Cairn Terrier colors
©Berit Rosenfeldt

It is almost impossible to give exact colors of the puppies when they are young.
According to the Danish Kennel Club rules we have to register the pups only 3 weeks old, and at that point getting the colors correct is pure luck. Breeding for colors will take you nowhere, like picking the pup because of the color will be of no use.

Our breed can change colors a lot because of the brindle gene.
Brindle means that the coat is striped like a tiger. The single stray of hair has variation in color, normally dark at the skin and lighter at the tip. A cairnterrier coat should never be spotted like a giraffe.

 

Creme	Light Brindle
Wheaten	Light Brindle	Darker Brindle
Red	Rich Red	Red Brindle	Dark Red Brindle
Grey	Grey Brindle	Dark Brindle

PS Any variation of Brindle will be OK
 

Color Changes
Some of the cairns go through dramatic color changes.
Here is a few samples of the same dogs at different ages

6 month	5 year
2 years	7 years

Fault in colors
In our FCI standard the following colors are faults: Black, White and Black/Tan
Black and White are easy to see, so here is a sample of a very rare Black/Tan cairn color.

©Berit Rosenfeldt www.cairn.dk