Not all solid black is actually solid black - Page 2

Black color in the above dogs is not the same, right?

Ibrahim

There are several things that can occur to make variation.  Some are environmental and some are genetic.

There is a solid grey dog that is a "dilution" of the black gene.

Many black dogs have "bleed through".  Pharaoh is very deep black but he does have gold colored fur inbetween his toes.  When he was born, he had a very small cluster of white hairs on his chest.  They disappeared and that is common.

The gene for solid black, as I understand it, is a masking gene and the saddle covers the whole body.  

A friend's solid black dog had "bleed through" on the back of two of her legs, as she got older, of a very deep brown.  They were not very large spots and not very noticeable.  Pharaoh is three now and I don't see any "bleed through".

My first black dog had a reddish tinge that appeared on areas of his body.  It was subtle and not very noticeable.  That was due to nutrition.  When I switched him to raw food (because of allergies) he became uniformly deep black with no cast of any other color.

I am not an expert in genetics.  There are several posters who know so much more than I do.  Hopefully, they will step up to the plate and share their knowledge with us.

Michele

Michele said: My first black dog had a reddish tinge that appeared on areas of his body. It was subtle and not very noticeable. That was due to nutrition. When I switched him to raw food (because of allergies) he became uniformly deep black with no cast of any other color.

This is a very interesting piece of information.

Ibrahim

Bomber does look charcoal(almost chocolate)  in that pic compared to the top dog.  My pup, a Bomber son is pitch black, so maybe it is just the photograph in that instance.

Black dogs also get red/brown with too much sun or if they're shedding and they have a lot of dead/dry hair that isn't shed out yet.

I have had many a puppy and dog turn reddish brown like the photo above about a week before they start shedding. The fur that comes back in is as black as black gets.

Some variation has to do with the pictures themselves and the fact that black coats do bleach in the sun. Deficient nutrition can come into play as well. Black is black but some dogs do appear more black to the eyes.

Melissa

My black pup was born with a cluster of white on his chest. At 7 months old now, there is only a very slight chest marking that has almost disappered. His father also black however, has a white cluster low on the chest about 1.5" in diameter.

I've got a solid black!  (THANKS MELISSA!) When she was a pup many people said "I've never seen a rust colored Shephard"....it was b/c the sun had bleached her fur.  Now that her "big girl coat" has come in...I've found a total of 5 white hairs on her.  One b/w her eyes, and 4 on her stomach.  Other than those, she is JET BLACK.....
She closes her eyes in pics like I do! 

On the general topic section there is a thread about showing pics of bi-colors that started a learning session about what is bi-color. Seems to be somewhat inline with this thread.

Look at those ears Tracy!!! Holy cow! She's growing like a weed! Give Ziva hugs for me .

Melissa