# Coloring Question.



## x.WOLFiE.x (Sep 1, 2012)

I have read through some other posts on this but had a question. Our 9 month old puppy was pure black when we got him, with just some tan between his toes. As he has gotten older, he now has a significant amount of tan and sable only on the back of his front legs. He also has sable behind his back legs which actually loop around and form a bit of a dark sable "anklet". He has no tan on his face or chest, etc. He has a little bit of extremely light tan (arguably gray??) fur on the inside of his back legs as well... 

So I had a few questions -
- Is he black and tan or black? 
- When will his coat stop changing? 
- Will the gray fall out and turn into tan?

He changes each month and we are just curious as to what he will look like as an adult. 

Thanks all!


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## mandiah89 (Jan 18, 2013)

He is a coat color known as "bi-black"  Beautiful dog BTW


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

I'm not quite sure what you mean by sable around his legs. Did he have a sable parent? If not then he's not a sable. He sounds like a bi-color. So a mostly black with just tan or brown feet/legs. It might lighten up in the future and it might not, but he's probably just going to stay mostly black with some tan on him.


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## Soto (Dec 27, 2012)

I just wanted to say he is gorgeous!


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

I agree it sounds like a bi-colour

Delgado is one too, here are some photos for reference: 

6 months










11 months










Most bicolours have tan up their legs but very little to none on face or chest. 

Sounds like he has tar heels, which are thick black marks up the back of their legs. Does he have pencil toes, which are black stripes on his toes?


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## x.WOLFiE.x (Sep 1, 2012)

his toes are actually all black, just tan in between - literally in between his toes. it does not spill onto his actual toes (see pic below).

any idea when they stop changing? 

delgado is beautiful!


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Ohhh..incredibly gorgeous!


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## x.WOLFiE.x (Sep 1, 2012)

Lilie said:


> Ohhh..incredibly gorgeous!


thank you so much. he really is. but to be honest - i 've never seen an ugly gsd. love them all.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Definetely not Black and Tan, I'd bet he's a bi-colour

Can you post more photos of his markings? We need to see more if this handsome guy . I love the blacks and bi-colours :wub:


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

He looks like my boy did when he was a youngster.
*Ace at 20wks and his sisters. My baby's growing up.*:wub:


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## x.WOLFiE.x (Sep 1, 2012)

1sttimeforgsd said:


> He looks like my boy did when he was a youngster.
> *Ace at 20wks and his sisters. My baby's growing up.*:wub:


Yes, exactly! What does he look like now???

nevermind. I just looked at your photos.  Silly me. lol


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

I love bicolors, and I think that your boy is gorgeous. The brown will grow up his legs more but he will keep his pencil toes.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Colouring like you describe on your pup has been called different things depending which school of thought you ask. I have heard it called Genetically black, with bleed-through. (Your pup is gorgeous by the way!). but then some people argue, that any amount of tan on a black makes it a bi-colour. The Bi's can be very _melanistic_ meaning that they have large amounts of black pigment, almost making them look solid black, except for those areas of tan bleed through, like on your pup, and some of the pics posted. 

So long answer above. Short answer is: your pup may be called a solid black with bleed-through, or a melanistic bi-colour, depending on who you ask. 

One way that one could find out is to study the pedigree and see what the chances of colour inheritance are. However, some dogs that have been registered as solid black in the past may actually have been bi-colours with so little bleed-through colour that it was not noticed, so the pedigree alone may not be of much help. 

I know there are some more knowledgeable people here with a deeper understanding of colour inheritance, so perhaps they can shed a bit of more light on the question.


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