Phantom color?

~Phantom~

Phantom coloring is a dog that has one main color, and then has 'tips' of another color. If you can picture the coloring of a Rottweiler, or a Doberman, this is the same color scheme. Phantom can occur with any color, A Silver Phantom with White points, A Chocolate phantom with Cream points, A black phantom with tan points, etc etc.

Bobby Bare Jr. - Your Adorable Beast.mp3

Phantom Poodles

A phantom Poodle is not a different breed or type of dog, this is simply a term to describe a particular coloring of the dog.

This type of coloring, while extremely beautiful and preferred by many Poodle owners, is not yet accepted by the AKC in regard to conformation.

This is much different than parti colored Poodles, even though both parti and phantoms have a mixture of 2 colors. This term only refers to Poodles that have specific markings on a solid background. The solid will usually be:
  • Black, cream, apricot, red, white, silver or brown
These dogs are broken down into more detailed groups:
  • Black phantoms - black & apricot, black & red, black & cream, black & gray, black & brown or black & silver
  • Chocolate phantoms - Brown & apricot
  • Red phantoms - red & apricot
  • Silver phantoms - silver & cream
The markings must occur on certain parts of the dogs' coat. Many refer to these markings as Dobie markings (short for Doberman), however this pattern also appears on Dachshunds, certain Spaniels, Yorkies, Manchester Terriers and certain Coonhounds. These markings must be:
  • Above each eye
  • On the sides of the muzzle (also referred to as the side of the cheeks)
  • Across the dog's chest
  • Down the legs
  • Under the tail
All phantom Poodles are born with their markings. This does not occur as the dog ages. 

Phantoms are genetically linked to brindle Poodles. For this reason, a phantom Poodle dam or sire can produce a litter of brindle puppies and likewise a brindle Poodle dam or sire can produce a litter of phantom puppies. 

With most dog breeds, brindle is a term that means the coat that is striped, with intermingling dark and light hairs making a striping pattern. 

However, with Poodles, brindle means "sable". Sable is a term that means that the coat is one color yet the tips of the hairs are black. 

With most dogs, the sabling (black tips) fade out or completely disappear with age.

Phenomenal Phantom Poodles