ARPEGGIO POODLES

POODLE COAT COLORS: BROWN & CAFE AU LAIT

AKC COLOR CODES FOR POODLES
BREED STANDARD FOR POODLES
COLOR BREEDING IN POODLES
GENERAL POODLE CARE
HEALTH CONCERNS IN MINIATURE POODLES
HEALTH CONCERNS IN STANDARD POODLES
HEALTH CONCERNS IN TOY POODLES
HISTORY OF THE POODLE
POODLE PUPPY GROWTH CHARTS
PUTTING WEIGHT ON POODLES
TEARING IN POODLES
POODLE COAT COLORS: SILVER & SILVER BEIGE
POODLE COAT COLORS: BROWN & CAFE AU LAIT
POODLE COAT COLORS: BLUE & BLACK
POODLE COAT COLORS: RED, APRICOT & CREAM
POODLE COAT COLORS: WHITE & CREAM
POODLE COAT COLORS: BRINDLE & SABLE
GROOMING THE POODLE
GROOMING YOUR OWN POODLE
GROWING HAIR ON A DOORKNOB (HAIR GROWTH FORMULA)
LOOKING FOR A NEW GROOMER
POODLE HAIR CUTS A-D
POODLE HAIR CUTS E-J
POODLE HAIR CUTS L-M
POODLE HAIR CUTS N-R
POODLE HAIR CUTS S-Z
POODLE HAIR CUTS EARS
POODLE HAIR CUTS FACES
POODLE SHOW COAT BANDING
ANAL GLANDS
WORLDS BEST EAR CLEANER
AVOIDING HEAT INJURY IN DOGS
BLOAT (GDV)
CANINE CPR
COPROPHAGY (FECES EATING)
CRYPTORCHIDISM (RETAINED TESTICLES)
DANGERS OF SWIMMING-BLUE-GREEN ALGAE TOXICITY
DOG BREEDS FOR ALLERGY SUFFERERS
DOG FIRST AID KIT
FINDING A GOOD BREEDER
HYPOGLYCEMIA
INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN DOGS
INTERNAL/EXTERNAL PARASITES
IS YOUR DOG THE RIGHT WEIGHT
LEAVING PUPPY HOME ALONE
LICKING,CHEWING AND SCRATCHING BEHAVIOR
NEW PUPPY CARE
OTC MEDICINES SAFE FOR DOGS
PANOSTEITIS (LIMPING)
PATELLAR LUXATION (POPPING/SLIPPING KNEECAPS)
POISONOUS FOOD, PLANTS AND HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
CARPAL SUBLUXATION SYNDROME (CSS OR DOWN PASTERNS)
TAIL DOCKING
URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS IN DOGS
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A HEALTHY PUPPY
BARKING TRAINING
BEHAVIORAL ISSUES
CRATE TRAINING
DESENSITIZATION
POTTY TRAINING
SOCIALIZATION
TO BREED OR NOT TO BREED
BREEDING/WHELPING INFORMATION
BREEDING CHART
HAND FEEDING PUPPIES
SWIMMER PUPPIES
OTHER LINKS

 
Note:  I have recently been sent a lot of email from potential puppy buyers, saying that a breeder is calling some of her puppies "White Chocolate".  BUYER BEWARE.  There is no such color.  These puppies are creams with incorrect pigment and incorrect eye color.  This is usually a result of browns that have a heavy background of cream.  This is why it is so important to never breed browns to cream, red or apricot.
Please, before buying a poodle, do your research.  You should never be charged more money for an exotic color or a color that is a fault.

COMPARING BROWN TO CAFE AU LAIT

On this page I will be talking about the colors brown and cafe au lait in depth.  You would think that brown would be a straight forward color, however it seems to be confusing to many people.
I am also noticing that more and more breeders seem to be confused on the color of cafe au lait.  Many breeders think that their creams or light apricots are cafe.  This just isnt correct.  Cafe au lait is just a shade of brown with more fading gene in it.  I hope to help show the true cafe au lait color on this page.  I have collected color articles on poodles and will post them here along with pictures so help show the difference.  The authors of these articles are posted above and below the article.  These articles are older but are very good for defining color and giving you a good idea of how to get that color.
 
REMEMBER: Browns and bown shades such as Cafe Au Lait and Silver Beige must ALWAYS have liver colored points and dark amber eyes.  A brown with black points is a  DISQUALIFYING FAULT!
Cafe Au Laits are most times born a dark brown then "clear" to the cafe color over time as the coat matures.  You can in rare cases have a Cafe born Cafe.  However this dog will still be a definate light brown color even though it is lighter in shade than brown.
*POINTS refers to the color of the nose, lips, eyeliner, and pads on a poodle.

BROWN COLOR ARTICLES
 
 
BROWN   By Mrs Hoyt –The New Book of the Poodle
 
Brown As previously mentioned, there are two kinds of brown Poodles: a deep, rich mahogany or dark walnut in its perfect state, but usually seen in a lighter tone, and a brilliant shade of chestnut, redder in tone than mahogany or walnut, but just as strong in tone and even right down to the roots of the hair. In both browns, the eyes, eye rims, etc., are the same-the eyes brown, dark amber, sometimes a golden brown, sometimes a reddish brown; eyerims, lips, nose, and toenails all brown to match the tone of the coat. Sometimes the toenails are black, but never the lips, nose, and eyerims. The skin should match the tone of the coat in a lighter shade.

Common Faults: Dogs of the first brown may have some silvery hairs throughout the coat. Provided these are not so numerous as to cause streaks or spots, this is not a serious fault.

Such dogs may have a small white or silver patch on the chest or belly. If noticeable this is a show fault, and the breeder may wonder how much mixed color is behind the dog. If very little, the breeder need not worry.

Such dogs, particularly the first mentioned brown, frequently fade in color, leaving the ears, and often a dark streak down the back, the original color. This is a show fault but should not affect the breeder .

Such dogs, due to hair loss through disease or injury, may grow hair back in the original dark shade causing (especially if the coat has faded with age) an appearance of a dark spot or patch. This is a show fault but need not effect the breeder. These "spots" in time usually fade to the resent coat color.

Such dogs often have a pack lighter in tone than the main coat or the "ruff." Provided there is not a profound difference in tone, this is not a serious fault.

Such dogs may have light yellow or almost green eyes. This is a major fault in the ring and is frequently hard to eliminate in breeding.

Question: Does black combined with brown improve the color of the brown?

Answer: No. The brown color is not affected by the introduction of black. The superbly colored French browns have often been brown-bred for many generations. However, breeding to black does not harm brown, but there may be no brown puppies in the first generation of the cross. Also there have been many excellent browns from two black parents.

Question: Does brown crossed with brown tend to produce cafe-au-lait?

Answer: No, not unless both brown parents carry the cafe-au-lait gene transmitted to them from a cafe-au-lait ancestor .

Question: Does brown bred to brown produce brown puppies?

Answer: If dogs of the same color brown are bred to one another, the answer is yes. However, there have been many instances where brown bred to brown has produced black, gray, or blue. The following explanation is only theoretical and has not been proved. Brown can carry black, gray, and blue. This coloring is blocked by two recessive genes. The brown blocking genes in the two brown colors are different, and since it takes two like recessive genes to produce a visible effect, the black, gray and blue are not block- ed when the colors we shall refer to as brown 1 and brown 2 are bred together. Therefore black, gray, or blue puppies will result. This happens only when one or both parents carry black, gray, or blue. If they do not, the puppies will be brown because the action of the blocking genes is not needed. If the parents are hybrid for the black, 
BROWN   By Mrs Hoyt –The New Book of the Poodle
 
gray, and blue genes, part of the litter will be brown and part the other colors. The reason that we cannot be more definite about this and some of the other color theories is that we do not know exactly how the Poodle color genes are paired or how many there are for each color. We think that brown is caused by a recessive color gene and a blocking gene when necessary, but there may be more.

Question: Are browns more nervous and high- strung than blacks or whites?

Answer: They often seem to be, and this may come from too much in-breeding to preserve this recessive color. The grays started out with better temperaments than the blacks, but now in the Miniature, due to in-breeding, they have often become high-strung and nervous. The Standard grays are beginning to be in-bred and some nervous temperaments are appearing. They started with extra good temperaments. The gray Toys have as yet not been much

in-bred.

Question: Are the browns popular in the show ring and with the public?

Answer: They do as well in the show ring as the blacks and almost as well as the whites. They do much better than the grays and creams. A good brown is very dramatic, either indoors or out. They are not as popular with the buying public. Brown puppies are definitely harder to sell, which may be because many browns have light eyes, usually the ones for sale, and this gives them a hard, unappealing expression.

Question: What are the best brown lines in Standards, Miniatures, and Toys for color?

Answer: The French and German lines in all three varieties. There are good browns in England and America: too, but these come from basically black lines. There are two exceptions to this, but they are very old lines. The Rufus line in combination with the base of the Leila line produced deep red browns. The Loubet line was the brown 1 color.

BROWN   By Mrs Hoyt –The New Book of the Poodle
 
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BROWN From “The New Complete Poodle by Lydia Hopkins – 1964”
 
Brown is a recessive or dilution of black and closely related to it, although the color globules are different in shape. And if black is unharmed by a brown cross, brown is greatly benefited by a black cross to keep the color and pigmentation dark.
Like all recessives, brown bred to brown breeds true. For instance, my Ch. Sherwood The Chocolate Dandy, the only brown to appear in many generations in a black-bred strain, when mated to a brown bitch invariably threw an entire litter of browns. Whereas, bred to a black carrying a brown gene, the browns, if any, were in the minority. Of course, to produce even one brown puppy, both black parents must carry a brown gene.
On the Continent only the darkest shades of brown are recognized, such as the deepest shades of chocolate. But in England and with us, all the various shades are allowed, and there is no color that has as many charming color variations. These range from almost black chocolate-and by the way, all brown puppies, no matter what shade they are going to be in later life, are born very dark. The beautiful reddish chestnut brown is brilliant, and there is a shade which is almost liver colored. I had a bitch that was a dark walnut color like old furniture, and there are cinnamon browns both light and dark. There may be pale brown of cafe-au-lait and parchment shades, and of course the various shades of gold from rich old gold to pale champagne. The pinkish apricots and creams are all browns further diluted, with cream as the furthest dilution of all at the end of the line.
The worst and commonest defect in browns is their marked tendency towards light eyes, pale yellow at their worst, with light pinkish eye-rims, lips, and noses. This robs them of true Poodle outlook and expression and gives them either a bold or a vapid expression.
The eyes of all browns, dark or light, should be several shades darker than their coats and just as dark as it is possible to get them. Dark eyes are always surrounded by dark eye-rims, and the lips and nose are the same dark shade. One or two black crosses help to keep the eyes and pigmentation dark. A really dark-eyed brown is invaluable for the breeding of browns.
In the lighter dilute shades, it is possible to get actual black eyes and correct pigmentation, which adds a hundred percent to the attractiveness of these charming colors.
 
BROWN From “The New Complete Poodle by Lydia Hopkins – 1964”
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BROWN - from an article by Pamela Ingram, Sassafrass Kennels

A brown poodle may vary in color from a very light chestnut color to a brown so dark as to appear almost blk., called by breeders, mahogany. If people like brown poodles they REALLY like them and if they don't --- well they just dont'.

A brown puppy is whelped brown all over and ALWAYS has a brown nose and toenail, although they are sometimes so dark as to appear blk. The puppy should be an even shade of brown from it's head to it's tail and the all important place for the breeder to inspect on newly whelped pups---in between the pads of the feet. A brown remainig dark for a very long time will have no white hairs in the pads. If it is sprinkled with white hairs it will either be a lighter brown or it will get many white hairs in the coat early in life and become a cafe au lait shade.

At six wks of age the puppy when clipped should be appreciably lighter on face, feet, and tail. If the face is the same color as the main coat it will stay darker longer. However, if the face is on the other hand , appreciably lighter at six weeks, it will lighten quickly and be a lighter brown at maturity. As the brown puppy grows the coat stays approximately the same color without appreciable lightening, and will stay about the same color until about 2 yrs. of age. Those browns that start having many white hairs sprinkled through the coat will end up cafe au lait in color. From three yrs of age on, the brown poodles (even more so than blks. ) do not hold their dark color for very many years. They do lighten very much like the blues. I have never seen a brown so dark as to appear almost blk. at the age of , for instance, seven yrs. They do alas fade---some lines earlier and more than others. Most of those glorious dark mahoganies are young dogs and this, I might add, is irrespective of the variety---Standard, Miniature, or Toy. I have been told there are some great "holding browns" in Europe but have never actually seen them. As I have said so many times---different linesor families do different things.

It has been my experience that browns seem to have an unusual change in their color pattern. Their tails will start turning many of degrees lighter than, for example, the feathers on ears even close to the skin, and from their lightened tails the lightening spreads, The blues also tend to fade in the same manner.

Sun, chlorine, also sea water have a strong bleaching effect---so brown dogs should be kept mostly inside.

Those reports of browns with blk. noses and very, very dark brown coats will be found, in reality, to be off-blacks or blue-blacks which during a stage in their lives ( and during a coat and color changing period ) will appear brown. This browning is due, again, to sun or chlorine factors and they will, become charcoal or grey dogs in their third to fourth year of life.

BREEDING BROWNS

Brown is a recessive color and should therefore breed true. A recessive color is one which is hidden or covered by a stronger or dominant color, such as black. Black being stronger will cover brown, like a blob of blackin dropped on a blob of brown ink. Thus, if a blk. poodle carrying no brown genes is bred to a brown poodle, all puppies will be blk. If one or more puppies are brown, with this blk. sire, he must be carrying a recessive brown gene.

Two blks. can also have brown puppies---but not unless both are carrying these recessive of hidden brown genes. I have heard of blk. coming from two brown parents, and submit that the only logical thought is that they could, basically, be greys whelped black, and turn grey or charcoal as grey and silver are also recessive colors---but in my experience, brown bred to brown produces brown. However, since different lines and families of poodles seem to act differently, it is, I suppose, (accident eliminated) possible.

All I have ever seen is that in a litter of browns the darkest will be, at maturity, as dark or nearly as dark as the darkest parent and the lightest in the litter, as light or lighter than, the lightest brown parent.

To obtain really dark browns they must either be bred from very dark (almost) nonfading browns or from blacks which stay black. Any fading or diluting factor will make browns fade out. The best way to achieve this is, of course, to take always the deepest black which holds it's color and the darkest brown which does not fade in every litter and breed them generation after generation taking care when doing so to also take the darkest eye and the best pigment---this may be the best way to achieve the darkest color but it also could result in an otherwise less desirable dog.

Even with all the problems and pitfalls possible in the breeding of these darkest browns, it is truly an exciting and sought after color---sought after also by our buying public. The public is most important, I am sure you will have to agree. They too will wait a long time for a really great colored brown for, as I have said, "those that love this color TRULY love and appreciate it.

from an article by Pamela Ingram, Sassafrass Kennels

Picture examples of the brown color in poodles with proper pigment.

NEWBORN BROWN TOY PUPS
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BROWN PUPPY
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BROWN STANDARD PUPPY
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BROWN STANDARD PUPPY
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BROWN ADULT TOY
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CAFE AU LAIT COLOR ARTICLES
 
 
Cafe-Au-Lait   By Mrs Hoyt –The New Book of the Poodle


Beige, a tan with a gray overtone, the color of khaki. These French words mean coffee mixed with milk. The eyes are dark brown, amber, sometimes a reddish brown. Eye rims, lips, nose, and toenails are a liver-brown; sometimes the toenails are black. The skin is light pinky gray or tan to match the hair in a lighter tone.

Common Faults: Such dogs may have almost black noses, eyes, and eye rims. This is not correct, but it is, and should be, acceptable in the show ring, but not to the breeder wanting true cafe-au-lait or brown.

Such dogs may have darker brown ears and even streaks of dark brown throughout the body. This is a show fault but does not need to trouble the breeder.

is that the dark spot on cafe-au-laits will not return to cafe-au-lait.

Question: Is cafe-au-lait a true color or a bad brown?

Answer: It is a true color more closely related to gray than brown. The puppies are born a dark brown and "clear" as gray puppies do.

Question: Could one establish a line of this color?

Answer: We would think that one could, but with much effort. The line would have to be started with gray stock which carried the cafe-au- lait gene, and it would be necessary to do considerable in-breeding. Since grays have already been in-bred with a loss of type and temperament, your cafe-au-laits would probably be of a type and temperament not as good as that of the grays.

Question: Is there any line at present of cafe- au-laits?

Answer: Not that we know of, because it is not a popular color .

Question: Have there been any great cafe-au- lait Poodles?

Answer: There have been some very worthy champions, both here and in
England. One was Champion Cajus v Sadowa. Miss M. Ruelle Kelchner's Champion Hollycourt Toisin d'Or was a true cafe-au-lait in color. He came from Such dogs may have light yellow or even green eyes, a definite fault both in the ring and to the breeder .

Such dogs will often turn a strange shade of gray with age, usually a solid color. If solid, this is not a fault.

Such dogs, as in browns or grays, may have dark spots in the coat which appear after coat loss due to disease or injury. The only difference Miss Kelchner's gray line, which has produced several other cafe-au-laits.

Question: Is this color at all popular ?

Answer: Some people really like it, but the majority do not, considering it a bad brown. It does not do well in the show ring, and dogs of this color must win on good type and personality. Question: What is the best color to breed away

from this color ?
 

Answer: A good deep brown related, if possible, to the cafe-au-lait through a deep brown ancestor .

Question: What is the best color to breed in order to preserve the cafe-au-lait?

Answer: Another cafe-au-lait or a gray known to produce cafe-au-laits.

Question: What are the colors that should not

be used with a cafe-au-lait?

Answer: Black, white, apricot, and cream, in

this order.
 
Cafe-Au-Lait   By Mrs Hoyt –The New Book of the Poodle

Most breeders out there are very confused when it comes to the color of Cafe Au Lait.  I have seen numerous web sites calling cream puppies cafe au lait.  Remember: a cafe puppy MUST be born brown.  They will NOT be born cream color.  I believe where the confusion lies is that these breeders are producing creams with incorrect pigment (liver color noses and eye rims).  These puppies are just creams with bad pigment they are NOT cafe au lait.  This will often happen in creams that have browns in their backgrounds.  Here is an example of a pup that many breeders would confuse with cafe au lait.  However, this puppy is NOT cafe au lait and is indeed a cream with incorrect pigment.

Cream standard pup at 6 weeks
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Cream standard puppy
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The following pictures are puppies and dogs that ARE the true Cafe Au Lait color.  Shades can vary a bit.  You can see how dark the puppies are while young.  See how light a brown the color becomes once "cleared".  It truly looks like coffe with cream in it.

CAFE AU LAIT STANDARD PUPPY
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CAFE AU LAIT STANDARD PUP
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CAFE AU LAIT ADULT TOY
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On rare occasions you can have a cafe puppy that is born cafe (or a lighter shade of brown).  They usually stay this color throughout their life.  Not to be confused with a silver beige.

CAFE BORN CAFE AU LAIT TOY PUP
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Granted these two are phantoms but they still display the Cafe Au Lait color as their main coat color.  These 2 are mother and daughter.

CAFE AU LAIT PHANTOM TOY ADULT
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CAFE AU LAIT PHANTOM TOY ADULT
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I am happy to have you sign my guestbook, but if you are doing it just to be rude, please don't bother. It just wastes my time and yours. As Thumper says "If you can't say ‘muffin nice, don't say ’nuffin at all!” Thank you. DO NOT SOLICIT ON MY GUESTBOOK PAGE!

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PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT I NO LONGER BREED POODLES! I do not have any puppies or adults for sale.

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This site is dedicated to my Mother and Father.  Afton Jeannette Huff Davis (10/22/1920 - 2/27-2008) and Robert Glen Davis Jr (9/16/24 - 2/3/2012).   Bless you both.  I know you are happy once again being reunited.  Thank you for being my friends, my teachers, my heros and my parents.  I miss you both greatly.  Your loving daughter.

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