Just been to meet a breeder of working line GSD. Fantastic dam - ScH3, brilliant lines/temperament etc. Mated last week to sire who is also a great dog. HOWEVER.....she is a light sable! Sire is black. As this is my first GSD, I've always wanted to own a DARK sable GSD (my dream for a long time now).

Will the pups be light sableas a rule? How do you tell (or can you) if 8 week old pupppies will turn out light or dark sable!! Not sure whether to put down the deposit. Help anyone?

Look at the colors in the sire & dam's pedigree, as well as prior puppies produced by this dam and sire.  Generally, a black male will improve pigment and dark sable puppies should be expected from this breeding. 

dark sable and probably black

You can tell most of the time how dark a sable will be by how dark it is when it is born. 

I bred a light sable bitch to a very dark bi color and ended up with some light and some dark puppies.  We had two light sable pups (same color as mom) and two dark sable pups, two dark black/tans and two light black/tans. 

If the sable bitch carries the black gene, you could get some black pups... if she doesnt you will not get any black pups.  If she carries the black/tan recessive you can get sables and black/tans.  Many times if the sable dog carries the black recessively (which all of her pups will), they will be a darker color sable.

If the litter is very nice, I would not pass based on darkness/lightness of sable coloring.  You can see a difference between the light and dark sables at birth.

could be some puppies as light as the dam, but most likely the black sire will add "black" to the puppies, making them much darker (more black coverage) than the dam.  Some puppies may be black if she carries black recessive.  All puppies will carry black recessive and therefore will most likely be "blacker" than the mother.  However, if the dam is grey (doesn't have a lot of red in her) the sire will not improve the red pigment - so the sable puppies will be grey, but with more black over their bodies than the dam.

molly

could be some puppies as light as the dam, but most likely the black sire will add "black" to the puppies, making them much darker (more black coverage) than the dam.  Some puppies may be black if she carries black recessive.  All puppies will carry black recessive and therefore will most likely be "blacker" than the mother.  However, if the dam is grey (doesn't have a lot of red in her) the sire will not improve the red pigment - so the sable puppies will be grey, but with more black over their bodies than the dam.

molly