# How old was your dog when hair turned color?



## Melissa Woods (Feb 21, 2019)

I’m anticipating Oliver’s hair changing at some point, from what I’ve read about Havanese. He’s chocolate parti with a dad that’s full chocolate/ reddish as an adult and a mom that’s chocolate, but mostly white with light brown markings as an adult. How old was your pup if/ when they started changing color?


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## Ollie"s Mom (May 23, 2014)

Melissa it can start right away or it can happen gradually, there is no telling when or how much. Our chocolate Hershey was gradual and he held a lot of his colour like his dad. Mum was quite a bit lighter, but still an obvious chocolate and white parti. Hersh was quite dark, but became more mahogany than dark chocolate. The fact that he passed away at such a young age makes it hard to tell you how he would have gone colour wise, but I think he would have held a lot of colour. Quincy had a mum that carried the silver gene and from the time we met him to the time we picked him up his whole face had silvered. I fully expected to have a full on silver dog very quickly. That hasn’t happened yet. He still is very dark. If you saw him by himself you would say he is black and white, but when he is next to our Ollie, also a black and white, his black looks a little Smokey, not a true black like Ollie. It is fascinating.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Likewise, none of mine have changed color much Kodi is a Belton, and although he has developed SOME Belton markings, very few compared to many. Many Beltons, including his dam, are sooty looking in all their “white” areas by the time they are adults. Kodi is still a B&w dog with a few black spots here and there. Panda hasn’t changed at all, but she has no Belton gene and she is not a fading black. With Pixel, we weren’t sure what to expect. Her dam is silver sable, and both parents carry the silver gene. She has a silver sibling, who was CLEARLY silver before leaving the litter. Pixel “browned out” as many silvers do, got a smattering of white hair in her coat and a big white splash of hair in her tail. We were sure she was silvering. Then she lost it all, and she is back to solid, shiny black again as an adult!


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## Melissa Woods (Feb 21, 2019)

krandall said:


> Likewise, none of mine have changed color much Kodi is a Belton, and although he has developed SOME Belton markings, very few compared to many. Many Beltons, including his dam, are sooty looking in all their "white" areas by the time they are adults. Kodi is still a B&w dog with a few black spots here and there. Panda hasn't changed at all, but she has no Belton gene and she is not a fading black. With Pixel, we weren't sure what to expect. Her dam is silver sable, and both parents carry the silver gene. She has a silver sibling, who was CLEARLY silver before leaving the litter. Pixel "browned out" as many silvers do, got a smattering of white hair in her coat and a big white splash of hair in her tail. We were sure she was silvering. Then she lost it all, and she is back to solid, shiny black again as an adult!


I know it can be very random! I'm actually feel like texting the breeder to see what happened with his parents! Nothing has really changed with Oliver's hair (besides getting longer!) and I'm curious as to when or if it will, LOL


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Melissa Woods said:


> I know it can be very random! I'm actually feel like texting the breeder to see what happened with his parents! Nothing has really changed with Oliver's hair (besides getting longer!) and I'm curious as to when or if it will, LOL


Well it can vary from one pup to another, even within a litter, but the breeder will have a better idea what is likely in her lines than anyone else would.


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## RedSoxFan (Aug 22, 2017)

Such an interesting thread. Similar experience to @krandall "We were sure she was silvering. Then she lost it all, and she is back to solid, shiny black again as an adult!" - Our chocolate started showing a little gray and we were full expecting her to turn all gray. But then, the grays started to disappear and she has very few gray strands now. She's a dark chocolate. Breeder thought she would remain dark due to her mom/parents. But, in all honesty, we don't care what color she ends up. Sweetest dog on the planet and yet fearless too. Love this breed.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

Perry has been silvering very slowly - and it's most noticeable when I give him a haircut. However, his silvering isn't very prominent - in pictures it just looks like a light/shading issue not a color difference. I think Karen once described it as dull black versus solid black. Since he's all black he almost looks like some hair is flipped the other direction so is dull and some is shiny  but when you look close or when he's clipped down, you can see that some is actually a really dark charcoal/ small amount of white sprinkled through and some is still shiny black.

He was obviously silver when I got him (some very light silvering between the toes of one foot) but it wasn't til after he was 2 that any more started showing up... and at 3 1/2 it's still really faint. 

In the pictures, the lighter areas are very lightly silvered... versus the shiny black areas


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

Truffles was a very dark chocolate with white paws when she arrived at eight weeks. Around six months white hairs started appearing on her back. Then the white hairs spread throughout her coat. She had a light chocolate silvery look for awhile. The silver color eventually disappeared. She is a medium chocolate with a light chocolate beard now. Here are a few photos how she changed... dark chocolate, silvery and now. &#128522;


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