The Possible Colors in our upcoming Schnoodle Litter

Phantom is the term for two-tone color

I wrote in a recent post about how you get beautiful Apricot colors from the breeding of a Red to a White.  Although this is very true....There is so much more that I was about to discover.  This is my first litter with this combination, so I have continued to research genetics to get as much information for my customers as possible.  

Genetics is very confusing to say the least...especially with color because White actually is a 'mask' over many other colors.  For this reason, our White Dixie can throw Phantoms (a two tone color) and Blacks.  White is also a 'lightening' color which lightens the red color to apricot.  And sometimes changing to white!

To make it all more confusing, the puppies coat may or may not lighten as it matures.

I consulted with another breeder of Schnoodles and she confirmed that in her experience of breeding Reds to white the color is a wait and see proposition!   "You will get some of the sires color and some of the dams color. Red and white can give you anything from apricots to reds that fade to whites. Sometimes the colors will revert to the base color...and you will get a litter of blacks. It is just a gene toss. Sometimes I get phantoms....sometimes I don't."

 I hope everyone is as excited as I am.  I have found that a combination of color gives my customers a variety of choices.  In 2009 Dixie gave birth to 7 white puppies. In 2010 she birthed 3 white, 1 Salt n'Pepper and 1 black.

It will be so much fun to help Dixie birth her puppies, not knowing where the color genes will fall.  It's like opening gift on Christmas morning!  And you know they will all be beautiful!

The Genetics of the White Colored Schnauzer

White is a recessive trait in the color gene for the Miniature Schnauzer. There is some disagreement among the experts as to whether it was in the genetic pool from the beginning of the breed, or not.  Because it is a recessive trait, it is somewhat uncommon to have an all-white litter of Miniature Schnauzer puppies unless you plan for it.  

Dixie had her first litter of puppies in the Winter of 2007, with her first owner.  She was bred to a Salt n' Pepper at that time.  The resulting litter had 3 blacks, 3 Salt n' Peppers and 1 white puppy.  The number of 1:7 seems to be a common ratio for whites in a litter when bred to a non-white.  Salt and Pepper appears to be the most common Schnauzer color.

We adopted Dixie at 18mths, shortly after her litter was sold. We waited till the spring of 2009 before we bred her to a White Schnauzer. The resulting litter was completely white because her Stud also carried the double recessive gene for white.

There is an interesting website all about the genetics of color in the Miniature Schnauzer.  It says the following,
"The true white Miniature Schnauzer is genetically a dog with the color turned 'off' so that it has white hair and pink skin...The 'true' white Miniature Schnauzer will also show cream and beige.  In this color schnauzer, white is masking over the real genetic color of the dog."  If you want to read more about it visit the following website:  

http://www.max-the-schnauzer.com/white-schnauzer.html