Havanese colours
Hello! Havanese come in so many colours and patterns - it is both wonderful and confusing. There is information online on the genetics of colour, but I wanted to provide colour information in a simpler format. The colour and patters of Havanese can be looked at as being built up in layers, so I have used of of my favourite things - house decorating - to explain how a Havanese becomes (say) cream as opposed to black and white particolour. I hope you enjoy this description of Havanese colours.
Gail
Karyme Havanese
Gail
Karyme Havanese
Part 1 : The base coat
It all starts with a 'base coat!
Just like painting a wall, Havanese colour starts with a "base coat". Unlike paint though, Havanese base coat only comes in two colours - BLACK and BROWN. Brown is sometimes called Chocolate and I will use both descriptions here. A Havanese with a black base will have black fur and black pigment on their nose and around the eyes. A brown, or chocolate, base coat results in a dog with brown fur and brown pigment.
If this is the only "decorating" you do on a Havanese, you will have a dog who is all black or all brown.
Just like painting a wall, Havanese colour starts with a "base coat". Unlike paint though, Havanese base coat only comes in two colours - BLACK and BROWN. Brown is sometimes called Chocolate and I will use both descriptions here. A Havanese with a black base will have black fur and black pigment on their nose and around the eyes. A brown, or chocolate, base coat results in a dog with brown fur and brown pigment.
If this is the only "decorating" you do on a Havanese, you will have a dog who is all black or all brown.
Black base coat
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Black nose
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Brown base coat
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Brown nose
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Part 2: The wallpaper
Who doesn't love wallpaper! It is a great way of covering up an existing surface. Putting "wallpaper" on a Havanese covers the base coat. It covers the coat completely, unless you cut holes in the wallpaper letting some of the base coat show through. Havanese have two types of "wallpaper"- FAWN covers the whole coat, while PARTI-COLOR has holes in it.
Fawn wallpaper
Fawn "wallpaper" covers the whole coat of the dog. It doesn't matter what colour the base coat was, the cream wallpaper will cover it. It doesn't however cover the pigment, so a black dog will have a cream coat and a black nose, and a brown dog will have a cream coat and a brown nose.
Fawn in Havanese describes a range of colour from the palest cream to a dark red.
Fawn in Havanese describes a range of colour from the palest cream to a dark red.
Fawn
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Fawn
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Fawn
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Fawn
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Particolour wallpaper
Parti-colour (or white) wallpaper isn't solid like cream. It has holes in it! These "holes" let the base colour show through, so the effect is of a white dog with coloured areas or spots. Unlike fawn, parti-colour wallpaper also covers pigment, so a dog can have areas on their nose or eye-rims that are missing pigment and are a light pink colour. The parti-colour wallpaper can have just a few holes giving a dog that is mostly while, or it can have lots of holes where lots of the base colour shows through.
Because the base colour shows through, a dog can be a black parti-colour or a brown/chocoate parti-colour.
Because the base colour shows through, a dog can be a black parti-colour or a brown/chocoate parti-colour.
What, I hear you ask, happens if you use both wallpapers? This does happen! The fawn wallpaper is always put on first, followed by the parti-colour wallpaper. So you get a white dog with fawn patches!
Black parti-colour
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Chocolate parti-colour
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Fawn parti-colour
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Black parti-colour
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Part 3: The patterns
Once you have your base colour, or your base colour and your wallpaper, you can start to apply patterns! Patterns are like applying stencils to walls - the new colour appears in an expected, repeatable fashion.
Tan points
Tan points are very cute! The dogs has tan markings above its eyes (eyebrows!), below the tail, feet, around the mouth and across the chest. Other breeds that have tan points are Rottweilers and Dobermanns. The tan points on Havanese usually fade fairly quickly to a cream colour.
Tan points can be seen on a black or a brown dog. They cant be seen on a cream dog as the cream covers them. They can sometimes be seen on a parti-colour dog if the white areas dont cover them.
Tan points can be seen on a black or a brown dog. They cant be seen on a cream dog as the cream covers them. They can sometimes be seen on a parti-colour dog if the white areas dont cover them.
Black and tan puppy
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Black and tan adult
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Black & tan parti-color puppy
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Black & tan parti-colour adult
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Sable
Sable is another gorgeous pattern. instead of covering areas of the coat (like black and tan points), sable covers part of each hair. The sable colour is the same as the base colour (black or brown) and appears at the tip of each hair. The sable colour changes over time as the pup is born with most of the coat being the black (or brown) tips. As the coat grows, the underlying colour appears.
The pictures below are all of black sable dogs. I have not had a chocolate sable pup so dont have any photos. You can see that the part of the coat nearest the body is a fawn colour, and the tips are black.
The pictures below are all of black sable dogs. I have not had a chocolate sable pup so dont have any photos. You can see that the part of the coat nearest the body is a fawn colour, and the tips are black.
Sable pup at birth
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Sable pup at 10 weeks
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Sable adult
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Sable adult clipped off
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Sable parti-colour 3 weeks
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Sable parti-colour 10 weeks
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Sable parti-colour adult
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Sable parti-colour clipped off
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After effects
Lots of options so far, but we are not done yet! Your Havanese can also have effects on its colour that appear after he or she is born. These can appear soon after birth or as late as 5-6 years old. They love to surprise us.