# Bicolor or Black with Bleedthrough? HELP



## GSDLOVERX2 (Dec 10, 2013)

I have a male German Shepherd Puppy, I assume he is a bi-color. But the only thing is that he is super dark. He is 10 weeks almost 11 weeks. At birth he had no tan at all, not even at his vent. None between his toes, well at 5 weeks old I noticed that he had tan in between his toes and a few tan hairs at his vent. 
Well now at 10 weeks, he has a small amount of tan in his ears, a bit on his cheeks(a camera can't pick it up), alot between his toes and alot at his vent. Also he has tan going up the back of his legs. Very confused by this, I have been told that he is a black with bleed through. But I am not totally convinced.The pictures do show the tan, but you can see more of it in person. It is diluted though. 















above-an overview picture of him







you can see between his toes







his front leg, the tan on his legs







a close up on his paw


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

That is quite young for bleed through, but it is possible. He could be either. Best way to know for sure is to look at the pedigree to see which color genetics are possible. What color were his parents and do you know what other colors they could have carried as recessive? What does the breeder think based on his/her knowledge of the color genetics in the lines?


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

every black GSD I've seen gets white hair between the toes, some more than others. They all also get white hair when there is scar tissue present


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

hunterisgreat said:


> every black GSD I've seen gets white hair between the toes, some more than others. They all also get white hair when there is scar tissue present


This isn't true of every black, though it may be of the ones you've seen. I've had 2 blacks who never got any bleed through between the toes or elsewhere, and scar tissue areas healed back in black as well. And I've known a few others that were the same. So while bleed through and white scar spots aren't uncommon on black dogs, they are not always present either.


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## GSDLOVERX2 (Dec 10, 2013)

Well he isn't a registered dog, but I own his mother. She is the dog in my avatar pic. She is blanket back black and tan. Her mom and dad where similar to her, her dad had a longer coat. The pups dad is a lighter saddle back black in tan, big on the tan. We will be getting her spayed soon, so no more puppies. But I do know Jett is a Shepherd, I was thinking he was to young for bleed through. But he has to much tan, in my head to think that he is going to be a black gsd. Again the pictures don't show it very well.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Chris Wild said:


> This isn't true of every black, though it may be of the ones you've seen. I've had 2 blacks who never got any bleed through between the toes or elsewhere, and scar tissue areas healed back in black as well. And I've known a few others that were the same. So while bleed through and white scar spots aren't uncommon on black dogs, they are not always present either.


I'm sure there are exceptions. My vet also said she saw the same thing with scar tissue (across breeds), and actually said its not uncommon for white coated dogs to have black or dark hair grow through scar tissue. Odd eh?


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