What color will my Shih Tzu puppy be as an adult?

by Jam
(Virginia beach, Va)

My puppy is brindle brown with white paw markings. Will the paw color change too?
What color will my puppy be as an adult?

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Hi, Janice here from Miracle Shih Tzu
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Hopefully, most breeders will tell puppy buyers that color changes are common in the breed and that what looks like a stunning color as a puppy may fade, gray or change altogether.

The easiest way to predict what color the puppy will eventually be is to look at the roots of the hair. Oftentimes, brown brindle puppies will end up being more gold as an adult, however, that is not always the case.

Look at the tips of the hair. If the tips look dark brown or black and the root hair looks lighter, the black on the tips will disappear after the first haircut.

If the roots have browns, golds, whites, and blacks, your puppy is likely to remain a brindle color.

Another way to predict the color of a puppy is to lift his tail and look at the hair color just directly below the tail. That is the best way to tell what a very young puppy may be as an adult.

Whites usually remain white from a genetic point of view but there are many things that can cause the whites to change colors.

1. Allergies that cause itchy paws are a big problem. Dogs will continually lick their paws. The combination of saliva and exposure to air will turn white paws a red-yellow color. This staining is difficult to remove.

2. If the dog is kept on soft red sandy surfaces such as dirt with a lot of iron deposits, the color in the ground will change the color of the paw. This can be fixed by moving the puppy away from that type of dirt.

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