# Colour Changes in Black Havanese



## Pooch

I am an excited soon to be new Havanese owner!! My breeder has 2 litters which arrived 2 weeks ago. Now comes the difficult decision of choosing a pup. There is one in paticular I am continually drawn to (haven't seen him in person yet so this is based only on pictures so far). He is black with white markings on his paws, tip of tail, chin, forehead, diamond on the back of his neck, and v on his chest. His father is black and white and his mother is black/silver/tan. So, I'm wondering "generally" what blacks tend to do in terms of changing colour? My breeder thinks there may be some silver coming through on his legs. I know there are no guarantees, but do blacks generally keep their colour (at least more than sables)? Any experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated!


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## Suzi

I think if the breeder is seeing silver coming threw the pup probably will not stay a pure black and white.


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## mitrus

I have two black havanese, one with white points and the other with silver points. My 3 year old has stayed black, but has some white hairs poking through all over. My six month old started black and has turned an off black color, and sometimes he even looks dark brown. I can't wait to see what he does. I will post some pictures, they are not very good. I can only get pictures of them together when they are playing. The first 2 pics are when he was younger and the last 2 were taken a few weeks ago.


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## Pooch

He is adorable! I love the white eyebrows!!


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## lfung5

I have 2 black guys. Scudder stayed a deep black, but Fred has lighten to a lighter grayish black. Don't get to hung up on color. Once you meet them you might be drawn to a certain personality. I like to pick a pup on what temperament will fit my lifestyle. I have 3 really calm havanese because of that


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## morriscsps

Jack started black but we knew that he was going to silver out quite quickly. You could see the dark silver/pewter color at the roots. His head still has some black.


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## pjewel

Milo is a tri color Irish Pied. He's retained most of his color, though when he was shaved down you could see that he had a lot of gray in addition to the black, white and beigy tan.


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## Suzi

pjewel said:


> Milo is a tri color Irish Pied. He's retained most of his color, though when he was shaved down you could see that he had a lot of gray in addition to the black, white and beigy tan.


 Milo has the most beautiful coloring!


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## Kirby

When Kirby came to us he had almost a burgundy color to his back and the top of his head. Now he is very dark black in those areas with the tan and white on his paws and legs and eyebrows etc. He has like a white bib on his chest. He has a perfectly white diamond under his tail...if you know what I mean. How it stays perfectly white is beyond me! I love all the amazing colors of this breed. You can't go wrong no matter which pup you choose. He or she will be beautiful!


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## West End Girl

Pooch said:


> I am an excited soon to be new Havanese owner!! My breeder has 2 litters which arrived 2 weeks ago. Now comes the difficult decision of choosing a pup. There is one in paticular I am continually drawn to (haven't seen him in person yet so this is based only on pictures so far). He is black with white markings on his paws, tip of tail, chin, forehead, diamond on the back of his neck, and v on his chest. His father is black and white and his mother is black/silver/tan. So, I'm wondering "generally" what blacks tend to do in terms of changing colour? My breeder thinks there may be some silver coming through on his legs. I know there are no guarantees, but do blacks generally keep their colour (at least more than sables)? Any experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated!


Personally, I'd be more interested in personality than the color of an animal.

Although the Havanese breed is amazing in the sense that most all puppies are wonderful, I'm a firm believer in letting the puppy choose YOU rather than vice versa.

We knew we wanted a female, so that made our choice somewhat easier. But I do know that when we picked up our puppy, there was at least ONE who was quite aloof and not very social. Not that the breeder didn't do a fantastic job, but that was just what his personality was like. He was actually the 1st to be chosen too b/c of his color!

I'd suggest taking your time and going out to see and interact with the puppies.

Just my 2 cents.


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## mellowbo

http://www.mts.net/~mckay55/colours.html

You may want to go to this site and search under the colours index. It is fascinating to see how the colors change. It has been my experience that there actually are several shades of black and not too many stay that real black black. If the breeder says the pup is silvering then it probably is.

Truly, health and temperament are are WAY more important!!! You will love your baby no matter what color it ends up!


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## krandall

I agree with everyone who says that temperament and personality are the reason to pick a puppy, not color. But as far as black is concerned, there ARE "real" solid black Havs, and there are also others with "modfier" genes that make the color change as they get older. I breeder will know if they have the silvering gene in thier gene pool, and in this case, you know one parent has it. There's a good chance the puppy will silver. 

How much is a different question. Some stay pretty dark, but I met a Hav last week who was born black and white, and now, at 14 months has no more coloring than a lot of sbles. You can see her markings, but you would never GUESS that she'd ever been black.

Kodi is true black, and at almost 2 has not changed a bit (at least his black parts... he's also a Belton, so he's getting black streaks on his back!) but that's not too surprising, since his dad is coal black and his mom is marked just like he is. (though I think she has more Belton markings)

ETA: You can see his color both in the puppy picture in my avatar, and the adult picture in my signature. His hair is longer, but the color is the same!


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## marlowe'sgirl

My B&W is 15 months now and there has been no color change, but both of his parents were B&Ws (and for that matter the majority of his pedigree) that retained their full color as adults so I knew silvering was unlikely.


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## CacheHavs

I to agree with everyone who says that temperament and personality, but5 also Health are fare more important than color, because in this breed there is never a guarantee what color they will be. I have dogs that are 5+ years and they still change colors.

My Black girl with white, her black stayed very black until she reached about 2 1/2

here are a couple of picture of her,


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## Missy

I doubt very much a black pup will ever change as much as a sable and become a light dog. Cash was shiny, shiny black as a puppy and is now a deep charcoal grey. I love it.


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## krandall

Missy said:


> I doubt very much a black pup will ever change as much as a sable and become a light dog. Cash was shiny, shiny black as a puppy and is now a deep charcoal grey. I love it.


That's what I thought until I saw Pam's (who owns Lindy Hop and Jump Jive Jimmy) young bitch last week. She's ALMOST white now, at 14 months, and according to Pam, was a true B&W parti when they got her as a little pup.

ETA: I hope Pam sees this thread and can post before and after pix... it's the most dramatic change I've seen!


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## Julie

Quincy has stayed the same as he was as a pup....blk/white parti colored. He has kept his black.

His toenails have changed though---he had 1 black one as a pup......now I think he has 4 black ones.


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## Suzi

Maddie is staying black and tan so far sometimes in certain lights I see a bit of red. People who see Zoey say she will stay black and white.


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## littlebuddy

our breeder told us DJango would probably end up looking like his dad, gray and white but as you can see, he's still black. he has a little gray at the base of his tail but that's it.


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## motherslittlehelper

Augie was very black and tan as a pup. Curious to see how he ends up, as at 2.5 years, he is VERY much lighter than he was, starting with his back end, moving forward.


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