PEARLS
This is article is in response to the confusion of what a pearl is.
I have had alot of help from several breeders and UKCI.
The pictures below of the puppy have been sent in by Sherri Chatterton, and the little boy is her dog as a pup.
Sherri has been gracious enough to send pictures at different stages of his growth.
The pearl color is very hard to describe, but Barbara Mitchell has been kind enough to pass on her thorough knowledge on this topic.
The true colors and shading are very hard to catch with the camera.
Pearls are born with a very silvery taupe color, with a mauve or rose cast to the hairs, and a shimmer like the weimariners have. In fact, the grey weimariner is very close, except for the mauve shading.
Noses are self colored, never blue or chocolate. Here is a great picture of noses! You can clearly see the difference.
Pearl on your left, Blue on top, Chocolate Tri on the right and a High Red Chocolate in the center.
The cheek and eye patches are a rich apricot or peach.
Pearl colors can be Tris or solid with a patch of white as in a Black & Tan.
Eye color is always gold, grey or blue! Never green, brown or black. See the bright blue eyes on this pup. You can't miss it. This boy belongs to Sherri Chatterton.
The hairs are not sabled, nor mixed. The shimmer or pearlized cast does not appear to the naked eye on an indiviual hair, but as an all over effect.
Once you see this color, you will never confuse it with a blue fawn again. There is quite a difference.
If you have been lucky enough to accquire one of these as part of your breeding stock, then you should keep in mind that they should be treated as a dilute. You should always breed them back to a : Black, white & tan, or a Dark Chocolate that carries the blue, chocolate , red and or apricot gene.
Never breed Pearl to Pearl as you should not do with any dilutes!
I hope that this information helps all those interested or curious about this Unique Color Variation.
Enjoy your Rat Terriers no matter what color you prefer
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