[Ashley V]

Honestly, I've never understood the difference in coat types. Smokey's eyes have always shown up a really bright neon yellow in pictures. As a puppy he wasn't black, but a really dark charcoal gray. He is now a very pale silver (almost white) and has a lot of pale tan mixed in with it, not just tan on the legs and face. He's changing colors again and has a charcoal silver stripe down his spine. His coat was awful as a puppy. His hair would be full of horrible matts. After we cut him down real short, his hair has been amazing and doesn't matt at all. If we go awhile without bathing and brushing though, his hair get really straggly and stringy. Chip's eyes have shown up like a dark teal. He's black, even at almost 4 years old and has silver "highlights" as I call them. We keep his hair in a puppy cut, but he never matts either. His hair has always been perfect. From what I've read, the green eyes mean a silky coat and the red eyes mean a cotton coat... correct? I guess I never really understood the real difference between the coat types.

The first picture is of Chippy and in one eye you can see a dark teal color. Poor baby was actually sick when I took that picture. He was almost a year old in that picture, but he really hasn't changed all that much. The second picture was of Smokey around 8 months old before we chopped off all his puppy hair. You can see that his hair wasn't actually black, but more of a charcoal gray. The third picture was of both of them together. Chip almost a year old and Smokey about 8 months. You can see the difference in their eyes - Smokey, still showing a yellow and Chip more of a blue-green. The fourth picture was around last Christmas, so the boys were both almost 3. Smokey still has the yellow eyes, but you can see how pale silver his coat is.