Phantom Colouring

Phantom Poodles and Groodles are very rare because of their unique colouring and the DNA required. Phantoms are so rare that it is even difficult for us to predict when we will have Phantom puppies in our litters.

Here are 2 Poodles displaying the Phantom Colour

Phantom Poodles or Groodles are not different breeds or type of dog, this is simply a term to describe a particular colouring of the dog. This type of colouring, is extremely beautiful and preferred by many Poodle and Groodle owners. The phantom Colour is a rare and unique marking which means they have two different colours. Phantom colouring is more than just bringing two colours together. The secondary colour must be in specific locations for a dog to be considered phantom. With Phantom markings, the primary colour covers most of the body, head and legs. The secondary colour usually appears above the eyes, on the muzzle, chest, and lower parts of the legs, and often inside the ears and under the tail.

The colours of the phantom can vary and they can come in different colour combinations, but the primary colour is typically black, Red, Chocolate, or Silver. Black Phantoms may have a secondary colour of apricot, red, cream, gray, silver, or brown. The secondary colour for a red Phantom or chocolate phantom is typically apricot. Silver Phantoms are usually silver and cream. A dog’s colouring often changes as it grows up. Puppies can be born with certain colouring or markings that change or go away when it becomes an adult.

Phantom Poodles and Groodles do not develop their markings. Phantom Poodle and Groodle puppies are born with their markings, which means that you will know what your Poodle or Groodle will look like as an adult while it is still a puppy!

Here is a Groodle Puppy born here at Gramayre displaying the Phantom colouring in black and tan.

Cryptic Merles will still carry the Merle Gene, it's just not physically visible or referred to as hidden. Sometimes referred to as Phantom Merles which is the incorrect terminology. Merles quite often have the Phantom Markings and the phantom and Merle markings are clearly visible. Crypto Merles are very important to look out for when it comes to breeding. All breeders with suspected crypto Merle puppies should have these puppies genetically tested. It would be very irresponsible of the breeder if they dont. At Gramayre we DNA health test all our puppies and most importantly DNA test all puppies for Crypto Merle.

If two Merles are mated, on average one quarter of the puppies will be what’s called "double merles", This is the common term for dogs homozygous for Merle. A high percentage of these double Merle puppies could have eye defects and/or be deaf. This is why you should always purchase your puppies from a reputable breeder who is familiar with Merle colour Genetics. It is a common misconception that a dog with a Merle coat will must have hearing and seeing issues.

The only time the merle gene causes a concern for health is when a dog is homozygous for merle, meaning “double merle.” The only way to get a homozygeous merle dog is to breed two merles together.

Colour genetics is very complex.

For phantom points to be visible there needs to be the AtAt or Ata gene combination on the A (agouti) locus. The agouti locus controls the distribution of black and red colour pigments and markings. A locus is a specific gene location on a DNA strand (chromosome). Different version of the same gene (alleles) can be found on a specific locus. However, other Loci (pl or locus) will determine if the phantom points will be visible or not. These are the E (extension) and K (dominant black) locus.

The dog needs to be EE or Ee to allow for normal production of the black and red pigment and for the marking controlled by agouti to show. If the dog is Em at the extension locus it will have a mask similar to the base colour that will block the phantom points on the face from showing. A Poodle that is ee at E-locus will have a red (or its shades) coat colour and the phantom points will not show.

In addition, they need to be carrying kyky at the K locus for the markings to be visible. If the dog is Kb at the K locus, it will be solid black. A Poodle that is KbrKbr or Kbrky will have brindled phantom points because brindle only affects the red colour pigments.

The base colour can also be modified by the dilution, brown, progressive greying, or merle genes to blue-gray, chocolate, silver-gray, or merle. The secondary phantom points can be modified by the intensity gene (which determines how rich the colour is) resulting in lighter shades such as cream, apricot, or chalk white.

These are some of the possible colour combinations that a Phantom Poodle or Groodle can have:

  • Red Phantom Has a black, blue, silver, or brown base coat colour with red (tan) phantom points.

  • Apricot Phantom Has a black, blue, silver, or brown background colour with apricot phantom points

  • Cream Phantom Has a black, blue, silver, or brown base colour with cream phantom points

  • Brindle Phantom Has a black, blue, silver, or brown base colour with brindle phantom points

  • Tricolour Phantom (Parti phantom) This is a parti Poodle with phantom marking often showing on the face and eyebrows. The dog can have black, blue, silver, or brown base colour with phantom points plus varying degrees of white markings.

  • Black Phantom Has a black base colour with a tan, cream, chalk white, or apricot phantom points.

  • Blue Phantom Has a blue-gray base colour with tan, cream, chalk white, or apricot phantom points

  • Silver Phantom Has a silvery base colour with a tan, cream, chalk white, or apricot phantom points

  • Brown/chocolate Phantom Has a chocolate base coat with tan, cream, chalk white, or apricot phantom points

  • Merle Phantom Has a merle pattern on the base coat with tan, cream, chalk white, or apricot phantom points

It is genetically impossible for a phantom Poodle to have a red base colour (or its shades of red such as cream, apricot, etc). Red (phaeomelanin) is only present on the phantom points with black (eumelanin) pigments as the base colour. It is also genetically impossible for a Sable dog to have phantom points as the gene responsible for sable is dominant over the tan point gene. As such, a sable dog cannot be a phantom.