In your experience with doodles growing up...

[Jen and Annie]

So I've seen black doodles turning silver, and chocolate doodles also going silver or a cafe au lait color.  This seems pretty common among the darker doodles.

But I am seeing a good number of pure white hairs on Annie, which is weird because she has always been pretty darn red.  Her face IS very slightly lighter than when we first got her, but more like a sunkissed blonde color in her beard and ears, but overall she is still a reddish apricot. 

There are a LOT of white hairs on her chest, but I couldn't get a good picture from there, the picture below is from her hip area.  These hairs are all over, are they a sign of things to come?  These are very new additions, I would say within the past 3-4 days?  She is almost 6 months old.

I named her Annie for a reason... so am I going to have to change her name to Betty White?   

This area, her side, doesn't have as many as her chest does but this is what they look like::

 

[Jen and Annie]

Here was the original thread where the info came from.  http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/doodlegrooming/forum/topics/what-...

Google doesnt appear to be much help to me either..

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yeah, this is not real reliable info. Kemp is known in the coats of sheep, but I still can't find anything about it in dog coats, other than the doodle stuff which is apparently coming from Grandma Bev, and so needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

The info about poodle coats is wrong. Show poodles have very wiry coarse stiff coats that stand up on their own, and any lighter or white hairs in the coat of any color other than white is a show fault, and not desirable. What we call a "loose fleece" in a doodle coat is called an "open coat" in poodles and is not desirable, either.

However, I agree that none of this matters in Annie's coat or any other doodles. What matters is that they're cute, they're sweet, and we love them.

I get a lot of compliments about JD's "platinum streaks". People usually say they pay a fortune to the hair colorist for that look, lol.

[Jen and Annie]

Kemp or no kemp I love this darn dog with all my heart.  She could lose every bit of hair she has (although I hope she doesnt!) and I would still be proud to call her mine!  She's got it all, smarts, sweet personality, and those funny facial expressions that I just love. My little velcro dog - I can't even go to the bathroom without her LOL.  I think she was born knowing the 'heel' command because she is always there.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I hear you on the roller coaster part!  We were curious to see if Luna would ever "doodle out" and she didn't, but we're very happy with her low-maintenance coat.

[Jen and Annie]

The info I read was on this forum, lol. But it did say that they are not always white. Just straighter and stiffer than the rest of the hair.

[Christine & Shelby]

My Shelby (ALD) was a dark red as a pup and has now faded to more of an apricot color although she has some white hairs and some areas that are a darker red color, but over all she's faded to apricot.   

[Kate C Pappas]

She could be silvering or if the hairs are very coarse and wiry, they could be 'kemp'. Yarra was chocolate brown and started changing color around 14 months. Her father is black and her mother is café so I didn't know what she would become. Eventually it settled in and she is what is called 'Lavender/Latté'....I know, it sounds like a stripper's name. LOL.

Her color is stunning and I've never seen another Doodle with a coat like hers. She has a long, loose, wavy fleece coat. I keep it about 5" long and she does not  mat. She's 6 1/2 now. Her sister, Yindi, is 3 and has a curly, whipped cream fleece coat and I keep it pretty short.

^  Yarra

Yindi, below. She does not mat either.