[Tink]

Before Chip got groomed, I'd have swore he was a chocolate. When Chip got clipped, we got a surprise in his color. He has a huge amount of silver coming out all over his pretty chocolate color.

Personally, I'd have preferred he stayed deep chocolate, but oh well.
I've been looking for pictures of CAFE AU LAITS
Most of what I've read says they change to cafe around the age of 2 yrs; which made me wonder if he might be turning silver beige... but they supposedly show the silver by 6 weeks of age and he certainly didn't. Both Cafes and silver beiges must have liver points and dark amber eyes; which he has... so that's no help.

Does anyone have any knowledge on this? He's only 11 months old but has probably 30% silver already.

 

[sdrudge]

cacao has a ton of WHITE hairs. I have a feeling she will change her color. I am a bit sad but it is just the color of her hair. Not a big deal. :roll:

 

[MaxandMe]

Jane's Coco turned around a year old ...and same w/Shannon's choc doodles too.

tink some change as young puppies others as they mature. Doodles can take up anywhere from 2 to 3yrs before you know their true color and coat.

it seems very few chocolates stay 100% chocolate. then again there are 21 color genetics w/poodles which is a factor.

 

[Tink]

Thanks Annmarie!
I adore him regardless of his color, but I really hadn't expected this! LOL
With Hickory being called a champagne chocolate lab and now Chip getting silver, I'm more eager than ever to see what the DNA color results are.

 

[babydoll]

Sienna (F1B) was a rich red-chocolate color when we got her at 10 weeks and she had one white toe! We started to notice some white (kemp?) hairs in her coat even when she was that young. Now she is almost 5 months and her coat is lightening up quite alot. I would say that she may be turning into a cafe au lait? We have a friend with dark chocolate doodle and they look like Dark and milk chocolate together.

It is interesting that she has both light and dark highlights in her coat (light around her face, chest and underside). The texture of the hair on her face, chest and underside is very soft and fleecy. She then has this strange stripe down her back that is a combination of 70/30 dark hairs to white hairs and is very wooly....and finally her tail is very pure dark chocolate brown (the darkest hair on her).

I am really interested to see how she will turn out as far as color and texture of hair. It is so interesting all the different color doodles out there......so much variation, I had no idea!

 

[Tink]

This is Chip (Reg standard poodle) at 4 months... couldn't have been more solid dark chocolate.

This is Chip now after his rotten sheering. (WON"T be going back to that groomer!) But it shows how the silver's coming in.

 

[sdrudge]

That looks like two totally different dogs.

 

[Tink]

Yes, doesn't it? And he was such a CUTE puppy! LOL

There wasn't a hint of silver on him before his clip. My daughter says the groomer scared him gray. lol

 

[Darwin]

Darwin was jet black for his first - ohhh, about 8 months - then he grew some silver hairs, and his mustache and beard turned blond. Either way, I love him!!

 

[Darwin]

oops, I can see I have to change his pic to something more "summer" HA

 

[Jac]

Hi Tink, here is the link to ALAA's color descriptions and it includes some pictures. http://www.ilainc.com/IALA/IALAColours.html
Chip's coloring is like my Chase's coloring. Chase was very dark chocolate for the first 2 years and then, very suddenly he lightened. I think that he is lavender.
Here are Chase's pics

Chocolate

Lighter

Now...still not as light as he will get, I think. My vet asked me what color he is, said she had never seen such a beautiful coloring in a Poodle...I think that he is definately lighter than Cafe au lait...

 

[Tink]

Thanks Jac!
You know Lavender would make sense as Chips Dad is Apricot and his dam is chocolate. So he could easily have picked up "pink tones" from his dad.

According to the site you shared:

Lavender This colour has a definite smoky lavender chocolate colour giving an almost pink to lilac appearance. Lavender dogs are born chocolate and will develop over time (1-3yrs). Nose pigment to be Rose in colour [matching the coat colour]. [Rare colour group]

It will be interesting to see what he ends up with. He's changing very quickly and since the chocolate that was cut off had been hiding the silver, it seems like he's done this almost overnight.

 

[lindamarie]

Bogie has those white hairs also. Yesterday at out lake party, people were voting that he'll eventually be silvery.......I still go with tie dyed. :lol:
So, it can take that long to know, huh? :shock: This could be interesting!