Colors

I'm quite interested in genetics, so I tried to describe the color inheritance of the lagotto. I might be wrong at some point, maybe everything is completely different in reality, anyway, as far we know today, based on the alleles and genes found, I think this guessing brings us closer to know the colors of the lagotto.
Source: Dr. Laszlo Zoldag - Canine genetics and inherited diseases, plus an English homepage about the dog's color inheritance.

A - the agouti series, in order of dominance.

A^s - solid black - dominant black.

A^y - dominant yellow - yellow or tan, sometimes with black tipped hairs or interspersed black hairs.

a^w or A - agouti or wild - this is the wild "wolf-color" seen in wolf and in nordic breeds.

a^sa - black saddle - tan or yellow with black saddle.

a^t - with tan markings - if present in double dose, produces a dog which is predominantly black, with tan markings on the muzzle, over the eyes, on the chest, legs, and under the tail..

a - recessive black - present in German Shepherd.

From these only the A^s and a^t are present in lagotto, because the colors produced by the other alleles are not accepted in lagotto breed. If any of them is be present in the breed, sooner or later they will appear in double dose and produce the respective color. The A^s black is deceptive, because in lagotto the black pigmentation is not allowed, this black pigmentation is modified by another gene (bb, see there).
In the dogs with genotype a^ta^t, if the self color is light or orange, the tan markings are hardly visible or invisible. Even in the brown dogs, which are born with visible tan markings, by the time they grow adult, the tan markings are barely discoverable.

A^sA^sor A^sa^t - without tan markings

a^ta^t - with tan markings

B the brown series

B - black - in single or double dose, allows the production of black pigment

b - brown - recessive, in double dose produces brown pigment wherever the dog would otherwise have produced black.

In the lagotto there is only bb in double dose, because the black pigmentation is not allowed in any shades. Even the light or white dogs have brown nose and eye rims, never black.

bb - brown pigmentation

C - the albino series, in order of dominance.

C - full color - allows full expression of whatever pigment is prescribed by other genes

c^ch - chinchilla or silver - when present in double dose removes most or all of the phaeomelanin pigment with only a slight effect on black pigment, brown dogs show lightening even of eumelanin pigment.

c^p or c^b - blue, platina - platinum, is optically similar to albino, blue eyes, white coat

c - albino, totally pigmentless

In the lagotto the occurent alleles are C and c^ch. The c^ch in double dose lightens the brown in light brown nuances and the orange to cream or off-white. The orange born dogs carring c^ch can very hardly be differentiated from the white dogs (determinated from the S series, without patch), maybe the orange nuance of the coat can help.

CC or Cc^ch - full expression of color

c^chc^ch - brown lightened to light-brown, orange lightened to off-white

D the dilution series

D - dense - dominant, full pigmentation

d - dilute - recessive, dilute pigment, affects both eumelanin and phaeomelanin pigment, the black is diluted to blue (grey), the brown is diluted to lilac (fawn, isabella), the red is diluted to cinnamon (pale cream).

In the lagotto breed the existence of d allelle is inprobable, because d in double dose with b in double dose produces a light-liver nose pigmentation. This diluation is hard to differentiate from the c^chc^ch dilution, however the very light nose pigmentation of some light coated dogs make its presence doubtful.

DD or Dd - full pigmentation

dd - diluted pigmentation, maybe present in the breed?

E the extension series, in order of dominance.

E^m - mask factor - this gene replaces phaeomelanin (tan) with eumelanin (black) over a part of the dog

E^br - brindle - black, vertical stripes on a sable/fawn background.

E - normal extension of black - allows the A-series alleles to show through with no masking or brindling

e - recessive red - overrides whatever gene is present at the A locus to produce a dog which shows only phaeomelanin pigment in the coat, results color of red, golden, orange

The E^m and E^br are not present in the breed, the orange lagottos are probably ee. The clear orange is rare in the breed, even the orange born puppies turn into a lighter orange.

EE or Ee - dogs with brown pigment

ee - dogs with orange pigment

G the graying series

G - graying - partially dominant allele, the effect of G in single or double dose is the replacement of colored by uncolored hairs as the animal ages, a dark puppy pales and washes out with age, and the paling is due to interspersed white hairs. The fading may start immediately after birth (GG) or after a period of weeks to months has elapsed (Gg), and may go as far as it is going to by the first adult coat or may continue through the animal's lifetime.

g - no graying

In the lagotto breed it is very frequent that a dark puppy pales and washes out with age, possibly this gene makes the roan color. This change is very spectacular, a dark brown puppy can turn into a very light shade of brown, or an orange puppy into off-white.

GG - the born color turns in light shade

Gg - the born color turns in darker shade

gg - the born color remains for life

M - the merle series

M - incomplete dominant allele - is another dilution gene, but instead of diluting the whole coat it causes a patchy dilution, with a black coat becoming gray patched with black, liver becomes dilute red patched with liver. In double dose the dog has much more white than is normal for the breed, and may have hearing loss, vision problems including small or missing eyes, and possible infertility.

m - no merling

The M allele probably is not present in the breed

mm - no merling

S - white spotting

S - solid color - this is the normal gene in breeds without white markings. An SS dog can completely lack white, but it can also express very minor white markings - white toes, white tail tip, or a star or streak on the chest

sⁱ - irish spotting - spotting is generally confined to the neck, the chest, the underbody, the legs and the tail tip. White does not cross the back between the withers and the tail, though it may appear on the back of the neck. Breeds with "Collie markings" probably have sⁱ sⁱ.

s^p - piebald - piebald and irish spotting seem to overlap in phenotype in one direction, while piebald and extreme white overlap in the other. In general, it seems a piebald has more than 50% white, white often crosses the back, and the pattern gives the impression of fairly large colored spots on a white background.

s^w - extreme white piebald - extreme white piebalds range from the color-headed whites which may also have a few colored spots on the body, especially near the tail, through dogs with color confined to the area around the ear or eye to some pure whites.

In the lagotto breed all alleles are present, so the color of this breed is diverse. The alleles overlap each other in phenotype, so the correct genotype can't be defined based on the patches. The following enumeration is more informative:

SS or Ssⁱ - solid brown or orange dogs, without white, or with very minor white

sⁱsⁱ, sⁱs^p or Ss^p - brown or orange dogs with white pathes

s^ps^p, s^ps^w, sⁱs^wor Ss^w - white dogs with brown or orange patches

s^ws^w - white or white with very minor brown or orange patches

T ticking series

T - ticking - develop flecks of color in areas left white by genes in the S series, it is invisible at birthtime, only the pigmentation of skin implies it.

t - no ticking

In the lagotto breed some dogs with pedigree color roan are born white with pathes and after a few weeks the white areas turn in dark, roan. When this dog is clipped, the ticking can be seen better.

TT or Tt - ticked white area, clear patches

tt - clear patches, white without ticking

The structure and the lenght of the coat

According to standard the coat must be: woolly-texture hair, never twisted to form thin cords or curls, semi-rough on the surface, with very thicks curls, ring-shaped, with visible undercoat. Curls must be homogeneously distributed throughout the body, barring the head where curls tend to open up. Abundant whiskers, beard and eyebrows. Even the cheeks are covered with thick hair.

This coat is determinated by 3 alelle series:

L series

L - short hair - dominant allele

l - long hair - the lenght of the hair is variable in different longhaired breeds

ll - longhair

W^a series

W^a - flat hair - dominant allele

w^a - curly, wavy hair - the hair is curly or wavy, this can be expressed only in long hair

w^aw^a - curly hair

W^h series

W^h - wire hair - strong, wire hair, with bear and moustache on the head, dominant allele

w^h - silky hair - the hair is silky, soft, the longhaired breeds have flat and short hair on the head

In normal cases, lagotto has a hairy head, beard and mustache defined by the dominant allele. However, some dogs may be born with a short haired head, short hair on the legs, and softer, silkier, wavy hair on their body. This is definiately a sign of the w^h allele hidden in the breed, two carriers W^h-w^h parent may breed w^h-w^h puppies with silky, soft hair on the head. This attribute is not desired in the breed, since it does not comform to the standard's description about the hair.

W^hW^h or W ^hw^h - wire hair, mustache, beard

w^hw^h - silky short hair on the head and the legs, wavy hair on the body, not accepted, but happens sometimess

I guess that the colors indicated in the pedigree are often not describing reality exactly. For instance, a lot of dogs indicated white in the pedigree are actually light orange, or orange roan, or maybe a patched combination of these. Likewise, some dogs indicated roan in the pedigree are actually roan because of the graying gene, these are born dark, and get lighter by time. There can also be ticked dogs, which are born white patched, and the white parts darken. The different combinations of light orage only have theoretical importance, these dogs cannot be differentiated from each other in fenotype. There can also be a wide variety of brown, and often it is hard to decide if the dog is a diluted version of a solid brown, or maybe a brown roan. This description is just a guess, I'm uncertain if it has any practical significance.