Big Question: Has anyone noticed how the breed is decidedly darker ???? On the east coast it is really difficult to get a red or wheaten cairn ... especially a female ... the breeders just don't want to part with them ?

How honest are breeders when they tell you that a dark faced cairn will get lighter? What is the real truth about the cairn color problem... is it linked to all the genetic disorders previously seen and that is why only brindles are now available? How long before cairns are all black?

I've got two wheatens and my breeder has quite a few. All of our Cairn friends are wheaten. One is from my breeder, the other two are from different breeders. Oh, wait, one of those girls is a red wheaten, but she's still not dark. Packy ahs dark tips -- ears, muzzle and point of tail, but he's still wheaten at 4 yrs. old. Personally, I love the look of brindles but I do love my light boys. You can really see their expressive dark eyes.

Personally I don't see evidence of the thesis. I see reds and wheatens around the NW and although I can't access picasaweb from work and I might be proving myself wrong, but I believe there was a generous assortment of colors at Montgomery last year.

Brindling is indeed very common and probably more common than either wheaten or clear red. Not sure I would intrerpret that as a problem. Lots of wheatens and clear reds seem to throw their fair share of same. It's perfectly normal to have a color preference; I think it's a terrible idea to actually breed for color.

It's perfectly normal to have a color preference; I think it's a terrible idea to actually breed for color.

Bingo

I had a fair haired reddish blonde/wheaton once. Now he looks like a charcoal briquette

Owning a dog that comes with different designer colors is way cool.

I have 2 red boys and a wheaten girl - no shortage of reds/wheatens here. The showring seems to be getting it's fair share of reds and wheatens too lately.

I have a red brindle that was shipped here from N.C. and two that are from here (Florida) that are wheaten and a cream brindle. A breeder can try, but can't totally predict the color of a brindle. My first one has gone from black to more red, back to black. She now is showing alot of red again. My wheaten has pretty much stayed the same. The cream brindle started out black and now has alot of cream on her sides. I love how they change in color.

Beth, I love your pic with the dogs all cuddled next to each other!

Lots of Reds here! Darker dogs are desired though! lol Opposite!

I'm a novice to cairns, but from what I've read, each hair on a cairn has several colors along its shaft and they can change color at the drop of a hat, from light to dark or dark to light, etc. My dogs are both east coasters and (presently) wheaten brindles--they're wheaten with an impression of darker coat underneath and a sprinkling of dark tips mixed in, darker ears, tail tips, and muzzles. ...I guess that's what it's called?

The question I have is whether it's normal for a dog to look "blotchy" after he's been stripped, which I did because I'd allowed their coats to go bad and wanted to start over. Both of my dogs pretty much looked uniformly wheaten brindle when their coats were long, but now that he's stripped short, one has odd, indistinct, and uneven darker patches all down one side of his body. The other has always had slightly darker under-shading on her haunches, shoulders, knees, and elbows, with the rest of her body pretty much an even wheaten, but now that she's been stripped, the darker "patches" are more noticable. Has anyone else noticed this odd "blotching" after they've stripped their fair-coated dogs, and is it breed standard acceptable?

From my limited perspective here in Idaho--most of the Cairns I see are Wheaten. A black or dark Cairn is a rarity. I have not had the experience of drastic color change in the two dogs that I have raised from pups but that really isn't enough exemplars to make a accurate claim. Given what I have seen from litters, I think it would be really hard to breed for a specific color--I'm sure there is a gene there somewhere but isolating it in both the sire and dam would seem to take more litters than any legitimate breeder would want to attempt--especially when size is also a consideration.

Fortunately for us, the constant characteristic seems to be personality and THAT is the dominant gene I appreciate more than any other.

The breeder we found (here in Maine) prefers the wheaton/red and seems to have quite a few in her care. The last litter - the bitch was wheaton and the sire (from New Brunswick/Canada) was black with silver striping. When we first saw Layla, she was a medium tan color but it appears that she is definately lightening up. I'm enclosing a picture of her at 10 days and one just taken this morning - I think you will agree that she has gotten much lighter. There are parts of her that seems to almost be platinum. Her roots are all very light beige. I'd be interested in what others think her coloring will be.

Both of mine came from a breeder in MI. Male is red. Hasn't changed much. The female was like the pup picture...then turned a very light cream, now she is 4 and is wheaten. Kinda wontering what is next!

Kristi

My Pepper was a silver brindle who has darkened to black with a little silver...he looks like Toto now. Th pic to the left was taken when he wss 3.

Edited September 16, 201113 yr by PeppersMom