Very hard to come by! Maltipoo is a coffee with milk. This coloring stands out from silver beige due to its liver-colored nose and amber-colored eyes. Normally, Maltese puppies have diluted coloring due to the white genes, so this color is extremely rare in Maltipoo dogs.
What could possibly be happening here? Dark puppies usually don’t come from just one breeding process and will not be a blend of 50/50 breeds. Over a longer period of time, you should intentionally breed for the color you desire. A grey Maltipoo is then bred with a black Poodle so that they produced a 2nd generation Maltipoo…with both grey and black genes mixed together…and the BB genes most often produce black Maltipoo pups.
Maltapoo can be two separate colors (three if you have a solid color) of one or more of the following:
- Black
- Apricot
- Brown
- Blue
- Silver beige
- Cafe Au lait
- Cream
- White
- Red
- Silver
- Gray
Parti’s (two colors) can be blended, spotted, or patched with any percentage.
Summary
Maltipoo Color! The Maltipoo is a very cute hybrid dog. Maltipoo dogs are the result of crossing a Poodle (usually a toy Poodle) with a Maltase. The term “first generation” refers to this generation. There are significant differences in the coat colors of Maltese and Poodle breeds. More and more Maltipoos are being bred as 2nd-generation or 3rd-generation dogs as the popularity of this designer dog has soared, which means standardized Maltipoo coat colors are emerging. In the future, when these breeds become recognized by the ANKC, a list of colors will be available.
Due to the Maltese’s pure white coat, it is the Poodle that will bring color in the coat of the Maltipoo. With the white coat, we still have quite a rainbow of possible coat colors, even if it washes out some color with most Maltipoos. Some Maltipoos may even be found with a strong coloration like black or red.
It is also possible to find every color of Poodle in the Maltipoo. Among these are solids, partis (more than one color) and even some intriguing phantom markings.
The Dark Coat Maltipoo
It would be reasonable to assume that all coat colors will be somewhat diluted with white always at play, but this is not always the case. A black, red or brown-colored Maltipoo (one that retains a dark color) may appear occasionally.
Maltipoo Color/Dark Coat Maltipoo
Black and brown coloring of a super unique mix of colors.
I'd like to share with you some of my favorite colors
Black Maltipoo Dog
It is extremely rare to find a black Maltipoo. The color will be black as ink. To be defined as a solid black (and not a parti [two-color], the Maltipoo dog’s coat must be all black. If the dog has a tint (not enough to classify as a second hue), that is a ‘black with a mismark’. More often than not, black partis with blue or silver tinting and/or guard hairs that are pure white or silver are more common. There is no color change with a true black. The Poodle breed is known for a “fade” (a short-term tinny-colored phase). I will discuss color fade in the next chapter.
Blue Maltipoo Dog
There is no color like this in the world. Some people consider this to be black, but it is actually a diluted black. Not the coat color determines blueness, but pigmentation in the skin. There is no difference between blue and black in dogs if they have blue noses, eye rims, and paw pads. When it is sunny outside, however, the dog’s nose leather usually shines with a hint of blue. It is then that you would notice this. Almost all blue Maltipoos are born black and the coat will lighten at around one to two years of age (also called clearing).
Cafe Au lait Maltipoo
Maltipoos and Poodles have a low incidence of this. A light, shiny tan that differs from silver beige due to the pigmentation of the skin. Dark almond eyes and a liver nose will distinguish Maltipoos colored in cafe au lait.
Brown Maltipoo
Brown is a deep, dark color in contrast to golden or bronze. It has been compared to a melted and soft chocolate bar, according to some. BB causes brown pigmentation instead of black, whereby the BB gene causes black pigmentation throughout the body. Rust is present where brown areas appear.
Bronze Maltipoo
There is no official breed standard for Maltipoos, and this is becoming the ‘standard’ coloring for them. The term bronze is one that seems to keep popping up whenever a specific hybrid dog becomes popular…Bronze usually refers to a lighter shade of brown, although the more common term is “tan.”.
Cream White Maltipoo
The color is soft and pleasant. Off-white is the color of these Maltipoo dogs. There are people who refer to their very light cream Maltipoo as “white”, but put side by side with a white dog, there is a very clear and distinguishable difference. Normally brown dogs turn cream due to a gene called CCH. On certain spots of cream, particularly the ears, it has a darker coloring. Gray, tan or apricot usually dominates this color.
White Maltipoo
The most sought-after colors are typically maltipoos. A purebred Maltese is already white, so when it is mated with a white Poodle (whose ancestry shows no color at least five generations back), its puppies will be pure white as well.
Gray Maltipoo
Maltipoos may be born gray and stay gray for life; however, it’s not uncommon for parti-black Maltipoos to turn gray as early as 4 years old.
Red Maltipoo
Maltipoos are usually of a light shade when they are bred 50/50. Only in 1980 was this color formally recognized as a Poodle breed color by the American Kennel Club. You can read about red Maltipoos here.
Apricot Maltipoo
The apricot produces the red, not the other way around. It would seem the opposite would be true, but it is the apricot that produces the red. A recessive gene called F will determine whether a coat will be apricot or red. It is common for apricot Maltipoos to appear cream, but their hair is red because of the light color. If the secondary color of an apricot is deeper and darker than that of an apricot, then the object will have the color red.
Silver Maltipoo
Silver puppies may be born dark, but will lighten as they age to become shiny silver puppies. The distinction between a grey dog and a silver dog is that the silver dog has the silver allele V gene and the grey dog does not. One would notice that the silver has a lighter color and a more shiny coat when comparing a grey and silver coat side by side.
Silver Beige Maltipoo
Often referred to as diluted brown, this color is very rare. The coat may be brown at birth, but will begin to lighten around the face and paws at approximately 6-7 weeks of age. After 2 years of age, the coat will change completely to this unique, shiny hue. The eye, nose, paw pads, and skin of this color dog are all black.
Unusual, Unique Colors
Sable Maltipoo
Although sable is not technically a color, it is a very interesting coat color. Dark tipped hairs are referred to as sable. It is most common for the coat to be in the brown – grey color range. Black or chocolate sable (black tipping) is the darker tipping. The white/cream/light tan color is often visible at the roots if you pull back the hairs.
Because Maltese dogs are only found in white and cream colors, the colors of the Maltipoo can be compared to the colors of the Poodle. Poodles are available in the color sable, but it is not an acceptable color. Rarely does this happen. Thus, maltipoos are rarely affected.
Maltipoos’ sable coats sometimes lose their dark tips as they mature, but this is not always the case. The tipping of the coat is cut off as the coat is trimmed. The new hairs of some animals are dark at the tips, while the newer hairs of others may be lighter at the inside.
The adult sable Maltipoo will look very different from a young sable one, just as it would with any other coat color.
Maltipoo Color Changes
There are many factors that affect the adult coat of a puppy when it is still a solid. (At a young age). Holding is the process of a pup keeping its same coat color. Maltipoos do tend to “clear,” however. Using the term “clear” means that the coat has faded or lightened to another color. Lightening of coats isn’t always evenly distributed, rather, ear tips tend to retain color for longer than the rest of the coat.
As their Maltipoo grows, many owners are surprised to see their dog’s color change dramatically. The Poodle breed is known for “clearing”, or a lighterening of the coat as the dog gets older. This is a common occurrence in Maltipoos and is a natural process as the dog grows older. Puppies can be registered as one color, but later on have a completely different color…or at least a darkening or a lightening of what once was a vibrant hue.
It is often underestimated how dramatic lightening (fading, clearing) and coat color changes can be. The Maltipoo Foxy Joy of Cindy Rende is shown below as an example. When Foxy was a puppy, he was a medium apricot color. A good amount of fading has occurred within only 5 months (between the age of 2 months and 7 months). It now has an apricot base with a white tip. How do you choose between these two coats? Tie! That’s what we say!