The Havanese exists in many colours. A Havanese is unique with regard to other breeds. An interesting difference is its coat colour. Not many breeds have such a large variety in colour shades and colour patterns as a Havanese

• del Paradiso di Cani exploration of Havanese Colours
  
  
• Colours of the Rainbow

The genes involved in affecting the coat colour is very interesting topic. In some breeds it is easy to predict the coat colours of a possible litter from the coat colours of the mating  Sire and Dan. The Havanese are not easy to predict litter colours mainly because of the variety of accepted coat colours.

Some people would argue that coat colours are not important and that a breeder should only concentrate on improving lines to match the pedigree standard This is important but coat colours also has its place.

The following information may not be accurate but is what I have pulled together from many sources to assist in predicting mating outcomes of Havanese.

In dogs there are generally recognised colour series (loci). Havanese are believed to have the following Gene Locus :

A locus - AGOUTI Ay - sable  as - saddle-marked  at - tan points  a - recessive black	E locus - EXTENSION Em - black mask  E - normal extension (no mask)  e - recessive red
B locus - BROWN B - non-liver  b - liver	K locus - BLACK K - solid black  kbr - brindle  k - non-solid black
C locus - CONCENTRATION C - normal phaeomelanin  cch - chinchilla  ce - extreme chinchilla	S locus - SPOTTING S - no white spotting  si - irish spotting  sp - piebald  se - extreme irish spotting
D locus - DILUTION D - no dilution  d - dilution of eumelanin to blue or isabella

In simple dominance; if there are two dominant genes, the dominant is expressed. If there is one dominant and one recessive, the dominant is again expressed and the recessive will be hidden. The recessive gene will only be expressed if there are two recessives.

In naming alleles, capital letters are used for the ones considered dominant and lower case letters are used for ones considered recessive

The letter itself tells you which locus it is found on; for example, anything called [E] or [e] belongs on the E locus.Those little letters that are superscripted in the allele names are variations which can be either dominant or recessive.If the superscript is attached to a capital letter, then it's a dominant variation and if attached to a lower case letter, then it's a recessive variation.

A phenotype is what the dog looks like in appearance, while genotype is the non visible genetic codes responsible for making what you see.


Locus can have an affect on one another, so below is a diagram that  is meant to help explain why Havanese get such a mixture of offspring in the same litter.

 

Havanese Genotypes

The following tables would assist in predicting litter coat colour outcomes if parents genototypes are known.

E Locus controls dark pigment production and decides IF any will be made ( deposited where A tells it to)
NOTE: E^m Black Mask allele is greyed out below as I do not think this allele is importnat and have not seen it displayed in Havanese in Australia.

E locus - EXTENSION	Em - black mask	E - normal extension (no mask)	e - recessive red
Em - black mask	Dark Mask	Dark Mask	Dark mask
E - normal extension (no mask)	Dark Mask	Solid Dark	Solid Dark (carries clear)
e - recessive red	Dark Mask	Solid Dark (carries clear)	Clear

B Locus controls expression of dominant black.
NOTE: k^br Brindle allete is also greyed out again as I have not seen Havanese in Australia displaying this coat colour.

K locus - BLACK	K - solid black	kbr - brindle	k - non-solid black
K - solid black	Dominant black	Dominant black (carriers brindle)	Dominant black (carriers no black expression)
kbr - brindle	Dominant black (carriers brindle)	Brindle	Brindle ( carriers normal expression)
k - non-solid black	Dominant black (carriers no black expression)	Brindle ( carriers normal expression)	Normal black expression

B Locus decides dark pigment colour (incl. nose & eyes

B locus - BROWN	B - non-liver	b - liver
B - non-liver	Black	Black
b - liver	Black	Chocolate

A Locus controls dark colour patterning
NOTE: a^w Agouti / Wolf grey allele is greyed out agin for the reason that I have not seen any Havanese in Australia displaying this coat colour.

A locus -AGOUTI	Ay - sable	aw - agouti/wolf grey	as - saddle-marked	at - tan points
Ay - sable	Sable	Sable	Sable	Sable
aw - agouti/wolf grey	Sable	Banding	Banding	Banding
as - saddle-marked	Sable	Banding	Saddle	Saddle
at - tan points	Sable	Banding	Saddle	Black & Tan

C Locus acts like a filter controlling development of light coat

C locus -CONCENTRATON	C - normal phaeomelanin	cch - chinchilla	ce - extreme chinchilla
C - normal phaeomelanin	Red	Gold	Champagne
cch - chinchilla	Gold	Champagne	Cream
ce - extreme chinchilla	Champagne	Cream	Off White

S Locus decides how much of the body will be coloured or masked with white

S locus -SPOTTING	S - no white spotting	si - irish spotting	sp - piebald	Se - extreme irish spotting
S - no white spotting	Solid Colour		Irish Pied	Heavy Parti
si - irish spotting		Irish Pied	Heavy Parti	Classic Parti
sp - piebald	Irish Pied	Heavy Parti	Classic Parti
Se - extreme irish spotting	Heavy Parti	Classic Parti		Extreme Parti

This then leads us to attempting to map out the genetic code for each type of coat colour.

Phenotype		Genotype	Description
Black   Note: A Allele will only be know from the parents		-- B- D- E- K- SS	black Havanese with black pigment (all dogs that have “K-“ and “B” are black)
Chocolate   Note; A Allele will only be know from the parents		-- bb D- E- K- SS	chocolate Havanese with chocolate pigment (all dogs that have “K” and “bb” are Chocolate)
Fawn (are all receive red “ee”) White Cream  Champagne Apricot Gold Red		Ay- B- ee C- kk SS Ay- B- ee c- kk SS	clear (white, cream, champagne, red, golden etc) Havanese with black pigment
		Ay- bb ee C- kk SS Ay- bb ee c- kk SS	clear Havanese with black pigment
		Ay- B- ee C- kk SS Ay- B- ee c- kk SS	clear Havanese with chocolate pigment (choc nose)
		Ay- bb ee C- kk SS Ay- bb ee c- kk SS	clear Havanese with chocolate pigment  (choc nose)
		atat B- ee C- kk SS atat B- ee c- kk SS	clear Havanese with black pigment
		atat bb ee C- kk SS atat bb ee c- kk SS	clear Havanese with chocolate pigment (choc nose)
		B- ee C- kk - sp-	clear Havanese with black pigmentation (red parti)
Sable		Ay- B- C- D- E- kk Ay- B- C- D- Em- kk Ay- B- c- D- E- kk Ay- B- c- D- Em- kk	sable Havanese with black pigment (black tips or silver is Silver gene is present)
		Ay- bb C- D- E- kk Ay- bb C- D- Em- kk Ay- bb c- D- E- kk Ay- bb c- D- Em- kk	Sable Havanese with chocolate pigment (brown tips)
Saddle		as- B- D- E- kk S-	Saddle Havanese with black pigment
Black and Tan		atat B- C- D- E- kk S- atat B- c- D- E- kk S-	Black & tan Havanese with black pigment
Chocolate and Tan		atat bb C- D- E- kk S- atat bb c- D- E- kk S-	chocolate & tan with chocolate pigment
Pied Extreme Piebald Parti colour Irish pied White markings Note: A and C will only know from the parents		Ay- bb D- E- kk - sp- Ay- bb D- Em- kk - sp- as- bb D- E- kk - sp- as- bb D- Em- kk - sp-	Pied with chocolate pigment
		Ay- B - D- E- kk - sp- Ay- B - D- Em- kk - sp- as- B- D- E- kk sp- as- B- D- Em- kk sp-	Pied with black pigment
Tri Colour		atat bb D- E- kk sp- atat bb D- Em- kk sp-	Tri colour with chocolate pigment
		atat B- D-  E- kk sp- atat B- D-  Em- kk sp	Tri colour with black pigment

This could then lead us to predicting pssible mating outocmes of litter colours.



Much of the  published colour research is based on hypotheses and theory based on what is observed in assorted breeds of dogs. I would like to start collecting coat colour data on the Havanese as there is much more to be learn.