Correct Color Category - Page 1

Hello everyone!  Here are 2 puppies from my last litter- a male (top) and a female (bottom) at 9 wks.  This is the first litter where I've had sable puppies and I'm unsure of the correct label for their colors.  Would you consider these puppies to be called black sable or just sable? By the way- I am now a huge fan of the sables as I am so happy with their colors!

I am going to say that they are black sable....,all the black sables that I have seen have the black striping on the toes (muddy feet)....the red sables that I have seen do not have the muddy feet. I have 2 black sables and they both have the muddy feet and my boyfriend has a red sable who doesnt. Also the puppies you have listed above seem to be very dark.

I hope this helps...I am in NO WAY an expert on this. This is just what I have noticed from the dogs I have seen.

By the way nice puppies....what is the breeding on them....are they Czech?

I would just call them sables.  Or if you want you can call them dark sables.  See my young male dog in the picture on the right?  In that picture he is 14 months old.  He is not at all a  black sable, (maybe a dark sable), but he still has penciling down his legs and on his toes.  In fact, there was no break in his penciling until he was over 1 year old.  Here is a picture of him at approx 7 months old:

He is now much darker than he was at 14 months, but not as dark as he was at 7 months.  Still the black goes down his ankles, stops, then starts again on his feet and over his toes.  So, I think your pups will end up similar to my dog in coloring.

Thank you!  The Sire is a DDR East German Import and the Dam is a mix of German with a few nice working American dogs as well.

dark grey sable - not black sable, but they have plenty of pigment and will be very handsome in color - even the lightest grey sables can still have black toes/penciling.  Black sable puppies would have much more black coverage even at this age.

molly