Lovelocks is known for our warm-toned Australian Cobberdogs, from pale creams and soft golds through rich caramel, copper and deep red. These colours are a much-loved part of our program, but temperament, health, structure and connection will always come before colour.

Colour may catch your eye. Temperament is what you live with.

Red & Caramel Australian Cobberdogs

Warm Colour. Beautiful Variation.

Red and Caramel Australian Cobberdog Puppies

Understanding Red &Caramel

Red and caramel Australian Cobberdogs can look surprisingly similar in coat colour. The key difference is not simply how light or dark the coat appears, but the pigment underneath — especially the colour of the nose, eye rims and other skin pigment.

Both colours can range from pale gold through to rich copper and deep red, so pigment is often a better guide than coat shade alone.

Red Australian Cobberdogs

Caramel Australian Cobberdogs

Red Cobberdogs have black pigment — a black nose, dark eye rims and dark eyes.

Their coat can range from soft gold through to rich copper and deep red.

Caramel Cobberdogs have brown or liver pigment instead of black and have lighter eye colour.

Their coat can range from almost white through gold and caramel to deep copper.

Did You Know?

Red and caramel Cobberdogs can have the same coat shade — the key difference is pigment, not how light or dark the coat appears. The e/e genotype produces the red/yellow coat spectrum, while the B locus determines whether the underlying pigment is black or brown/liver.

B/- e/e = black pigment (red) · b/b e/e = brown/liver pigment (caramel)

The Many Shades Of Caramel

One of the things I love most about caramel Australian Cobberdogs is the incredible variation within the colour. A caramel can be almost white, soft cream, gold, apricot, warm caramel, copper or an exceptionally deep rich shade. What makes the dog caramel is not the depth of the coat colour, but the brown/liver pigment of the nose, eye rims and skin.

Windy — Cool Caramel

Windy is a beautiful example of the palest end of the caramel spectrum. She has a very pale, almost white coat, yet her liver pigment and light eyes clearly identify her as caramel.

Her colouring demonstrates perfectly why looking only at coat shade can be misleading.

A caramel dog does not need to have a caramel-coloured coat.

Saffy — Warm Caramel

At the other end of the spectrum is Saffy.

Saffy has the same caramel pigment family but expresses an exceptionally rich, warm coat with deep copper tones.

She represents the warmest and deepest expression of caramel, with many beautiful shades occurring between her colouring and Windy's.

What About the “Rufus Gene”?

Breeders have long used the term Rufus to describe inherited factors that deepen and intensify red pigment.

You will often hear dogs described as having strong “rufus” when they consistently produce richer copper or red colouring.

However, it is more accurate to think of rufus as a historical breeding term for red-intensity modifiers rather than one simple gene that can currently explain every shade of red.

Modern research shows that phaeomelanin intensity is genetically complex and can involve multiple genes and breed-specific variants. Some intensity variants can now be DNA tested, but they do not explain every shade seen across all breeds. For this reason, phenotype still matters enormously.

Experienced breeders look at:

the dog's own depth of colour across the hair strand from a few weeks old
parents and grandparents
siblings
previous offspring
whether a dog consistently produces rich colour
how colour changes as dogs mature

Over generations, these observations can reveal strong inherited colour tendencies even when a single DNA test cannot yet describe them completely.

Our Warm-Toned Lovelocks Lines

Over generations, Lovelocks has developed lines displaying a beautiful spectrum of warm Australian Cobberdog colouring — from Windy’s ethereal cool caramel through to Saffy’s rich copper warmth, as well as reds with black pigment ranging from soft gold through to deep red.

It is important to understand that coat colour is not static. Most red and caramel Cobberdogs are at their richest and most vibrant when young and will lighten to some degree as their adult coat develops and as they mature. The amount of fading varies considerably between individual dogs and bloodlines.

Some dogs with strong red-intensity or traditionally described “rufus” influence may maintain richer colour for longer, or even deepen in colour during certain stages of development. However, even richly coloured dogs can soften or fade with age.

For this reason, we never guarantee that a puppy will retain the exact shade seen at eight weeks. Pigment family is genetically predictable; the precise depth and intensity of the adult coat is much less so.