# Sable or Black and Tan???



## Bzika (May 11, 2017)

Hello All,

I've heard conflicting labels for my puppy's coat. When he was very young his coat didn't look like a standard black and tan. You could see definite banding of colors on the individual hairs, sometimes 3 or 4 stripes. People told me he was a sable. However, as he's gotten older his coat has changed. He's now 4 months old and people say that he's a black and tan. I can still see his individual hairs are multicolored, predominately cream bottom half with black tips. Can he be a black and tan with banded hairs?

Please help! What is he considered? Sable or black and tan?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I think your pup is a patterned sable. Was one of the parents sable and the other black and tan?


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## Bzika (May 11, 2017)

Castlemaid said:


> I think your pup is a patterned sable. Was one of the parents sable and the other black and tan?


Thanks for your help. I'm not sure what the parents were. They looked just like he does, that black/tan coloring. I wasn't educated about the different coat patterns and just saw "oooh cute puppies!" lol. 

Although, most of the other puppies in the litter were darker with a very traditional deeply pigmented black and tan appearance. I picked him because he stuck out in appearance.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between a patterned sable, and a black and tan. It is very possible that one of the parents was a patterned sable, like your pup.


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## Dori (Apr 30, 2017)

I am not sure on the coat color. I would call it sable but I am not a professional I just want to say your puppy is sooooooo cute.. I can hardly stand it!


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

As a puppy he looked like a sable.....thus he IS a sable....but now he has the saddle pattern and has lost the coloring to make his pattern show...he may continue to lose coloring and lighten up even more...

I will agree that he is a pattern sable.....black and tan pups are almost all black at birth and lighten up as they grow, he looks to have been a sable at birth and has lightened up.


Lee


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