bi-color question of the day is He?

[Franksmom]

Frank is 8 months old, the breeder lists him as a black and silver,
Is he a bi-color or a large blanket?
The older he gets the more the silver fads and he becomes more black.
He does have the silver patch under the tail just like dobermans have and his belly is solid black.

[Jax08]

sure looks like a bi-color to me

[BlackthornGSD]

You won't know for sure until he gets his adult coat in. Sometimes a black and tan with the black recessive ("blanket back") won't lose the toe marks until almost a year old.

I can't tell for sure based on these pictures. The breeder *might* know if he/she understands the genetics of the color inheritance and knows what her dog carries.

My best guess is that he will be a blanket-back--because of the tan on the cheeks and the eyebrows. Sometimes you can see brown hairs scattered across the forehead and the muzzle or if you part the hair you'll see some brown there--and that can be a sign of what color will grow in after the next shed.

But even if you know the genetics of the parents, you aren't always positive until the puppy has the complete adult coat. For example, I wasn't sure what color Jubilee would be when she was a puppy--she had the toemarks for a long time. I suspected she'd be a blanket back, but I hoped for the bicolor. Her brother was a bicolor and I knew that for sure because he had no tan eyebrows or around his ears.

at 9 weeks old:



at 2.5 years old:



Her bicolor brother, Jedi at about 9 weeks:



Jedi (soaking wet) at 2 years:

[Franksmom]

I thought for sure at first he would be a large blanket back, but the older he gets the silver eybrows are fading and the silver on his checks and chest seems to be filling in with black, the tar heels and toes were also throwing me off, guess I'll just have to waite and see. His dad is a traditional saddle back, and his mom is either a large blanket back or a bi-color I don't have pictures I can post of them and never thought to ask the breeder which she coat pattern she was.
Whatever he ends up being he's a really good dog.

[elisabeth_00117]

I am going to say blanket back as well.. his colour on his chest and under his back legs (sitting photo) seem to be very prounounced, I think he has some more changing to do but I think he will end up a large (surface area of the blanket will be large) blanket back.

[Franksmom]

Frank is now 14 months and his coloring is the exact same as it was in my original post.
Now that he's 14 months is this the color he will remain or can he really change and lighten even at this age? His color hasn't really changed much since I brought him home at 9 weeks if anything it has only become more black as he's aged. Instead of getting lighter like I see alot of people talk about on here. Over his hips the hairs look black but are really silver with black ends when you ruff them the wrong way,those hairs have been that way since about 6 months and haven't changed since then.
One more thing I usually tell people he's a large blanket back, but I've had some tell me No he's a bi-color. Am I wrong? he's my first GSD, so this color stuff is all new.

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by Franksmom

His color hasn't really changed much since I brought him home at 9 weeks if anything it has only become more black as he's aged. Instead of getting lighter like I see alot of people talk about on here.

Usually the saddlebacks get lighter as they get older; the black recedes and the tan spreads. If your dog is getting darker instead of lighter, I'd say he's a bicolor, but I'm not an expert in these matters.

[Franksmom]

Thanks, I kept waiting and waiting for his color to lighten and change but it never has.
The only ones that I heard talk about getting darker were sables which he's not, so I was confused.

[GSDBESTK9]

He is a bicolor

[Franksmom]

Thanks GSDBESTK9
I know he can continue to have some color changes as he ages, but are the major color changes done by this age for Bi-colors.