EVER WONDER WHERE YOUR DOODLE GOT ITS COLOR?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am dog sitting my grand puppy this weekend - a 5 month old poodle.  We are most definitely in love with her and she is most definitely in love with Charlie and won't leave him alone. She is the most beautiful deep red, so dark that she is almost chocolate. When I get her in direct sun though, I can really see the red.    It made me wonder about poodle coloring. I don't know about you, but I thought poodles came in basic red or faded red (i.e. apricot), black, white, and gray, with a two-color parti or two thrown in.  Where did our unusual colored doodles come from?  I guess that I thought it was some rare mutation.  Well, guess again!  I found this poodle color site:

http://www.stunninglyss.com/explaining-poodle-colors.html

Poodles come in so many colors, shades of colors, mixes of colors and patterns, I was amazed. I saw apricot, cafe au lait, sable, silver beige, blue, ticking, phantom, brindle - all  of which are poodle colors.  I realized that Babette is a mahogany red and as such, will likely stay dark. 

I even found out that Charlie is sort of a Tuxedo parti - not quite, because he looks more like he is wearing pants and a jacket and a true Tuxedo has a solid saddle on his back.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Small standard is exactly what they are hoping Babette becomes, but they don't really care her size as much as the great temperament she has.