When is black not black? - Page 1

With a solid black dog that has faint brown coming threw its feet and hocks,as someone said its color is "bleeding" but is still a solid black German Shepherd. I was always always told a true black german shepherd is solid black and no other color . What is the truth?  Please?

Good question, as I felt that I insulted a friend of mine, when I questioned the brown ticking on his legs and feet.  Asking if maybe he was considered a by color

Interesting question.  My first male was a Black, but had the white spot on his chest like some GSD's do, but there was no brown bleeding through on the legs, belly or else where.

Seems to me there are varying degrees of the black pigment in GSDs in my experience of breeding. You've got black, then you've got solid black. http://www.geocities.com/sahiela2/colors.html Might help shed some informational light into the coat-color subject.
There are some with bleed-thru, some with some slight coloring between toes on the BOTTOM of the feett pads, and then the true-solid black where there's not a hair of another color on the dog, period. But the ultimate answer could only be CORRECTLY told by mapping the genes each particular 'black' GSD in question has.

I have owned a true black in the past, and she was solid black from head to toe, she had about 3 gen. of
solid blacks in her background, if you see brown ticking on the legs, then that of course is another color,
unless you are feeding your black dog, food that my have artificial colors in it, then I think that could have an
effect on the coat color, even sun light can give a dog lighter fur.

I've seen chocolate labs turn a rusty color in the summertime, almost like a copper color.

The white spot on a dog has nothing to do with the overall color of your dog, I had a black lab that had a splash
of white on his chest, but the rest of him was a nice shinny black, he just went home with his new family today,
he was so laid back & calm they thought there was something wrong with him, he had such a great disposition!
I used to think all black labs were a little more hyper than the yellows, but this little guy just proved me wrong.

Once again, just my thoughts on color.

White marks on chests and toe tips are 'markers', not markings.

Sunlight(UV rays) can cause a black coat to have a reddish cast, especially during summer. This is true for both GSDS and horses.

I agree with Mira-the more black dogs in the pedigree, the more black saturation you will have with the true black color.

Interesting.  I have seen a black Tevern turn a reddish tint based upon food.  I have also seen the white patch.  I have also heard of solid blacks turning into bi-color / blk-tan's.  Still an interesting thread.

Chris Orkies/chris.orkies@gmail.com

No one has answered the question, and I don't know either!  The color on the feet they are talking about is a dark brown or liver color.  We have all seen the tan on the Bi's.  This is a totaly different color.  I saw a dog like that the other day.  He looked like he had mud on his feet.  So what are they called?

Depends on the genetic outcome!
Even if a dog has a tiny bit of bleed thru, if its genetic markers indicate it a true black(homozygous recessive), then it would have to be considered a black.  THAT would tell whether or not such bleed-thru or tiny bit of between the toes color is permissable, and I don't know of anyone who has done that much study on the black GSD to know the precise answer to that.

I will consult my Malcolm Willis Genetics of the German Shepherd Dog and if he gives an answer to such, I will quote him and post it.

Hoss

I have 2 blacks one of then has the sabeling come through between his toes and  the back side of his front legs. He still is considered a black  . Lot's of time we see sableing  in black dogs due to dogs within their pedigree had been sable . Now a true balck is a black dog out of total black linage for at least 3-4 generations  and then we could argue that it should stem out of blacks 10 generations down :)

The blacks with the sabling are not considered bi -color .  Also the sabling shows when the dogs are mature.

Pia