New member

Hi All,
New to the page- I joined because I have been reading a lot of forums from this group online. I rescued a staffy/boxer 1 year ago yesterday. In the last I would say 4 months he is changing color. We thought at first he was balding ( he was shedding a lot) and it made us very nervous (took him to the vet twice) but now he is actually changing color in spots. Not sure why? He was black when we rescued him, but now light brown and even reddish. Is this common? Any information would be great!

Thank you

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Hello and welcome from my girls and me.

Good on you for taking on a rescue.
I’d love to hear a bit more about your adventures together.

I take it you rescued your boy when he was a pup so he must be a little over a year old now ?
It would probably help us if you were able to post a few photos. Often the image will speak a thousand words and I’m sure someone on here will have something to share on the subject

Hi from me & Katy
Welcome to the forum & thankyou for rescuing your boy Look forward to seeing him & hearing all about him
Pop on some photos so we can see the issue with his changes.

Hi there & welcome.

As he's a cross between two breeds that carry brindle, it could be that the brindle is starting to show through?

Can you add a pic?

Thank you! We actually just got him genetically tested last month. He is 75% American staffy, 12% boxer and then mixed between a few sporting breeds dog.
Yes he turned 1 a few days ago.
We started noticed the color change I would say 4 months ago now.

This is what he looked like 4 months prior. Sorry for all of the pictures.

We can never have enough pictures here He's a handsome boy & I would say his brindle is coming through Other than Katy's brindle patches she was pure white until around a year old now she has spots all over

He’s so handsome, don’t ever apologize for posting photos!
His colouring certainly is very special, he reminds me a little of a merle coat which has existed on the AmStaff side of the family.

I did a lot of googling- I was just wondering if it’s common for a change to happen like that but maybe this is his adult coat. He is getting a little lighter every day! Thank you so much for all of the feedback, I was worried at first.

Just another thought.
I don’t know where you are in the world but I’ve seen dark horses become very lighter in colour in winter before moulting back to the dark summer coat.

It’s summer here- very hot in Jersey. I was wondering if he was getting lighter because of the sun.

Yes, could be bleaching of the coat under the sun too ...

What a strikingly handsome boy!

He isn't merle, that's absolutely certain. It looks more like a form of brindling. Plus, the darker colour looks to be blue, and blue brindles often lighten over a few months.

If you're based in the UK, please don't mention to anyone that he's part AmStaff. It's a banned breed here! If anyone asks, he's a boxer cross!

Thank you! He is a cutie pie and so good!

I didn’t think he was Merle- we were told his mom was a blue nose so maybe it is hits of gray. I just thought the coloring was kind of odd and all over the place but not on his face or legs.
I am in the US

Ah, great, no problems with the AmStaff then!

Yes, he's a really handsome boy.

He is lovely.
I suggested merle as I thought brindle was “stripes” and he has more like “flecks” like merle ...

Merle always runs in 'blotches'. Brindling is just a darker colour showing through the red base coat.

We learn something every day, thank you gilly

Thank you all!