Pug Colors – AKC Standard and Rare Pug Colors

There are a variety of colors that pugs can be, but the most common colors are fawn and black, the only two recognized colors by the American Kennel Club (AKC).

Wait, does that mean pugs that aren’t fawn or black can’t be registered with the AKC?

You can register non-standard, or the rarer breed colors for pugs. It just can’t compete in the show ring.

What is the breed standard for the CKC, FCI and KC?

The Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) recognizes three colors for pugs: fawn, silver-fawn and black.

The Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) recognizes four colors for pugs: silver, apricot, fawn and black.

The Kennel Club of the UK (KC) recognizes four colors for pugs: silver, apricot, fawn and black.

How Common Are Fawn and Black Pugs?

We’ve covered this previously in our post about interesting pug facts and statistics, in a survey conducted by PetPugDog, here’s the breakdown of pug colors by nearly 3,000 respondents:

• %65 Fawn
• %22 Black
• %4 apricots
• %3 silver-fawns
• %1 brindles
• %3 ‘other’ which included those whose owners were not sure about their Pug’s color.

It should be noted that the color “fawn” includes shades that range from light apricot to deep apricot to reddish gold.

Rare Pug Colors

If you’re reading this blog and interested in pugs, chances are you already know about fawn and black pugs… and perhaps you’ve seen a few unique colors on Instagram or the like, well some of the rare pug colors include: White (Albino), Brindle, Black and White (Panda), Merle, Brown and Sable.

Why do some pugs come in these different colors?

Does genetics explain these variations in pigment? Or is it simply a matter of the absence of melanin? Not exactly…

What causes these uncommon pug colors?

Black and White Pugs (Panda)

Let’s start with a pure white pug – they’re actually just albino.

Black pugs can have small white markings, though large markings are seen as faults in show.

White it’s quite unclear on how to produce a certain rare color, though it’s known that a black pugs can carry the fawn gene, the SS gene. This is because you can breed a fawn and black pug, which will often produce black pugs because the gene is more dominant.

Note that breeders tend to choose to breed fawn pugs, which is why it’s more popular at 65% vs 22% for black pugs.    

Merle Pugs

The merle trait can produce pugs with patches of dark and light pigment in the coat… the rarest trait is blue eyes.

A Google search for “Merle Pugs” may show pugs with blue eyes, however most are either a.) photoshopped or b.) newborn pugs and the color of the eyes shifts to brown as they age.

The ASPCA does warn that dogs with the merle trait can have health issues that effect the lifespan of a pug… especially in the case where you breed dogs that both carry the merle gene.

Blue, Silver and Lilac Pugs

These traits can produce a myriad of different variations eg. silver fawn pugs. This is a result of a recessive gene for coat color.

To get a better understanding, we can learn a little more about rare colors from the pugs flat faced cousin, the french bulldog:

How Much Do Rare Pug Colors Cost?

Though not recognized as the breed standard by the AKC, most people don’t care because they have no interest in having their dog compete.

Let’s start with our post How Much Does a Pug Cost? We’ve covered data on initial and ongoing costs, in short a pug puppy can be anywhere from $1000-2000… on the higher-end (or even more) from a good breeder with championship bloodline.

Rare pug colors can fetch a multiple of 10x or even more, it’s such a small market it’s really all about what a buyer is willing to pay.

Now breeding pugs is not quite as lucrative as our cousin – the Frenchie… so we’ll use case examples from there.

Because of celebrity demand, fluffy frenchies can go for $100,000+. Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins runs a stable where he has french bulldogs worth $250,000 on up to $1 million.

It’s all about supply and demand, and though historically, french bulldogs have always had high demand, pugs have skyrocketed in popularity, and thus it wouldn’t be surprising if we see rare pugs fetching $50k+ within the next decade.