We have an eight year old red minature poodle. We would like to duplicate him in breeding. What color female should he be bred to for a chance of some red pups? Is there somewhere I can get information regarding genetics & color of offspring of different color poodle matings?

Thanks for help.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2000

Answers

You should always breed like color to like color if you want all the puppies the same color. However, this is where pedgree comes in. You must search the pedigree carefully. Red is a recessive. That means they are susceptable to spotting or mismarks if you don't breed carefully enough. And, even then, you may still get them. Pedigrees are helpful, but not a panacia. I had a red female toy bred to a black champion. His pedigree was free from any cream or white for 7 generations, then there was a line back there of whites (or creams, as it is easy for breeders to mislabel colors). The mother was free of whites for four generations and then had a white line in the 5th generation, and another line in the 6th generation. In this breeding, she had 5 black puppies, one brown puppy. (I was shocked at 6 in a toy as well). All the puppies were solid colored except one black male that had a little white on his chest, very little, but it was there. In the next breeding, I bred her to a male with 6 generations of all red and apricot. (I didn't have his pedigree out any farther). She had 3 red puppies, all with a white spot on their chest. One had just a few white hairs. I sold all of them as pets because of the white. I didn't want them to pass it on. As you can see, breeding red to red will give the most reds. It is possible they could have other recessive colors if the genes are behind both dogs. Although cream is supposed to be really recessive, I have found it dominant in many breedings of different colors. On her third breeding, I bred her to a son of the black champion mentioned above. She had two apricots (possibly reds - too early to tell), one brown, and two blacks. No spotting at all. His grandmother on his mother's side was cream. I guess it is all an odds game. In my personal opinion, I would like to see AKC allow all colors and markings in poodles provided they are DNA tested to be sure they come from which parents they say they do. The days are past that AKC (or the Poodle Club of America) should descriminate against dogs with "flawed" colors. DNA testing will make their registrations as pure breds even more safe than before. They will no longer have to take the word from the breeder that they are 100% poodle. Color is such a stupid thing to worry about when there are lots of inheritable diseases and other health problems. I hope to work on this problem and see if the standard can be changed. Have a great day! Janet

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2001