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]

They are about the same length as her 'puppy fuzz' that she still has, but her 'adult hair' is a little longer than the white hairs. 

I looked into "kemp" and apparently this is a poodle trait.  Essentially it is coarse straight hair (not always white) that grows within the poodle coat, (apparently sometimes 1 out of 10 hairs is kemp) which is partly responsible for a show poodle's hairdo keeping it's shape.  It's a desireable trait in show poodles, apparently.  

She tends to lean toward the poodle side of her genetics, with a square body shape, poodlish muzzle, long legs, curled tail and of course the crazy hair, so I'm guessing that F, Calla and Luca are right about it being kemp hair.  She is my little doll baby, so however she turns out is fine by me. I'm looking forward to the 'final product' because her coat has been quite a rollercoaster ride so far!   

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm wondering about this being a desirable trait in show poodles. I had a black show poodle, and I can tell you that one of the things that made her (and her parents- her sire was the number one ranked miniature poodle when she was born) "show quality" was the fact that their coats were deep inky jet black, with no trace of any white hairs (or any other color hairs) anywhere, and no fading or lightening ever, even in old age. I'm going to do a little research of my own, lol.

The only thing that comes up when you Google "poodle" and "kemp" are labradoodle websites. Most doodle breeders are not experts in poodles, especially show poodles.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Kemp is not a desirable trait in labradoodles I think. Anyway what's important is who they are not how they look : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In fact, after more research, a search for "dogs coats kemp" only brings up labradoodle sites. Can anyone find any info on "kemp" that isn't related to doodles?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Here's one in sheep. Press contol f, type kemp and it will show you where in the page. Very handy shortcut : )

[F, Calla & Luca]

And: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314639/kemp

And a quote from the, dare I say, old Rutland Manor site:

"Kemp is a coarse micron fiber which is a chalky white in color.  It appears in goats with poor quality fleece, and in sheep with poor quality wool.  Kemp occurred in the Labradoodle during the coat mutation of the Poodle.  Kemp is brittle so will break and appear to shed.  It is uncommon nowadays to find it in the latest generations of the ASD Australian Labradoodle.  Kemp is not present in the coats of puppies, but develops as the dog matures."

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had a feeling that's where this came from, and that's why you can only find mention of "kemp" on doodle breeders sites.

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Whoops, forgot the link as usual:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, Lord knows the Australians know about sheep. How any of them thought that it applied to dogs as well, I don't know, other than the fact that poodles' coats are woolly, lol.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Perhaps reason enough. We are all related : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That must be where I got my coarse frizzy hair, F, from my poodle ancestors! Or maybe it was from the sheep!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Now it would be a fun discussion to speculate on from  which animals we got our various parts. I am part gazelle, peacock, canary, panther and of course doodle .... :-)