# 4 year old Male Sable



## jägersoldat (Oct 26, 2011)

Would love a critique.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

He looks black and tan. Nice looking dog. I like his head.


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## jägersoldat (Oct 26, 2011)

Ah, I never knew what his actual coat was but saw some dogs labeled "sable" that looked similar and just assumed.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

looks like a patterned sable to me!! was he predominately black or brown as a puppy?


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## jägersoldat (Oct 26, 2011)

selzer said:


> He looks black and tan. Nice looking dog. I like his head.





Fodder said:


> looks like a patterned sable to me!! was he predominately black or brown as a puppy?


He was mostly black from what I remember. He changed colors so many times until he eventually became lighter colored. He still has red coloring on the back of his head.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

a mostly black puppy with tan points will continuously get lighter (more tan).... and would be Black and Tan as selzer mentioned. in your case - he's got a faded saddle.

a sable pup with go from dark to light to dark to light to dark.... there are different shades of sable and there is also patterned sable which your boy looks to me but it would not be the case if he started off black.


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## GSDlover143 (Nov 8, 2013)

selzer said:


> He looks black and tan. Nice looking dog. I like his head.


 He's a patterned sable not a b/t


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## GSDlover143 (Nov 8, 2013)

Definitely a patterned sable! Beautiful.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Can you decrease the size of the picture? It is HUGE.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I thought maybe a patterned sable, but I see no penciling on the toes, lots of tan with no black in it, and no tar-heels. While these may not be necessary, I really think he is a black and tan with a washed out saddle, and a bitch stripe. 

I wonder what the sire and dam were, but, if the dog in question was mis-labled by the breeder, the sire/dam of the dog could also be mis-labled so that really isn't definitive. 

If the dog was mostly black at birth, and got progressively lighter, then he is a black and tan.

My parents' Cujo looked a lot like the above dog. He was born a little lighter than the others, we thought maybe blue, but he wasn't. His black was just a little washed out. He got progressively lighter, he did not have much of a saddle at all.


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## jägersoldat (Oct 26, 2011)

He has the banded hair that is common in sables. His dad was a working line dark sable. The mom I'm pretty sure was a black and tan with very little mask.

Here is a video of him as a puppy (maybe 3 months):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfAUeToAmJM

Here he is at maybe 5-6 months:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To045pmuTKc


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Sable is more dominant, so I'm probably wrong.


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## Xeph (Jun 19, 2005)

Sable is dominant overall.

The dog is a patterned sable (videos show a clearly sable puppy).


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Vids weren't there when I posted. Can't view them with this tiny, old computer. LOL. But I already said I was probably wrong.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

He is definitely a lighter patterned sable. My first GSD was a working line bitch with very similar coloring. Both of her parents were sable. I was told more than once that my dog was a faded black and tan (she could look that in photos where her saddle looked darker), but she was definitely sable. She did not have toe penciling or tar heels. I have another dog now with similar coloring (see my avatar). He is also sable, has a sable dam and black/red sire.


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## jägersoldat (Oct 26, 2011)

Liesje said:


> He is definitely a lighter patterned sable. My first GSD was a working line bitch with very similar coloring. Both of her parents were sable. I was told more than once that my dog was a faded black and tan (she could look that in photos where her saddle looked darker), but she was definitely sable. She did not have toe penciling or tar heels. I have another dog now with similar coloring (see my avatar). He is also sable, has a sable dam and black/red sire.



That's a great looking dog. Can you post her pedigree?

I used to know my dogs but I can't find his paperwork... Would be cool to look into his genetic past.


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