This page illustrates the variety of colors and markings that these American Terriers come in!


 Rat and Teddy Roosevelt Terriers

'high red' chocolate 

black & tan w/ white 'calico' 

'classic' black & white w/tan

tan sabled 


blue merle & white w/tan 

pearl & white 

blue & tan w/white 

pearl merle & white w/tan 


blue brindle w/white 

lemon & white 

chocolate & tan w/white 

tan & white 


 American Hairless Terriers

 

 All of the Terriers on this page are owned by the Pocket Puppy folks.   Colors can be visually confusing, but genetically is determined by the color of the nose 'leather'.   The 'high red' chocolate for instance appears to be the same as the tan and white, but the tan dog's nose is black, the chocolate's nose is liver.   While the pearl and the blue can appear similar, the pearl is a dilution of chocolate, the blue a dilution of black.   The lemon can be the most confusing genetically.   They are all visually some shade of light tan/yellow, the 'chinchilla' gene is responsible, as it leeches out the actual melanin/eumelanin, a 'lemon' dog can be anything from black to red genetically - (this color, depending on breed being addressed, may be called 'dead grass', 'cream', or as in this breed 'lemon') the nose leather is usually flesh or 'putty' colored in these Terrier breeds.

 

 On the subject of color..   There is a bit of controversy over the allowance of both brindle and merle patterns in these breeds, some of the breed standards do not allow for brindle, and all of them disqualify merle.   However (there's always a 'but') this does not mean that breeders who produce these colors are 'bad' breeders, as there is nothing inherently wrong with either pattern, nor does the pattern have to do with the quality of the dog.   And a dog of either pattern can be registered by any registry that accepts these breeds provided the parents are registered.   The color disqualification is only for the conformation ring, and dogs of these colors can be entered and titled in performance events.   It is said by old timers that any 'hound' color is a good color and both brindle and merle are most assuredly 'hound' colors!   The perceived problem with these marking patterns is that brindle is difficult to get rid of once you have it - and merle carries a lethal gene which causes puppy mortality.   In the case of these terriers, these 'problems' are truly in the perception, and the decision to exclude them from the various standards is - in my opinion - simply the 'easy way out' for those who have a prejudice against them.   There is absolutely nothing wrong with brindle, and in the case of merle you only need a bit of extra knowledge as a breeder to know how to handle it.   The linked merle text will take you to a site that was designed originally for Australian Shepherds, but much of the information pertains to any breed that includes the merle pattern gene.   As I've said much of the text on this site is my opinion - and this is one of those opinions - that you need not be bothered if a breeder of these terriers happens to produce either of these patterns.   The breeder's knowledge and the health of their pups is the important thing!   The rest is pretty much 'show world politics' ;).

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