Mirtillo has black hair in his tail and on both sides of his neck. I only have a picture of his tail. It's less apparent on his neck.

Is it normal for a R&W to have black hair also? Will it fade away? (Not that I mind, I actually like it. He got his name (Mirtillo = bleuberry) because of it)

His tail:

It is usually a sign that they carry the tri colour gene, it will probably fade over time.

Ok.

Forgot to tell: he also has black hair on the back of his ears. It's pretty cute

I do have photos of his parents, grandparents and their parents and they are all red. Can he still carry the tri colour gene then?

Just had a look at his full pedigree on the database and he has a G.G.G.Grandparent that is a tri colour, Bokoto Nile Black Tango who is on his dams side.

Yes, the tri color gene is recessive so it can "hide" for many generations. That is definitely what is on his tail. Some don't fade. Most (all? we don't know about Blondie for sure) of my reds are tri factored, and all the ones that have it, have carried the black on the tail all their lives.

Funny this question came up this week. I was just looking at photos of Bryan and Laurie's new pups and noticed black like that on one of the red's tails. This litter also had tri's in it. I was going to ask him about it this weekend. Now I don't have to!

You guys ARE good; now you're beginning to answer questions before I even ask them.

It usually means they carry tri. My girl Rio's tail looks the same and she definately carries the tri gene since she has a tri daddy. My boy Nicky has no black on his tail and is most likely pure for red because his parents seem to have been pure for red. Here are pics of their tails.

My Max had a tail with black in it just like Mirtillo. He had it all his life. He had no other black anywhere else on his body.

Our Max has a black diamond in the center of his tail and is Tri factor…....his half sister Penny(same daddy)........has no black at all on her tail and is not Tri factor.