German Shepherd Coat Color inheritance? - Page 1

If a sable bred to a black and tan, they will produce sable and black and tan puppies.

Will the puppies have true color (true sable color and true black and tan color) or a variant?

Thanks,

http://www.ehretgsd.com/genetics.htm

best way that explains color and what the posible outcome can be. 

thanks again ehret,

john

Sable bred to black & tan could produce any of the colours/patterns within the GSD gene pool including solid black, white, blue, liver etc, but yes, the most probable is sable and black & tan.  It would need the sable parent to carry tanpoint or recessive black at the A locus ie  a^w a^t  or  a^w a  to produce black and tan though.

Since sable is dominant, a black & tan from a sable x B&T breeding is not going to be any different from one from a B&T X B&T breeding.  Some breeders do believe that using a sable can improve (or deplete) pigment but the genes that control pigment are inherited separately from the A locus so it is entirely dependent on the genotype of that particular sable as to whether he improves pigment or not.

I don't think there is any evidence to suggest that a sable carrying tanpoint is any different from a homozygous sable but it does seem to be the case that sables and B&Ts carrying recessive black do show some incomplete dominance in that they are consistently darker than homozygotes.

Does a ratio as to how many sables, black and tans, and other colors exist?

Ratios vary depending on which colours and patterns are present and carried, but a sable carrying tanpoint mated to B&T - assuming no other recessives like white , blue etc are carried by both - each pup born has a 50:50 chance of sable:B&T.  You wouldn't expect to achieve a precise 1:1 ratio in one litter but over a large number of similar breedings, the ratio would establish.

If the sable parent is homozygous on the A locus ie. he doesn't carry tanpoint or recessive black, mated to a B&T, only sables can be produced (again, only if the other recessives are not carried by both parents).

Thank you pod very much!

I would like to expand my knowledge in breeding, do you suggest any books for breeding or any other resources?

You're welcome Mikeee :-)

As for recommended reading... if you mean about genetics this science is progressing at such a manic pace at the present time that any published books are going to be outdated virtually as they're published.  For colour inheritance, this is a good site to keep up to date, but doesn't explain the basics -  http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/dogcolors.html

For a overview of the basics of genetics - http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/Genetics/Genetics.html