Bernedoodle Coats Generations, & Colors
When it comes time to pick out our new puppies, it’s always exciting to choose our favorite colors and patterns. There is such a wide variety that it can be almost overwhelming. So what are they all? Well, coat colors very much come into play with specific genes that dogs carry and what generation your puppy is effects this as well.
Understanding Furnishings & Curl
It important to understand the role that furnishings play in a doodles coat. Furnishing genes determine the type and look of the coat as well as wether or not it is a shedding coat or not. Bernese Mountain Dogs carry zero furnishing genes, have no beard and have both a top and undercoat. Poodles carry two furnishing genes. They have beards (most people shave a poodles face when it is groomed) and endlessly growing hair. It takes two of these genes to create the non shedding coat in a dog. Furnishing genes are dominant (also called an allele), so it takes just one copy of this gene to present long hair on the face in a mixed breed puppy. So if a Bernedoodle inherits only one furnishing gene, it will look like a doodle but can still shed like Bernese Mountain Dog. Here, The furnishings gene masks the expression of the recessive unfurnished gene that a lot of doodles still carry in their genome. In order to create the non shedding coat, we then have to breed back in the second furnishing gene. There are three identified furnishings alleles: Strong Furnishings (F), Weak Furnishings (Fw) and unfurnished (f, also known as IC) - dominant in this order. Dogs coats with weak to no furnishings have also been called improper coats. Another way to think of this is the more FLOOFY your dog is all over, the more non shedding they likely are. Keep in mind that ALL dogs can shed some hair.
The myth that the curlier any dogs coat is, the less it will shed is simply not true. For example a curly coated retriever sheds horribly. Rather this is determined by genetics. The cure one is an incomplete dominant gene. A dog that is +/+ for curl is a curly dog like a Poodle. A dog that is -/- for curl has a straight coat like the BMD. A dog that has both + and - can express a wide variety of curly to straight. This is because the curl gene is incomplete dominant which allows there straight gene to control the amount of curl. The curl genes inherited by each puppy and each generation of doodle contributes to the type of coat each puppy inherits. Bernese Mountain Dogs can carry one curl gene, giving them a slight wave to their fur, whereas Poodles carry two curl genes. All F1s will inherit a total of one copy of the curl gene allowing their coats to be wavy in general. In puppies of deeper generations who inherit two curl genes, they will exhibit a coat similar to a Poodle’s coat. For those puppies who inherit no curl genes, their coats will be straight to slightly wavy. On the flip side of this, a doodle with tight or strong curl coats are harder to maintain because their coats are much harder to keep from matting. Often those with very curly coated dogs will groom their hair shorter to help alleviate this.
Shedding Gene
Last, let's talk about the shedding gene. This area of genes is identified as the Shedding Locus. The shedding Locus has two known alleles: SD (+, shedding) and sd (-, non-shedding), dominant in that order. A dog that is +/+ will shed. Bernese Mountain Dogs are +/+ shedding dogs. Dogs that are -/- for shedding will not shed (or very low shed). Poodles are -/- for shedding (or should be). The shedding alleles (+/-) have a similar relationship with each other as the curl alleles. The dominant SD allele (+) is an incomplete dominant, so it will allow the recessive non-shedding allele to take over so to speak. So a dog that has a genome of +/- will likely shed, but how much will depend on the furnishing genes present as the overall quality of the coat. Notice that curl does not factor a large amount into a shedding coat. Where as all the genes we discussed here factor into a dogs coat, the shedding factor has much more to do with the furnishing and shedding gene.
So putting these things together, in order to get a non shedding (or low shedding) puppy, we need to breed parents that are homozygous negative for shedding and homozygous for Furnishings (FF). This virtually non-shedding dog would be FF, sd/sd (or -/-) on their respective loci. These genes can be inherited in any combination in a single puppy. Puppies inheriting two furnishing genes will likely be non-shedding. Puppies inheriting one furnishing gene will have reduced shedding most likely equal to an F1 Bernedoodle. Those inheriting no furnishing genes will have coats very similar to a Bernese Mountain Dog (a smooth face and heavy shedding.) All three coat types are possible in an F2 generation as well – straight, wavy, or curly.
Bernedoodle Generations
Now that you understand how the genetics of a dog play into its coat, let's talk about the generations of a dog. A doodles generation factors into what genes it can or can not inherit.
An F1 Bernedoodle is a first generation. This means that a Bernese Mountain Dog was bred with a Standard Poodle. Most first generation Bernedoodles will come in a tri-color, making them look much like the Bernese Mountain Dog, or they will come in black and white. Sometimes you will see a phantom tri-color phantom or even a brindle pattern. Their coat can be straight or wavy as their genetics can take after either parent. This means that they can inherit hair that continues to grow (furnished) or fur that continually sheds (unfurnished). Dogs that have hair that continuously grows will need constant grooming. For anyone with allergies, it is not recommended to get a first generation doodle.
An F1b is F1 Bernedoodle that has been bred back to a poodle. This generation typically has the wavy or curly coat. It is also more likely to be hypoallergenic. However you can still end up with a pup here and there who doesn’t have the non (or low) shedding coat meaning its genetics took more after the Bernese in its line. Second generations are typically highly sought after for the non (or low) shedding coats and atypical coat colors.
An F1bb is a F1b Bernedoodle that has been bred back to a poodle. These dogs are 50% likely to inherit two furnishing genes and possibly two curl genes. This means they are more likely to have a wavy/curly & non (to low) shedding coat. These are typically highly sought after for uncommon coat colors and the hypoallergenic aspect. This is a great generation for allergy sufferers.
Multi Generational Doodles are any generation F2 and beyond. A multi-gen is any doodle that has been bred by two doodles. Most of these generations are much harder to predict furnishings and shedding genes.
An F2 is a second generation (Multi generation) Bernedoodle. This means that two F1 generation Bernedoodles have been bred together. It can also be a breeding between and F1 and an F1b. This makes the coat type and hypoallergenic factor hard to predict. The genetics of these dogs can take after either parent or grandparents, meaning the may not have the wavy/curly hair and they may shed. Each puppy from an F2 liter has equal chances of inheriting zero, one, or two furnishing genes as well as zero, one, or two curl genes.These genes can be inherited in any combination in a single puppy. Puppies inheriting two furnishing genes are usually non-shedding.
An F2b is a multigeneration Bernedoodle that has beeb bred back to a Poodle or bred back to a Bernese Mountain Dog. When bred back to a poodle, the coat type on this generation is likely to be more wavy/curly and low to non shedding then an F2 generation. If bred back to a Bernese Mountain Dog, the coat is more likely to be unfurnished and shed. However this generation can still be very unpredictable when to comes to coat type and allergens.
An F2bb is multigeneration Bernedoodle bred from an F1bb Bernedoodle and an F1 Bernedoodle. They can possess slightly more poodle genetics but it all depends on breeding and what was crossed. These crossings can be unpredictable when it comes to furnishing and shedding genes.
An F3 is a third generation Bernedoodle bred from an F2 to another F2. These are puppies with unpredictable genetics so most often are not bred. It is not recommended to those with allergies to consider an F3 multigenerational doodle.
Coat Colors
Now that we have learned how genetics play a roll in the coat of your new doodle, we need to understand that genetics also control what color your puppies coat will be. For simplicity sake, we are only going to cover the basics as a dogs genetics have so many different pieces. A dogs color genetics are called a Locus on a genetic test.
Basic terms to understand when it comes to color genetics are these:
A capital letter means it is a dominant trait, ex. For a Black dog you will have a capitol B = dominant.
A lower case letter means it is a recessive trait, example for a black dog you will have a lower case b = recessive.
Genetic carrier (Carrier), means that the dog has an inherited recessive trait that it does not display, but can pass on to offspring.
Black- Black Colored Dog
Chocolate- Brown Colored Dog
White, Creme, Apricot or Red- White, Creme, Apricot or Red Colored Dog, but could have either Brown or Black pigmentation.
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Phantom- Phantom dogs usually have two colors, one base color and small areas/markings of another color. Typically this is Black or Brown with rust/tan. Picture a dobermans coloring and markings. Phantom Bernedoodles have have a base coat of black with brown on all four legs, chest, checks, and eyebrows. Either a Black Dog with Tan/Silver points on face, inner legs, chest and under tail or a Chocolate Dog with Tan points on face, inner legs, chest and under tail. A Phantom dog will have little to NO white markings.
Brindle- Brindle is a coat color pattern in a dog. It looks much like a tiger stripping. Brindle colors are either blue based brindle or a red based brindle. Blue based is typically Black with light colored (typically a tan, brown or reddish color) tiger striping over the body. The Red Based is more brown with light colored (sometimes even tan/tiger striping over the body. This can be in varying degrees of light to dark coloring. Brindles can be solid brindle, brindle with the white of the Bernese Mountain Dog , or Brindle abstract.
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Sable- Sable is a coat color represented by black-tipped hairs on a background of any solid color, with no particular pattern/location designated for such hairs. Sable hair follicles are very unique. Each follicle can often have as many as 3 different colors. Sable Bernedoodles can be fully sable or have the white of the Bernese Mountain Dog. Sables are most typically Brown/Tan & Black. Most often sables will have fading to a lighter tan or silver body, with dark tips only remaining over time. As a puppy you will see the lighter color coming into the coat as the base of the hair.
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Tri-Color- A tri-color Bernedoodle is a mostly black and white dog with red/rust marking above their eyes, on the sides of their cheeks, sometimes on their legs and bottoms below their tails. Tricolors may or may not have white on the face or may have a limited amount of white. Traditionally, tricolor Bernedoodles look much more like a Bernese Mountain Dog. Tricolors can also have a full white mask.
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Parti- A Parti Doodle means particular color. It is a dog with a white background and another predominate color. Parti’s can be any color but always have white markings. Parti’s have MORE than 50% white on their coat.
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Bi-Color/Abstract- A Bicolor dog is described as having two colors. This can include a single coat color (brown, black, red, or blonde) accompanied by white markings on the face, chest, feet, and tail or small white patches on the chest, snout, or toes. This is also known as abstract. Abstract dogs typically have white markings present on the face, chest and/or paws of a dog on 50% or LESS of their bodies.
Silvers (or Silver Beige)- A Dog that started out as Black or Brown and faded over time. This usually starts with the tips of hairs or the points becoming silver hair. It can also start in patches and not be all at once. Example-This can be seen a lot with Sheepadoodles and any other dogs with the fading gene.
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Merle- Also known as a dapple. Merle is irregular blotches of fur set on a lighter background of the same pigment. Solid black on gray (called blue merle) or solid brown on tan (red merle). Blue and partially blue eyes are often seen with the merle pattern, as well. For more information on Merles, please see the merle genetics page.