to be blue ...

... or not to be blue, that is the question.

And the answer is:  not to be blue, in this instance.

That's not to say that I have given up on the non-brown puppy being a strange, dilute colour.  On the contrary I am now leaning toward thinking she is actually lilac - a colour even rarer than blue.  Dog genetics is complicated, but the Dog Coat Colour Genetics website has some very user-friendly information that doesn't make even me glaze over when they start on the locus and allele stuff.

In the simplest terms, blue occurs when a genetically black dog has a gene that dilutes the colour.  Looking at genetically blue Lapphunds, like the second one on this page, I can see that my puppy is not that slate-grey colour.  In fact, I originally described her as the colour of a Weimaraner - and they are not actually blue, but lilac.  Lilac occurs when the blue dilution gene is present in a brown dog.  And I am now thinking that's what I have.

Frankly it doesn't really matter what colour I think she is, or even what colour she actually is, because although blue and lilac are recognised colours for Finnish Lapphunds in Scandanavia, they are not on the list of UK Kennel Club recognised colours for our breed.  Whatever colour my girl is genetically speaking, she will be registered as brown or brown & tan or brown, tan & white, depending on how her colour develops.  Interestingly, "red" is an acceptable colour for us to use, when in fact "red" Finnish Lapphunds are actually genetically brown or sable.  The Kennel Club - defying logic since 1873.

Anyway, I did say it was complicated, didn't I?  Let us not descend too far into the murky waters of dog coat colour genetics - I would never find my way back out!  So, back to lilac.

Here is a cute row of fat, suckling puppies from their second morning in the world.

You may be wondering why I am so determined that this puppy is not just brown.  Well, the reason is that I have seen a more-than-middling number of brown Lappy puppies in my time, and in every single case, the colour was nothing like this puppy, who has no red in her shade whatsoever. 

Perhaps comparing Kuura's brown mum with his "brown" daughter, you can see why I am determined that she is not brown.  Kuura's mum is one of these puppies on their first day in the world  As you can see, they are very clearly brown, no doubt about it.

Granted, my "brown" Lappies have a great deal of red in the shade.  So I went on the hunt for a photo of a Lappy whose brown is a cooler, less red shade.  One dog springs to mind, TabanyaRuu Impi, who is a rich, dark brown that is rather cooler than the Infindigo reds.   Standing by to see a photo of her as a small puppy.

Perhaps you think that based on all this, I should be more adamant that she is lilac.  But I would expect a lilac puppy to be more silvery, so that is stopping me.  The lilac puppies on this page ("siniparkit") are unmistakable.  But when you look at the older puppies on that page and the adult lilac Finnish Lapphunds at the bottom of this page it's not so clear-cut. 

So I'm just going to see how her colour develops as she grows.  Is there a way to determine absolutely one way or the other whether she is lilac?  Nope.  With blue, the adult dog will always have a blue nose, so that's easy.  But with lilac, the nose connection doesn't work the same way.  Right now her nose is kind of pink, which suggests lilac.  However, 2 of the black boys also have pink noses inherited from their dad, so that doesn't work.  It's worth mentioning, however, that theirs is a pink stripe like Kuura's and hers is not.  At this point I would just like to predict that these two boys will have fabulous snow noses when they grow up!

And here is the contented mum and brood this morning.