Sable pup w/o the "skunk stripe"....? - Page 1

One of our sable pups has no "skunk stripe".  She has a nice dark black mask and a black "cross"  and tip on her tail but almost no black on her back.  There are 3 other "normal" patterned sables in the litter.  Quite honestly she is colored more like a Malinois then a GSD lol, she has nice coloring just not a lot of black on her body.  She is cute as a bug's knee but I was just wondering if anyone else has had a sable like this and what they ended up looking like as adults.  Here are a few pictures, I'll try to get a shot looking down on her back later.  I love seeing the progression of the sable coloring so if you have pix of yours please post.

Thanks : )

She'll be fine. Onyx didn't have a stripe at that age either. He didn't end up real dark, but normal gray sable.

Pix of Onyx-
www.frauengarten.net/Memorial.html

SS

Cool, thanks Shelly!  I read your memorial for him & I'm curious about his "crazy" bark & hold, do tell

Let's just say nobody went to the concession stand or the porta-potti when Onyx stepped on the protection field, although quite a few helpers had to change their undies afterwards. LOL
He didn't do the typical rhythmic bark, bark, bark. He kind of exploded barking all over the helper. He took more than a few of them down in his day too. HARD. I had to be very careful who I sent him for and how far I sent him to get 'em, lest he break his neck.
Bijou is a lot like him, but there will never be another Onyx.
SS

Onyx (SG Odin vom Hofgut Schick, SchH3, FH1, a5) in the '95 North American championship, being caught with superb skill by Teaching Helper Gary Park (one of the few he dd NOT take down :-)

Loss of pigmentation, in gums, nails, nose, eyes (yellow eyes are impressive but in my book big no no), or coloring is a first sign of degeneration of the blood line. Time to outcross to sound unrelated bloodline if this line has other super  attributes. Darker the better.  We always liked dogs with dark spot on the tongue. Those with such spot were more often then not hardier dogs with tougher round pads, bigger teeth, shorter ears, better double coats, stronger immune system......Please keep in mind that there is more to the dog then the color. But color/pigment is important.
I would not breed this pup and probably not to his litter-mates also. Time to reevaluate your breeding program. This is not an end of story but early warning.
For the sake of theGSD : Take care.
Sincerely Prager (Hans)
http://www.alpinek9.com

Thank you Prager- 
She will not be bred & further it is unknown if this breeding would ever be repeated. With that said, the stripe-less pup was born with all black nails/paw pads/nose and the inside of her mouth has black (not on the tongue but her lips & pallet are mostly black) also she has black marks on the tops of her toes. So I could be naive but I don't think the missing stripe is because of a total lack of pigment. 

No. Not a total lack of pigment. It is just something to watch for.
Just love her. She may be a great dog one day! I sell dogs to police and they are often the epitomy of physical imperfection. Missing tooth, short tail, yellow eyes,...they are great police K9s, but I would not breed every one of them. Only some.
For the love of the breed.
Prager(Hans)
http://www.alpinek9.com

Shelly- LOL wish I could have seen your guy Onyx
Prager- thanks again for your input, I looked at your site and I love the old historical photos.  Planning for the future while remmebering the past is priceless.

Here is the progression of my sable pup.

Here is my girl Askia when she was around 3 months old. The 2nd picture is of her at around 2 years. Her color darkens in the fall and that will be the last picture.