Bi-color pups

This is a bicolor puppy:



sable puppy:



blanket black and tan:


I don't have any of saddle black/tan. I've never had those.

Bi-Color puppies usually have just the slightest bit of tan on their toes when they are born. The black usually extends down their legs and gives them tar-heels.

Black and Tans show more tan than bi-colors, but how much usually depends on the extent of their saddle and mask. (Are they going to be a blanket back Black and Tan? Or a small saddle?)

Sable puppies are the easiest to identify because they don't look really black on their backs...they look kind of gray or tan. The black on a sable starts to really come in when they get their adult coats.

I only have pictures of my sable puppy. You can really see, that while he has the black mask, the sides and back don't really look black.
At 5 weeks


And at 9 weeks.

Her sire is a bicolor, Hardy. They can have black on the face and chest.

With the pics of the blanket black and tans, their tan extends further up the arm.

Blanket bl/tan from same litter as the 2 bl/tan pups above at 2 yrs of age:


Sire of Gala at 5 months:




My sch3 female before she died was a bicolor. She had tan on the chest as well:

I think the line between a dark black and tan and a bi-color can very thin and the 2 are easy to mistake. This site does a good job of explaining the differences and giving illustrations.

http://www.shawlein.com/The_Standard/07_Colour_&_Pigment/Colour_&_Pigment.html

"Very dark B&Ts are often advertised as bicolours, and can have heads, necks and bodies that are nearly solid black. However, they usually show some tan shading about the base of the ears, and have few or no black hairs down the pasterns, or on the toes or hocks.

Typically, the bicolour is a black dog with tan points much the same as a doberman. It is in fact the same gene. A very dark one with a strong black mask and much extension of the black may appear to be solid black, with a black undercoat and only some tan shading on the feet."

Here is a puppy picture of Ivy's sister Izzie. She is a bi-color:




Then here is a picture of another one of Ivy's sisters. Her name is Ivanna and she is a sable. It is hard to tell in this picture but she is. She looks like her mom-Zada:




Momma Zada:



This is a bi-color pup as well (this one isn't related to Ivy):



Sorry the pics are so large

From same site:
3. Rich Bicolour, Melanistic Bicolour, faded bicolour.
Typically, the bicolour is a black dog with tan points much the same as a doberman. It is in fact the same gene. A very dark one with a strong black mask and much extension of the black may appear to be solid black, with a black undercoat and only some tan shading on the feet. Theoretically, bicolours always show tan around the vent, but I have seen a virtually black dog with just enough tan around the vent (and between the toes) to suspect that it was a bicolour, but not enough to be sure. However, a pale bicolour can look strikingly like a black sable, showing much black over a light grey undercoat, with tan or grey over the nape of the neck and along the harness lines, and black markings on the legs and feet. These dogs have the genetics for fading of the black mantle, and while they can still appear dark to the eye, will produce colour fading.

the "rich" bicolor shown is what most people consider a bicolor and not a bl/tan.

Pups with saddles will get them as the get older as the color will fade into a saddle if thats what they genetically were born with. You would need to know the parents and what was behind them.

Sables can get darker or lighter. Depends.

Freyja at 8 weeks:



10 weeks or so:



At 3-4 months:



A few months later:



About a year: