# Is he a sable?



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

Hey all, my family and I are picking up our new puppy mid february. We have put our deposit down on a sable male but I am a bit confused after seeing recent photos of him from the breeder. I know that sables go through lots of color changes especially through their first year of life but our little guy seems to be taking on the look of a "normal" black and tan. Please help! I'd appreciate any response, thanks!!


Here he is at 3wks...



















Here are the most recept photos of him at 4.5wks...


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

He's a sable. 

My pup at 4.5 or 5 weeks:








5.5 weeks:









1 year:


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Its possible the pup will be a patterned sable which means a saddle on the back basically. HOWEVER, if you went through a reputable breeder and told them what you were looking for in your pup personality and temperment wise, its also likely that the breeder is picking out the pup that best fits the personality and temperment requirements you laid out. Color should be the last thing you are looking for. Thats not to say you cant get the total package you want but that could take a while.


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

What color are your puppy's parents?


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Okay i love this picture lol


----------



## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

The 3rd pic doesn't look like the same puppy.

The first, second and last pics is definitely a dark sable. In the 3rd pic, that puppy looks black and tan. Could be a patterned sable though.


----------



## Geeheim (Jun 18, 2011)

BlackGSD said:


> The 3rd pic doesn't look like the same puppy.
> 
> The first, second and last pics is definitely a dark sable. In the 3rd pic, that puppy looks black and tan. Could be a patterned sable though.


I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they sent you a picture of the wrong puppy, lol.


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

Emoore said:


> What color are your puppy's parents?


First picture is dad, second is mom.


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

BlackGSD said:


> The 3rd pic doesn't look like the same puppy.
> 
> The first, second and last pics is definitely a dark sable. In the 3rd pic, that puppy looks black and tan. Could be a patterned sable though.



That is exactly what we thought, but she assured me they were they same puppy. She took him out of their little pen alone. We have yet to see him in person since the drive is about 4 hrs. I am sure the breeder knows what she is talking about but, that third picture threw us through a loop too...


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

KZoppa said:


> Its possible the pup will be a patterned sable which means a saddle on the back basically. HOWEVER, if you went through a reputable breeder and told them what you were looking for in your pup personality and temperment wise, its also likely that the breeder is picking out the pup that best fits the personality and temperment requirements you laid out. Color should be the last thing you are looking for. Thats not to say you cant get the total package you want but that could take a while.


Agreed. We definitely told her what we wanted and she had two that she thought would be best for us, one was a black and tan and the other a sable. We chose the sable because we think they are such a beautiful coloration. Either way, we will be happy I just wanted to get some opinions beings I don't know a ton about german shepherds. I'm doing my research though


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

So I have some more pictures of our boy, still feeling unsure about his sable status... but oh well.

3wks










almost 4wks










4.5wks


















5wks


















6wks


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

He's definitely a sable.


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

Emoore said:


> He's definitely a sable.


Thanks, that makes me feel better. I think we are just so unsure since we havaent seen him in person yet and we have never owned a sable.


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

Emoore,
I was looking at your album, is Kopper the dog that you posted pictures of in this post? He is so cute!


----------



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Do you have the pedigree? I wonder if it is a working/show cross.


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

kimberly.namba said:


> Emoore,
> I was looking at your album, is Kopper the dog that you posted pictures of in this post? He is so cute!


Yup, that's Kopper.


----------



## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

That is a sable colored puppy! Congrats on your new family member!


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

onyx'girl said:


> Do you have the pedigree? I wonder if it is a working/show cross.


He isn't papered =/ We were just looking for a companion family dog, not really concerned about his lineage. The dad is papered, but the mom isn't the owners chose not to for whatever reason. We maybe should have done more research before deciding on him but again we weren't really concerned with all that stuff. The "breeder" that we are getting him from just has a litter every now and then.


----------



## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Very interesting - this is what Dante (a patterned sable) looked like as a young pup









When I brought him home at about 4.5 months









Over the summer


----------



## JayneA (Jun 11, 2002)

Definitely a sable


----------



## Lakl (Jul 23, 2011)

Looks like a patterned sable to me! Good luck with your new pup!


----------



## Magnolia (Jul 18, 2011)

It has surprised me how many changes my sable boy has gone through and he's only 5 months old. Congratulations on a beautiful pup.


----------



## Loneforce (Feb 12, 2012)

hes going to be a beatiful shepherd no matter what color he ends up. He has very nice markings. Im no pro but with the light tan color you see under all that top coat, looks like sable to me too grats on the nice pup!!


----------



## tessthebear (Dec 11, 2011)

My sable boy is a gold (-: Underneath his coat (his roots) are blonde yet his tips progress to black. It looks like ripples on his back. On his ribs he's a silver dusted blue with a white underbelly, obviously from his blue mammy. 

Anyway, your pup definitely looks like a sable to me! (-: Love his beautiful coat. I got bashed on another forum because of my dogs colour by other German Shepherd 'lovers'.


----------



## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

Sable
Carmen 
"the house of sables"
http://www.carmspack.com


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

tessthebear said:


> My sable boy is a gold (-: Underneath his coat (his roots) are blonde yet his tips progress to black. It looks like ripples on his back. On his ribs he's a silver dusted blue with a white underbelly, obviously from his blue mammy.
> 
> Anyway, your pup definitely looks like a sable to me! (-: Love his beautiful coat. I got bashed on another forum because of my dogs colour by other German Shepherd 'lovers'.


Your boy sounds gorgeous! I want to see a picture!!


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

We've been having a bit of an issue witht our puppy. My have put a deposit on him, and we didn't really get him from a breeder but rather a woman who has two family GSDs that bred. We should have done our research prior to putting the deposit down. We aren't really sure what to do now because we just found out a few days ago that the puppies mom died when they were 5wks old. My husband and I think it is really important for the puppy to have its mom and litter mates around until he is at least 8wks of age. Not to mention the fact that I was never actually told about the mother, I found out by looking at the woman's facebook page! What would you all do in this situation? Find a different breeder? Keep the puppy? We are new to dog owning and the GSD breed so any advice is welcome.


----------



## tessthebear (Dec 11, 2011)

kimberly.namba said:


> Your boy sounds gorgeous! I want to see a picture!!


I'll stick one on soon for you! (-:


----------



## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

holy cow -- was this from pyrometra , uterine infection, retained pup , better find out . Was the female under veterinary care --


----------



## kimberly.namba (Jan 18, 2012)

carmspack said:


> holy cow -- was this from pyrometra , uterine infection, retained pup , better find out . Was the female under veterinary care --


When I asked the lady what happened to her she simply said she "ended up getting hit and living but the vet wasn't able to save her"... Now I am assuming that by "hit" she means by a car, so it was apparently some kind of accident, but now my husband and I are just having second thoughts. My thoughts are this, we want a healthy puppy and one that is going to be with our family forever. However, when a breeder guarantees the health for a certain amount of years and something comes up say, 3 yrs in... are we really going to look at the breeder and be like, "ok, well he's sick, give us a new one"? No, probably not since chances are we are already attached to our dog...

I really am not sure what the benefits are of getting a puppy from a reputible breeder vs. a lady whose pets had puppies. Obviously getting one from a puppy mill is a whole other story, but for us just wanting a companion dog... Ugh. I'm sooooo confused! :crazy:


----------



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

To me, one of the biggest benefits to getting a dog from a breeder is information about health.
a) mom and dad are tested for hip/elbows dysplasia and possibly degenerative myelopothy. Not just "they look healthy." 
b) Puppy comes from generations of hip- and elbow-tested breeding stock (DM testing is new)
c) You have the whole family tree, so if you put on your sleuth hat you can usually do some research and find out how long ancestors and relatives lived and what they died from.


----------



## Dazza (Jan 15, 2011)

Rocky is my long haired Sable, here he is at 8 weeks with his bro Chico black/tan & how he is now at 18 months, they go through some colour changes let me tell you lol


----------

