This is       

 a description of poodle colors.

SOLID 

Any color that is 100% over the entire body.

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ABSTRACT

A main color with small abstract patches of another color, for instance on the feet, chest, chin, nose or forehead

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PARTI 

Parti coloring is defined as 50% or more white and patches of another color. This means the dog will be up to 50% of the solid colors: black, blue, brown, silver, etc... and 50% plus of white. This also includes the patterns listed below! Parti is a recessive gene. Both parents must carry for parti to produce parti pups. Ticking is also common, ticking is smaller spots of the color.

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BRINDLE

Brindle is stripped. The color and thickness of the strips varies with each dog.
Ticking and white markings can occour on any brindle dog.

SABLE
Sable is a very unique color in the poodle. It can be a blue sable or a cream/apricot/red sable depending on the base color. As the coat gets longer the tips turn a different color. When the coat is short the coat is dark! Sometimes on sable the coat appears a cream or sometimes as dark as a red with the longer hair which show the sable tipping. Only one parent needs to be sable to produce sable pups.

Sable is an incomplete dominant.

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PHANTOMS
The markings are like Dobermans! The dogs will have a solid body with a different color on the feet up the front of the legs and across the chest, as well as eyebrows and part of the muzzle. Phantom is a simple recessive - however it only affects some colors

MERLE 

The Merle Gene is a much debated topic among Poodle Breeders.  

To start off here is a little about the Merle Gene. The Merle Gene is an incomplete dominant gene this means that it only requires one copy to reproduce it,so only one parent has to have Merle and is not a color gene but a dilution gene, And actually, it is highly recommended against breeding Merle to Merle, if both parents carry one copy of the merle gene, you will end up with 25% of the puppies being Double Merles, which have a chance of being blind and/or deaf. As a breeder, no matter what the percentage I would never risk even one puppy being born blind and/or deaf, so we never breed merle to merle. As well, there are other color genes that can cover the merle gene, so you will not visibly see it but it is still present genetically and can be passed down to offspring. These colors include White, Cream, Apricot, Red and heavily marked Parti's. As well, many not trained to merles, can mistake a brindle with the merle gene as not carrying merle. These dogs are called cryptic merles, as they are genetically merle, but visibly do not look like merles. If you are breeding a merle to any of these colors, you should genetic test them to ensure they do not carry for merle and therefore, you won't have double merles. 

 There are many People out there that insist that Merle is not naturally existing in Poodles. Many of these people will claim that it is naturally occurring in many other breeds though, such as Australian Shepherd, Great Danes, and Dachshunds. So, we have a problem as nobody knows for 100% sure where the merle gene comes from in Poodles or any other breed for that matter. We do know with 100% certainty that there are AKC Registered Merle Poodles. There are several AKC Breeders that register them regularly. 

 Many people also note that there is not a specific color called merle when registering an AKC Poodle, so merle must not be an AKC Color. What I have to note for all of those people is the fact that there is also is no specific color for Parti, Sable, Brindle, or Phantom. These are noted as Black & White, Black & Tan, Black & Silver, Brown & Tan, etc. Merle is often noted as Black & Silver or Brown and Tan. 

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