When they are produced, the pups usually come from dogs with apricot lines, which can be confusing to many since of course red is a much darker and deeper color.
While the DNA of red poodles still needs to be better understood, they do appear to be of a completely separate gene, sometimes referred to as the “rufus” gene.
This gene may work to darken an apricot (or sometimes a brown) coat.
One thing that is clear is that the red gene has absolutely no affect on blacks. The apricot gene is recessive to all Poodles except for the white.