I was amazed when my Bernedoodle litter ended up having one dog of every color. We had white, cream, red, medium brown, dark brown, and black. The two brown ones resembled their dad but no one had their mom's gray coloring. The answer here is that there were a lot of recessive genes that came through.
The Parents
Dad
The dad is Hollow and he presents as a dark brown tri-color with curly hair. He has a brown nose and green eyes. He can have brown dogs, red dogs (recessive), and heavy white dogs (recessive).
Mom
The mom is Coco and presents as a blue Merle with wavy hair. She has a black nose, brown eyes, patches of black on a gray coat, and wavy hair. The Merle gene adds some complexity to why her coat is gray. Without that extra gene, she would have black fur on her body, tan eyebrows, and tan on parts of her chest and legs. She can have black dogs (dominant), brown dogs (recessive), red dogs (recessive), and heavy white dogs (recessive). The reason there are so many recessive is because there are several locations in her genes for different choices can happen. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure quest.
Together
What Coco and Hollow have in common is a white muzzle, furnished (thick eyebrows and mustache/beard), and a slightly smaller adult size than a first generation of Bernedoodles.
The Colorful Bernedoodle Puppies
Rocky (formerly Strawberry) has a white body with tan ears, tan around the eyes, and spots on his body. He received the heavily white and red recessive genes from both parents. He inherited his dad's brown nose and green eyes. He inherited his mom's wavy hair.
Milo (formerly Vanilla) has a cream body with a white nose and forehead that is hard to see in this picture). He received the red recessive gene from both parents. He inherited his dad's curly hair, brown nose, and green eyes. He inherited a future smaller size from his mom.
Cream Soda has a red body, white nose, white forehead, wavy hair, brown nose, and green eyes. She received the red recessive gene from both parents. She inherited her dad's brown nose and green eyes. She inherited her mom's wavy hair and one copy of the Merle gene. She isn't spotted because the red hair overrides the Merle gene.
Penny (formerly Tippy) really took after her dad more than any other dog. She has curly hair, brown fur, a white nose, a white forehead, tan spots, a brown nose, and green eyes. I don't think she got any of her mom's traits.
Root Beer also took after his dad heavily. He only inherited his mom's wavy hair.
Oreo is what I imagine Coco would have looked like if she didn't have the Merle gene. The Merle gene caused her black coat to go gray and removed the tan spots from their normal location of eyebrows, chest, and legs. Oreo inherited Coco's (potentially) black coat, brown eyes, brown nose, and wavy hair.
I loved how this litter turned out. I want to breed Coco and Hollow again for another amazing colorful litter. I bet we get even more color combinations like the Merle spots on black and brown coats.
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