# Do coats change color as a puppy grows?



## AkiraAnubise12 (Oct 3, 2017)

Well, when midnight was born she was the only black one, at 8 weeks she was still black but then a pale cream color started to show in her ears, at the base behind her ears, and around her eyes. Her tiny white spot was once a dark grey, but its becaming a white/cream color but is still tiny. Both parents were black and tan with the "saddle bag" mark and her two brothers were also tan and black. So my question is will her coat lighten as she gets older or will she became black and tan like her parents and siblings? 
Right now her base coat is just getting dark with a dark reddish/brown tint.

First and second picture is at 7 weeks
second is 8 week
third and fourth is 10 weeks

Edit: the ones on her are hard to see because they are still somewhat floppy.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Do you have photos of mom and dad? Or a pedigree that shows mom and dad and the dogs behind them? Maybe they are on the pedigreedatabase.com?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I was going to ask the same as Lisa. Two Black and Tan dogs can only have black and tan puppies. Your puppy does not look black and tan, but he does not look solid black either. 

One of the parents may actually be a patterned sable, which can sometimes look very much like a regular black and tan. The pictures of the parents and/or the pedigree might shed some light on the mystery.


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## AkiraAnubise12 (Oct 3, 2017)

Sadly i deleted the pictures i took of the mother and father, though i did see them in person. I found a picture that did resemble the pattern and color coat on the parents Neither parents were registered. I did learn more about the grandparents from the breeder, as the breeder i bought them from had the grandmother and parents. 

So far i was told that the mothers parents were from a working line. And I stand corrected the mother is black/cream with blanket not black/tan(goes to show how much i know about coat colors) . Her mother was a black/cream and father was sable. The dad i am not to sure as the breeder bought the father, but was told the dad's sire was a diluted black/tan and his mother was black/tan. Though the breeder said the person he bought the dad from didn't care about the coat, so they bred the fathers line with differents coats and lines. 

Is it possiable that my pup could have gotten a recessive gene that did not show in the grandmother and parents? I have been told that she might be bi-colored. Though I don't know much about lines and coats for the breed.

I'll try to get a better picture of her with the marking but it may take a while because she doesn't like to sit for long.


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## AkiraAnubise12 (Oct 3, 2017)

Here are updated photos from yesterday. If you look closely it looks like she is started to get a pattern of black fur. I got so many comments on her coat from it looks likes she sat in dust, to she looks like a black/cream, bi or brindled color. Though every says she will be a beautiful dog when she grows up. She is currently 3 months


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

Red/tan/creme is all the same color with different degrees of pigmentation. The way color genetics work in GSDs, sable is dominant, followed by black and tan, then bi-color, then black. Two black and tan dogs can't produce sable puppies. Depending on what recessive gene the parents carry, it is possible to get bi-color or black dogs from two black and tan parents, but never sable.

Your puppy is very cute, and from the pictures looks like a dark sable to me... So either something doesn't add up about the color of her parents/grandparents or the pictures just aren't showing her color very well.


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## Trix (Jun 22, 2017)

It looks as though she went from being a black GSD to nearly becoming a very very dark sable (with still a ways to go.) I love the dark sables more than any other color GSD, including black. With her parents not being registered, it really about impossible to determine. 

I look forward to your updates, she seems to have more beautiful coloring with each added picture. 

I have a pretty dark sable, and did a tonnnnn of research on GSD coloring as they grow. I’d have to say in probably 90% of cases I saw, pups seemed to get darker as they age, with phases of light and dark along the way. Not always true, but that seems to be the majority of the cases. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Dragon67155 (Oct 16, 2017)

She's a pretty puppy.


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

from that last set of pictures, I'd say that she is definitely a sable.


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