The Whippet Comes in a Variety of Colors

A Whippet is a dog breed that is rare, because when competing in professional dog show events, it cannot be disqualified because of coloring. The breed comes in an expansive variety of different colors and combinations, which is called Parti-colored. Within this article we will discuss the coat colorings of the Whippet breed and the genetics that play an integral part in determining what color the Whippet litter will be.

Statistics show that the dun-colored Whippets are the rarest, appearing in only 1 in every 1500-2000 births. Sometimes, dun coloring can be confused with fawn coloring, although dun can range in shades from light blue fawn to a rich dark chocolaty brown. Duns are easy to recognize because they have a pinkish-brown coloring to the nose. A dun color also provides another clue as to what their true color is when they’re bred, as a dun-colored dog will sire black puppies when mixed with a fawn-colored Whippet, while a fawn or brindle mating will never result in black puppies being born.

The basic colorings of a Whippet can be are black, dun (chocolate brown or liver red), blue, fawn and brindle. It is also possible for a Whippet to be white, but most dog experts do not include this color on the list because it is considered to be devoid of coloring. White Whippets are rare and more likely to be a combination of other colors with patches of white on the coat; this is called Parti-colored, which is discussed later in the article.

Brindle is not truly considered a color, but rather a combination of colors which often look like what is called tiger-stripe. Sometimes the striping of a brindle can be so faint that the color actually appears to be solid until it is gazed at more closely. Brindle colors can appear in shades of red, dun, fawn, dark, light, black and blue.

A blue Whippet is actually a dilute of a black-colored coat which can range from a light gray-blue to a very dark, almost black color. Many blue Whippets will have a nose which is closer to a blue color than an actual black nose. Fawn colored Whippets can have a range from dark red shades to a lighter fawn color.

A parti-colored Whippet is a combination of any of the above mentioned colors with white, and is usually referred to as White and the name of the color. As was previously mentioned, a pure white Whippet is a rarity and even with the smallest mark of color on the coat would be referred to as a parti-colored Whippet.

There are three genes which determine what the color of a Whippet. One gene determines the actual color of the Whippet coat, another gene determines whether or not the color will be recessive or dominant and the third decides whether the coat will be solid or mixed in color. It has been discovered that some color combinations always make puppies of some colors and never others. An example would be black to black Whippets, which can result in any color combinations, while dun to dun breeding would not result in puppies that are brindle, fawn, black or blue.