poodle puppy colors

Question
Hello Kim;
I have a standard light red or dark apricot, he has been called both. His mother and father are both very dark red and his litter mates were mostly darker than him with one apricot and one cream. He is going to breed with a brown poodle with a brown nose. Her parents are an apricot dad and a brown mom. What colors of pups are they likely to have? Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hello Stephanie,
Even though what I know about Color genetics wouldn't fill a teaspoon, since I don't know the color genetics of your dogs or the dogs in their backgrounds, I can only guess as to what you may have.  I do know that even the experts in color genetics can take what they know, put it to practice and still come out with something totally un-expected.  

I would say that since your boy is Red and his parents are both dark Red, you should get some Reds and maybe an Apricot or Cream from this litter (though it would help to also know what is behind your Red boys parents).  On the Brown females side, you could get some brown puppies, but again, it would be good to know what is behind the parents of the brown also.  If there are alot of Brown dogs, then you might also get some Brown puppies, but since Red, some Brown, and some Apricot (those that come from Red parents) are all carriers of a fading gene, this will most likely cause faded Browns, maybe some darker Apricot (instead of a Dark Red) and will most likely cause the puppies color to fade as they age.  

I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions about this, would like references, or just have other Poodle questions in general (such as breeding or whelping questions), please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim