By Panogos Kennel - Please do not copy without permission

Solid red, stag red, and black, blue, fawn, and chocolate, with rust or tan markings. These are colors of Miniature Pinschers in the United States.

In the show ring, you will see only the reds, blacks, and the occasional chocolate, with red being the most common.

What about the other colors?

Blue was once shown in the ring, but it has been banned due to coat problems. Blue is actually a dilute of black. Fawn, which looks like isabella in Dobermans, is a dilute of chocolate. Fawn is not an option on AKC papers, so dogs of this color have to be registered as tan or rust.

Blue, fawn, and chocolate are typically not bred by show breeders, so some have called these colors "rare." That may have been a true description years ago, but today there is nothing really rare about them. On the internet, the "rare" colors are everywhere, at any place Miniature Pinschers are advertised for sale. In online classifieds, sometimes a majority of puppies are the chocolate, blue, or fawn colors, typically at twice the price of standard red and black, regardless of quality.

Sad to say, these colors are becoming a fad.

As with all fads in the dog world, when something is a novelty, careful breeding takes a back seat to mass production. Fads often start when a dog is considered unusual, or when a breed gains sudden fame by being featured in a new movie, for example. Everyone wants to buy that dog. We then see 101 Dalmatians in every neighborhood, and before you know it, 101 Dalmatians in every animal shelter. The St. Bernard Beethoven in everyone's backyard, and later confined to the pound. Cocker Spaniels bred by backyard breeders expecting Disney's Lady, but who end up with bad temperaments and health problems devastating to the breed.

Chances are, the buyers of fad pets are going on impulse and not thinking realistically about caring for an animal for the next 10-15 years. And chances are, many breeders of these pets aren't trying to improve the breed, just looking for a fast buck, or trying to recover the costs of paying too much for their own dog.

Finding a "rare blue Min Pin" really isn't rare. What is rare is finding a breeder of blues who is responsible. When blues are bred, the purpose should be to improve the quality. If enough improvement is made, blues will have a chance back into the show ring. That prospect is lessened when blues gain the reputation of being a novelty item.

With all colors, quality should always come first, so that color varieties are worth keeping around.

Our advice to buyers: resist the urge to get a "rare" pet to brag about. If you really want a dog to be proud of, study the breed, get an idea of what fits the ideal in your mind, and don't settle for less. There's nothing wrong with having a preference for a specific color, just be sure to look for the best quality from a reputable breeder. You won't regret it.

Our advice to breeders: put color second to quality, and think of the long-term effects of your breeding. Breed fawn only because you like that color and want to improve it, not to exploit its uniqueness. By breeding to make money off of the "rainbow" colors, breeders make those colors less desirable in the long run, and endanger the future of those colors. Remember that improving the breed is what justifies breeding.

The number of allowable colors for Miniature Pinschers has decreased over the years. In Europe, blues and fawns are not permitted under the FCI standard, and chocolates have recently been banned. Apparently, these colors lagged far behind red and black in quality.

Years ago, a black and white spotted Miniature Pinscher, the harlequin, was bred in Europe, and it was popular in the United States for the first 2-3 decades of the breed's existence in America. Old photos show harlequins in the conformation ring and in maga-zines, equal to the black and reds. The once-popular harlequin now appears to be extinct, everywhere in the world.

What happened?

The harlequin was said to have coat problems, which were worsened by bad breeding practices. The blue merle gene made harlequins especially difficult to breed. In the 1950s, the AKC revised its standard to exclude harlequins completely, and this coat style soon disappeared.

Coat problems also plagued the harlequin in Europe and caused its extinction there. Breeders made the mistake of asking the FCI to classify the harlequin as a separate breed from the Miniature Pinscher, and that intensified the bad qualities by reducing the gene pool. This contributed to the destruction of the harlequin.

Interestingly, the FCI still saves a place for this coat style, under the name Harlekinpinscher, but it has received no registration entries since WWII.

Like the Harlekinpinscher, chocolate and dilute colors are now nearly extinct in European counties under the FCI standard. In America, chocolate and dilute colors could one day meet the same fate, if quality is not maintained. We hope the chocolate, blue, and fawn colors will be here to stay. That becomes less likely when these colors are exploited, rather than improved.

Today, some Miniature Pinschers have white spots of varying sizes, typically on their chest or feet. A white spot of less than ½-inch (1 cm) is allowed under the AKC standard, but the FCI standard considers any white a disqualifying fault.

Where did the white spot come from?

In the book "The Miniature Pinscher That You May Know," by Chips Jones (1969), we read the likely culprit was the harlequin:

It will be of interest to the novice to appreciate that at one time there were Harlequin Reh Pinschers (Black and White), and as late as 1940 a single breeder in the U.S. was known to have produced them. While Harlequin is not an acceptable color for our breed today, to know that there were once dogs of this color combination in Germany provides us with the origin of white being introduced into the breed. In the broadest sense, any white found on Miniature Pinschers today is traceable to the original harlequins. (Pg. 13)

Mr. Jones writes that most breeders of his era found white "extremely objectionable," and tried to rid the breed of this defect. Regrettably, says Mr. Jones, the AKC breed standard chose to allow the ½-inch of white to appease a small number of breeders. That mistake naturally has kept white in the gene pool, and over time would lead to an increase, not decrease, of this undesirable trait.

Says Mr. Jones:

With each use of a white-marked or white-factored dog or bitch in a breeding program, we are perpetuating and encouraging production of dogs carrying white on their body. Appreciate how quickly this compounds the white factor present in our breed as a whole. (Pg. 9)

Unless they consider white desirable, breeders must make their best effort to eliminate this defect. Since it was not eliminated early on in the breed, and is allowed under the AKC standard, several high quality dogs today may have or carry the spot. It will be a long process before the white is gone, and will depend on the diligence of breeders in removing it.

The color with the most untapped potential is probably the chocolate. This is the only unusual color allowed in shows in America, but it has had little success in the show ring. It generally lags far behind red and black in development. Only a handful of show breeders seriously breed chocolate, so it is most commonly bred by hobby or backyard breeders. The result is an overall quality lesser than it could be.

Aside from the obvious difference in fur color, some chocolates are distinguished by a narrow, round muzzle and a piggy nose. The heads are typically not the most attractive among Miniature Pinschers. One respected show breeder goes so far as to call chocolates a "disaster."

Another authority on the breed, Chips Jones (who authored "The Miniature Pinscher That You May Know" weeks before he died), had another viewpoint, and in 1969 saw great potential in the color:

Chocolate is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful of the allowable colors. A true Chocolate with orange markings is difficult to produce. Nearing extinction, if Chocolate is to survive in Miniature Pinschers it will only be the result of the continuing efforts by several breeders in the U.S. who have chocolate stock or chocolate-factored stock which enables them to produce the color.

Unfortunately, Chocolate is a color few breeders find of interest. Perhaps this is because of the great challenge represented by the color itself and the scarcity of the stock. Frankly, I am not well versed by experience with this color. Anyone who has produced Chocolate and is working with it currently would be quick to point out that the challenge in this color is not alone to produce the color, but to control size and produce quality under the breed Standard. Light yellow eyes and size spoil the ring potential of some dogs produced. So long as Chocolate is being produced, we may continue to hope that the color will be saved in our breed. (Pg. 13 - 14)

Mr. Jones saw enough desirability in the chocolate color to encourage its improvement. Like-minded breeders might try following his suggestions to imrove this color and keep it in the standard. The time has run out for chocolate in most of Europe, as the trend has been to reduce allowable colors. Chocolate was allowed by the FCI until a few years ago, when it was removed from the the Miniature Pinscher breed standard. The lesson to breeders: work on improving the colors you like, or they may become extinct.

Under the FCI standard, only black/rust and red colors are allowed, but "red" is a broad word for several shades. The darkest red, mahogany, actually resembles dark brown. The lightest red is not far from yellow. And of course there are gradations in between.

The rough color palette below gives some idea of the red color range.

Other shades are possible, with more or less brown, rust, or umber.

Our Juri vom Kösslbachtal is dark red, a shade lighter than mahogany, about #2 in the above palette. Mahogany was once available in the United States, but seems today to be a uniquely European color.