Are Black Goldendoodles Rare?
While Goldendoodles are known more for their various shades of beautiful golden coats and for being great family pets, hence the name, gold is not the only color they come in. Goldendoodles can come in a variety of shades, from white, to brown (or chocolate!), to grey, apricot, and even black! These colors are not as common, especially black, but does that mean that these colors are rare?
Are black Goldendoodles rare?
Black Goldendoodles are very rare dogs because the gene for a black coat is only present in the Poodle parent. They require the gene to be present in several generations of the Poodle parent before a full black Goldendoodle can be born. The gene ratio should be 75% Poodle and 25% Golden Retriever.
While black golden doodles are striking dogs, there are a lot more traits to this special breed than just their looks. Keep reading to learn about their behaviors, genetics, and rarity compared to other doodles!
What is a Goldendoodle?
Before we talk about the special coat colors of this breed, we should make it very clear what a Goldendoodle is. Coat color actually has nothing to do with whether a dog is a proper Goldendoodle or not. A Goldendoodle is simply a Golden Retriever, and a Poodle mix in any proportion of genes.
Breed
Like we just said, a Goldendoodle is a mix of a Golden Retriever and a Poodle, usually done so the resulting dogs get the high eneryg and playful nature of their retreiver parent breed and the curly, low shedding, hypoallergeic coat of their Poodle parent breeds
The fact that these dogs have hair instead of fur means that they produce less dander and other allergens. This coat type makes them a better fit for those prone to allergies, or those who just want a cleaner dog with cute curls. While they do require more grooming, like regular brushing to keep their wavy coats free of mats, this type of coat is still highly sought after.
Goldendoodles come in all sorts of different proportions, from small to medium to large, with males generally being larger than females. If one parent is a full Golden Retriever and the other is a full Poodle, then the dog will have half their genes from the Poodle and the other half from the Golden Retriever.
When it comes to second or third-generation Goldendoodles, you can get different proportions of genes. Two 50/50 golden doodle parents make another 50/50 Goldendoodle. If a Poodle and a Goldendoodle breed, then the puppies will be 75/25 on the Poodle side and vice versa if instead of a Poodle the parent is a Golden Retriever.
Because of these different breed proportions, Goldendoodles can have different coat colors. When the recessive genes of either parent are combined and replicated through generations, the coat colors of the puppies can be all sorts of different colors. There are black, white, red, blue, brown, phantom, and parti colored Goldendoodles and they all come from different gene combinations.
Behaviors
Regardless of coat color, all Goldendoodles have about the same temperament and will behave similarly to other Goldendoodles. Goldendoodles tend to be generally friendly dogs and they make great family dogs as they love people and some are even known to prefer people over dogs!
Goldendoodles love to be active and love running around in a yard. They also love playing with people and are incredibly smart dogs. They pick up new tricks relatively quickly and will learn proper behaviors quickly as well.
Because of their naturally athletic and active nature, Goldendoodles are not very prone to becoming overweight or having too many health issues.
Genetics of a Black Doodle
Goldendoodles with a golden coat are much more common than any other color of coat, but that does not mean that there is no way to make different coat colors more available. Goldendoodles with a black coat color are very rare, but breeders have figured out how the black coat is able to come out in their genetics.
When breeding a black Goldendoodle, it is much more likely to get a fully black coat with the second or third generation of puppies. To start, the Poodle parent has to have a black coat.
This way, the recessive black gene will be passed along to the puppies for certain. For the second generation, one of the Goldendoodle puppies should be bred with another black Poodle. This makes the ratio of genes 75% Poodle to 25% Golden Retriever.
Once you have this ratio in a litter of Goldendoodles, you might have some black Goldendoodle puppies or at least some partially black puppies. If there are no black puppies, breeding with a different black Goldendoodle should bring out those black coat genes and the third generation is very likely to have at least one black Goldendoodle puppy, if not several.
Despite the black coat on a Goldendoodle being very rare, this does not really make them any more expensive. Black golden doodles cost anywhere from $800 to $1,300. This can seem quite expensive, but for such a highly coveted dog breed, this is relatively cheap.
The golden color on a Goldendoodle is actually more desired than a black coat, so they are more expensive running anywhere from $500 to nearly $2,000!
Other Rare Colors
Black Goldendoodles are not the only version of this breed with rare coat colors. Colors like red, grey, blue, parti, and phantom are also incredibly rare colors. Red Goldendoodles are extremely rare and they also come mostly from a red gene from a Poodle parent. Grey and blue coat colors also mostly come from a Poodle parent, but they are less rare than a red coat.
The really rare coat colors, besides solid black, are parti and phantom Goldendoodles. Parti describes a coat that is mostly white or cream but has patches of black and brown in correct proportions throughout. This coat color only comes from the Poodle parent, but a parti Poodle is also a rare dog so the gene is even more recessive.
Finally, a phantom Goldendoodle is incredibly rare. A phantom coat is black with patches of gold on the chest, snout, and paws. This coat is rare because it is only technically a phantom coat if the secondary color is in the correct places.
While there are several rare coat colors that a Goldendoodle can have, black is still one of the most, if not the rarest coat color. Getting a puppy to have a black coat when there are Golden Retriever genes mixed in is very rare and if you have a black Goldendoodle, you can consider yourself to have a rare pup!