At What Age Do Poodles Change Color?

Poodles are a dog breed that come in many shades, shapes, and sizes. Poodles are popular house pets due to their intelligence and often showy appearance. One common characteristic of poodles is the fact that the color of the coat they were born with tends to change to another color as they mature. If they are born with a dark coat, they "clear" or "fade" to a lighter color at around two years old.

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The determining factor of the ultimate color of a poodle's coat is the initial color. For example, a "clearing" of the coat could be from a darker color to a lighter one, or the other way around. Some poodles that are born a darker shade may eventually "clear" to an apricot shade by the time they are two years old. The coat of black poodle puppies may "clear" to silver or blue by the age of two.

Dark brown poodles may change to a café au lait shade by the age of two. Generally, poodles change their coat color by the time they are two. This initial color may go through another subtle change, but stabilize by the time the poodles are three years old, when the poodle puppy coat change is complete.

Some factors affect the ultimate color of a poodle and how long it takes for the poodle to achieve a specific color. One of the factors is the type of care the poodle receives as it matures. Intensive coat-grooming with some specific products, at various stages in the poodle's development, can affect the eventual color of a poodle's coat. Some of these products include whitening shampoos, coat dressings, and conditioners.

A poodle might also keep the color of the coat that it was born with, a factor known as "holding." Even if the poodle does "clear" from a darker color to a lighter one, the "clearing" of the coat is not uniform all over the poodle's fur. For instance, the fur around the ears and the thicker guard hairs tend to "hold" their color throughout the life of the poodle, even when other parts of the coat change to another color.

Other varieties of poodle color include white, gray, silver beige, red, and silver. The "clearing" process in poodles can go through various stages before the poodles finally achieve their permanent color. For instance, a poodle puppy could start off with a blackish coat that will "clear" to a gray color and eventually a platinum silver color. Some orange-colored poodle puppies change to a darkish peach color and eventually fade to a lighter peach color.

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Poodle hair turning white is sometimes a result of advanced aging, but not always. Some poodle puppies are born with a mutation on a gene that causes a dog born black or brown to begin to turn grey or a white silver at three months old. These dogs are usually completely white, silver, or grey by maturity.