Hi,
I find colour genetics both fascinating and exciting! (you don't
need to tell me I've been told before :) Anyhow these are my
findings so far and what I believe at this point in my research.
Also attached are many links below to the experts pages, if you
too get dragged in and need to know more. I believe that I have
got the basics right, after so many questions from other new
breeders felt maybe I could find somewhere between the "Bbee's"
and "Vv's" and our English language! So here goes colour
genetics lesson for the beginner !
Web Links
visit
Vet Gen
once you have a "????" for your dogs and see what puppies you
will expect in your next litter/s.
Other Web info
Sites! Site One, Site Two,
Site Three,
Basic Solid Colour & Working it our for
Yourself :)
There
are 4 Main Solid Colours in the Australian Labradoodle BLACK,
CHOCOLATE, CARAMEL & GOLD These are the only Solid colours! All
the other colours are made possible with two other Genes "V"
which lightens and "R" which Darkens :)
Important info! Every dog has 4 colour Places/Units in
total. Half given to them from Mum and Half from Dad. So 2
units from each "?? ??" (Not always in that order).
That
Black in the info below = Black, Blue & Silver.
Brown = Chocolate, Cafe, Lavender & Parchment and
Yellow = Red, Gold, Cream & Chalk, & Caramel
= Red to Chalk with a rose nose.
There are
only 4 combinations possible for Black Dogs, 2 combinations for
Brown & Yellow dogs and one for our Caramel the rose nosed
Yellow "bbee" If you have one you now know its colour makeup
:) Each Colour has one letter to make life easier writing things
down! as such "B b e e" Four letters = four units.
Capitals are written before
little letters.
"B"
Capital B stands for all shades of Black
"b"
Baby b stands for all shades of brown
"E"
this one is No Yellow ! Masking Yellow, A Blank (It went
Fishing :)
"e "
Stands for all shades of Yellow
Most of the colour units are
hidden from view (don't ask me where :) for puppies to access
when they are choosing their colours! This is why pups aren't
always the same as each other or mum/dad they would of chosen
from the hidden/carried colours. Easy!
Tricks of the Trade & What Units
does My dog have?
Working out some or all of the letters
by yourself, REMEMBER
"Pups choosing their colours is like flipping a coin, you have a
50/50 chance of getting heads/tails Tails might come up 2-99
times before heads does :) so if their is a 50/50% chance of
Black or Yellow you might only get 4 pups in the same colour!"
So Your pup has one
from the Bb's group and one from the Ee's Group from each
parent. If the parent has two the same i.e. "bb" you know
every pup from that parent will get a "b" from them no chance of
"B" as it is just not possible. If they have mixed letters ie
"Bb" Puppy/Litter will have a choice so a few different
combinations will be possible.
Example 1: A Brown Bitch carrying a
No yellow "bbEE"
and a Caramel Stud
"bbee" would
have a litter with pups all the same as there is no other choice
for them
"b"
from Mum a
"b"
from dad as well as a
"E"
from mum and a
"e"
from Dad making the whole litter
"bbEe"
Which would be Brown carrying Yellow !
Example 2:
A
Brown Bitch carrying yellow "bbEe" and a Black stud carrying
brown and yellow "BbEe" could have any of the following
combinations "BbEE" "BbEe" Bbee" "bbEe" "bbee" "bbEE". (see
Vet-Gen chart link above for more combinations)
What is your Dogs
Colour?
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YELLOW
=
(If rose nose see caramel
:)
A dog that is yellow in colour
always has two baby "??ee". If your yellow dog
has a black nose it carries black and is "B?ee".
(If an "E" is
present as in "??Ee the black and brown's get a turn to
show so the dog will not be yellow.) |
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BLACK
=
A black dog is always
"B?E?".
("E" The Masking
yellow a "no yellow" as otherwise pup would be yellow!)) |
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BROWN
=
A brown dog is always
"bbE?"
(you have to
have two baby "bb's" to see the brown coat. ("E" The
Masking yellow a "no yellow" as otherwise pup would be
yellow!)) |
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CARAMEL=
A Brown nose
yellow is always "bbee" yellow shows "ee" and no
black is carried so a Brown nose is seen! "bbee" is
your Code! How easy was that :) |
Filling
in the Blanks!
This
is all we can do with out help from Mum & Dad! Go find out what
colours they were :)
Yellow!
We
have "B?ee" Now what ! There are 2 possibilities left for Black
nose yellows! "BBee" no brown carried only another black
"or Bbee" brown carried ?
The Question is! Is one of the
dogs parents Brown or Caramel ? If yes the parent has to be "bb"(only
a "b" to choose from) so "Bbee" is
your Code! A yellow dog carrying black and brown! If
you said No I'm sorry this is as far as you can go without
testing or if the dog has had/or having puppies there is still a
way read on below "Finding colour with puppies!"
Brown!
We have "bbE?" Now what ! There are 2
possibilities! "bbEE" no yellow carried "or bbEe"
yellow carried? The Question is! IS one of the dogs
parents yellow or caramel? If yes the parent has to be "ee"
only a "e" to choose,
so "bbEe"
is your Code! A Brown dog carrying yellow!
If you answered No I am sorry
this is as far as you can go without testing or if the dog has
had/or having puppies there is still a way read on below
"Finding colour with puppies!".
Black!
We have "B?E?" Now what ! There
are 4 possibilities! "BBEE" no brown or yellow
carried only Black! or "BbEE" only brown carried.
or "BBEe" only yellow carried. or "BbEe"
brown & yellow carried. The Question is! IS one of the
dogs parents yellow or caramel? If yes the parent has to be "ee"
only a "e" for them to choose, so "B?Ee". Question 2! IS
one of the dogs parents brown or caramel? if yes the parent has
to be "bb" only a "b" for them to choose, so "BbE?. Some of you
will of filled in some blanks and some will still be missing!
This is as far as we can
go with help from Mum & Dad :)
Finding Colour With Puppies!
If you
have had puppies from your dog that still has ? in its code you
could find the answer yet!
The
Question is! has your dog had Brown or Yellow Puppies!
If so one of the two units needed for those colours to show HAD
to be given to them by your dog :) Meaning your dog MUST carry
the colour produced! (Black only needs one unit
to show!) Same applies for all the missing ?'s If the
colour did not show you can't confidently say they don't carry
it :( as pups choosing their colours is like
flipping a coin although you have a 50/50 chance of getting
heads/tails Tails might come up 2-99 times before heads does :)
So now you have it Or Most of it! If you want to know more and
can't wait for a puppy to show up with the answer :) you can
part with some $ and contact one of the colour testing groups
like Vet-Gen. If you get stuck on
any thing above you are more than welcome to email me and I will
try and help : )
The Lightening Factor "Silvering"
"V"
Why Do Yellow,
Black, Brown & Caramel come in different Shades?
I
feel it is caused by the Silvering Factor which comes from the
Poodles in our lines, Link to
Info on Silvering.
(As I write this in Dec 2005
their is No DNA test but they are working on it :)
Dogs that h ave
other NON Silvering Breed lines close up like Labrador (Link
to
Variations in the Yellow Lab's
one reason our Gold can
vary in early lines also)
Irish Water Spaniel and so on might not behave as per the info
below & Warning! A Cream looking dog to your eye
may be a pale gold genetically therefore gold as per the chart!
Please try to decide with the help of parents/past puppies
Colours. You will be more accurate when deciding what will
happen in future litters. Cream, Blue and Cafe has the largest
range in dark/lightless in coat colour as they are literally
half and half.
Shades Chart
|
Solid
Colour |
Half
Solid/Half Silver |
All
Silver |
|
Black
|
VV |
Blue |
Vv |
Silver |
vv |
|
Chocolate |
VV |
Cafe & Lavender |
Vv |
Parchment |
vv |
|
Gold (apricot) |
VV |
Cream |
V v |
Chalk |
vv |
|
Caramel |
VV |
The
Lighter shades of Caramel officially fall in with Cream
& Chalk. However I will be calling them "Creme
Caramel's" |
So what does the Chart mean ?
Well
once you know what V's your dog has! You can them to work out
which Shades you will likely get in your litters! Every dog has
two units one from each parent. Remember the B's and E's of the
Solid colours will be the base colour then work out the Shades.
(Photo Right is of Mickey VV & Minka vv they have Cafe Parents
both Vv. They also have some Cafe siblings)
Different Shades Breeding Chart
| "VV" to a
|
"VV" will only
have |
"VV" |
| "vv" to a |
"vv" will only
have |
"vv" |
| "VV" to a
|
"vv" will only
have |
"Vv" |
| "VV" to a |
"Vv" will have |
mostly "VV"&
some "Vv" |
| "Vv" to a |
"vv" will
have |
mostly "vv" &
some "Vv" |
| "Vv" to a |
"Vv" will have |
"VV" & "Vv" &
"vv". |
Some example of many
different combinations! A Black dog "BBEE" ("VV") to a Silver "BBEE"
("vv") dog will have Blue Puppies "BBEE" ("Vv") Example 2: A
Bitch "bbEe" ("Vv") Cafe Carrying Yellow (Cream) To a "BbEe"
("VV") A Black Dog Carrying Yellow (Gold) will have "vv" Black,
Chocolate & Gold with some pups "Vv" Being Cafe, Blue & Cream!
and so on..........
Photo examples of
the Chart Above

Black
|
Blue
|
Silver
|

Chocolate
|

Cafe/Lavender
|

Parchment
|

Gold (apricot)
|
Cream
|

Chalk |


Caramel
|

Creme Caramel
(rose nose) |
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Thankyou
Cloudcatcher for the photos of "Jagger" Parchment Pup/Adult,
"Shiloh" Gold Adult & "Dakota" Chalk Pup/Adult. Liberty's Creme
Caramel Adult "Bella" And Dunns for "Chloe" Gold Pup Photos. The
Rest of the dogs are Tallai Puppies and Adults :)
The
Darkening Factor "Rufus" "R"
I
am still researching "Rufus" and its effects. There is not much
written on "R", but will put down what I believe so far and
update it as time goes by Please email me if you have any
interesting "R" info :)
Genetically a Red Dog is actually a Gold Dog! with a added
darkening gene referred to here as "R" ("R" can also stand for
roan so some people use "f" to symbolise it) The beautiful Red
dogs (right) "Maestro" & "Cheri" are from Springville
Labradoodles in the USA (Thanks Dixie :)
Two
Dark Gold dogs will not have Red pups only dark gold you must
have a "R" present for it to show, It seems that only one
parent needs the "R" for Red to show.
Red pups are born very dark a real Brickie/Earthy Red. "R" can
also attach to the other 3 main solid colours Chocolate, Black &
Caramel. "R" on Chocolate can Darken it to a Richer colour "R"
on Black does Not Show any difference but Black can carry "R"
and pass it on.
What is very
interesting is it seems it will also attach to half Silvered
Colours as in Cream see below :) so one would assume "R" could
attach to Creme Caramel's Vv, Blue and Cafe as well ?
If
anyone has an example of "R" Through/With Black, Chocolate Or
the Half Silver Cafe, Blue or Cream, I would love to know/see
the results :)
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If you have
a photo example you would like included here or in the
other blank spaces! email me :) |
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Red |
Caramel
Pup/Adult (Red Version) |
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Thankyou
Springville Labradoodles for Red Adult "Maestro" &
Cloudcatcher for Red Pup "Kodi's" Photos :) |
 "R"
Can influence other Colours too!
These Beautiful pups from
Cloudcatcher are very very interesting (I have seen this happen
three time now with different Red/Chalk litters :) They Prove
that "R" Can attach to the Cream colour as well as Gold!
Genetically (RED) Daddy is Gold carrying the "R" gene and Mum
Chalk "vv". This
litter would be "Vv" normal Cream without the "R" influence.
Because Dad has "R" they all carry it somehow. Making a darker
richer cream! But not a true Brick Red (one could easily confuse
these for dark Gold pups which is why you must always look at
parents colours and not just decide with your eyes!!!) (I
wonder if Chalk can carry "R" as well or if it has only attached
the the Capital "V" in them ?)
So the Question here is how
did it work....... What do you think?
Parti Time
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Black Parti's |
Chocolate Parti's |
Gold Parti's |
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Thankyou
Judy form
Tualatin
River Labradoodles
for
Choc
Parti Pup "Lucy" |
Phantoms
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Black Phantom
Puppy |
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