Orwell is... blue?!

[Kaitee and Orwell]

I just went over all of the labradoodle colors again because he doesn't seem to satisfy anything, but I found out about blue and it seems spot on to me. I want to know what other more experienced people think. Originally, I thought there was a possibility he could be silver but that doesn't seem viable to me. I found a post on a separate doodle forum and their puppy looked just like Orwell did at that age. I had to do a double take... it looked so much like a picture I took of him at 8 weeks. 

Here is the post: http://labradoodle-dogs.net/forums/13-questions-about-your-labradoo...

Their pictures are kind of hard to see, but here is the picture of Orwell I referred back to:

What do you guys think?

[Kaitee and Orwell]

I feel lucky too. Orwell just happens to be out of my high school English teacher's first litter. I just explained the genetics to him. He's going to have a litter this summer with the same stud so we should see at least one other blue puppy. 

I also feel lucky because he picked me. I was going in to pick the puppy as a blank slate. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Can you show me, or at least consider looking at the, gums,the color inside the ears, the paw pads, and nose.  What color are those?  In cats, all those were a gray color or blue.  For sure the paw pads were blue!     I dont know about dogs, but when I had blue cats those were some of the the deciding factors.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

His ears are a light grey color, and his gums are dark grey with slight blue tint (it develops over time). They aren't as dark as they should be if he were a black doodle. Evidently it is common in doodles to keep darker pigmentation in these areas. Their general body area is the most important and should be light grey with blue tint. 

This is a good article explaining things: http://www.doggenetics.co.uk/dilutes.html

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

We also have at least one lavender doodle on DK.  Traveler is the one I'm thinking of and he is on the cover of the Labradoodle calendar for 2015.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

From what I understand, the lavender color is also a derivative of the dilution gene if you start out with a brownish color. Very pretty. Evidently all the labradoodle/goldendoodle coats that involve this gene are listed as rare. 

[Kaitee and Orwell]

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I have found the source of Orwell's dilution. 

His father is the nice lavender F1b on the left (lavender is also a diluted color), and his F1 mom is on the right. There were no light colored pups in his litter. 

At first glance long ago in the thumbnail I thought his dad was a regular cream. 

Since his dad shows the dilution phenotype, his genotype is (dd) for the gene. In order to have diluted progeny, the mother then has to have the genotype (Dd). This means if we draw out the punnet square and calculate probabilities, there is a 50% for each pup to be diluted. 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

 Very interesting...yes, his dad does remind me of Traveler. They must also carry the gene for adorable because they passed it on to Orwell. :)

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Hopefully I will get to meet his dad this summer! They did indeed make cute puppies. 

I'm going to type up an analysis for both genes (base color and dilution) because I am a complete nerd. I'll share the document with all the combined probabilities. I'll post it here if anyone is interested. If not, no worries. My main purpose for this is to send it to my old friend who had the litter and will use the same stud again this year. 

[Kalee Thompson]

I'm interested but I'm definitely a bit nerdy as well. Lol

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Haha. I'm actually thinking about going over all of the coat color combinations this winter break. That way it could probably be used as a reference on this site. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Some sites on color genetics:
http://westwoodlabradoodles.com/labradoodle_goldendoodlecolorgeneti...
http://www.vetgen.com/canine-coat-color.html

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Thanks. (: I will definitely reference these.