Color question - Page 1

Reading thru all the different posts and information I find, It seems that Solid Black is a very desirable color. Why is that? I had always thought that the black and tan or black and red were the preffered colors.

Black and tan or black and red are the "typical" Rin Tin Tin dogs most people associate a GSD with.  I can't tell you how many times people see me walking my Czech dog and ask me "is he a GSD mix?" lol  Unless you have been around GSD's a good bit or have researched the breed the average person doesn't realize that the Black/Tan Black/Red is not the only colors and that White isn't a "correct" color.  The Blacks I think have become so popular in my oppinion because a. they aren't as common to see walking down the street and b. well they look intimidating, yet tend to appear confident because of that bold color.  I myself love to see a nice black GSD with a stalky build-big head and chest, but the very dark sables are also very pretty too.

Black is my favorite color for GSD's and unfortunately they are the hot ticket right now. I hope it begin to hurt the breed. Bad things start happening when your start breeding for color..........

You get orange dogs that can't work

Breeding for color is being done already  . The blacks are no exception :((

Before owning Jago Bültenstiege and now Eon Löwenhof  I never wanted a black ,smile >  these two males  came to me due to their working qualities and happend to be black :)  Color don't matter as long as it is rich and not white  LOL character and workingabilities are above color :)

Pia

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.  For show dogs, black and red are preferred partially because many judges tend to be color-blind.  I recently challengfed a friend to bring her black dogs to a show.  We stacked the ring with nothing but black dogs, and watched some of the judges darn near blow a gasket trying to assess them.  It was rather amusing actually.

I do love the blacks, but must agree with  AgarPhranicniStraze1-  the black sables are gorgeous as well.  And while I don't breed specifically for color, I generally breed my sables to blacks,  and breed blacks to sables to keep great pigment and get the variety in my litters as well.  It seems to be fairly rare to find solid blacks with super bone, but I feel quite fortunate to have a few here.

BWahhahah! You are EVIL, GARD!!

BTW, did you know the original Rin Tin Tin was NOT black and tan?  Look here: http://www.rintintin.com/pedigree.htm. He was dark grey, and his successors were mostly silver and grey or sable! He was found in the ruins of a bombed-out kennel in France during WWI. 

Gringo von der Phillippsburg and Gus Levin  at the time 45 year old..was one of the first to take a all black dog , and enter and defy the soothsayers that said black dogs dont win .....1994 he started and by 1998 did what no german would do, and that was he and his black german born dog, with an american handler, himself and Tom Mesdag entered into the ring in Nuremherg , a sight to behold.....A career at thsi 1998 German National Sieger Show  that placed him V7, a feat that had not been accomplished by a black german Shepherd Dog in over a decade. He was the only black dog entered out of 1,800 dogs,  Gringo career stretched  from later '95 to '99. He retired in Jan 2000 and went on to do some advertising gigs....His life was cut short by a brain stem cancer that left Gus Levin devistated....

He picked up the leash, and the legacy of Gringo , will live on through the scores of puppies he sired...Levin was then faced with starting over a biat prematurely with ALi Vom Alpensee, a female and Nikko vom Haus Profitt, a male, both sired by Gringo....I never wanted a black shepherd until I read about and saw the pictures of Gus and Gringo.....a love story in itself.....rising above all ods, a dog with excellent strucure, a rare thing in a dog that above all other qualities possessed a very rare one...."he was totally black.."

Showed this young male at a recent show and he placed SG  and that ahead of a black and red ;)

Color make no difference,the dog himself or herself makes the diff.

Nothing worse then seeing a ad stating " RARE blacks,  or Blues, white, and livers" Most are faults true but now days what every they can to make a sale.

There are even breeders who charge more for blacks!!!! and say they are rare and hard to find!! I guess they don't get out much.

I agree with a blocky head, thick dog/bitch that is all black Stunning and can be breath taking if bred right.  Not these narrow heads, big ear, thin leg over size rats.

Chuligun, Titus, and Cak all come to mind when I think of black and my personal female Tar baby.