[Chris Wild]

Bi-colors are much, much darker. Mostly black with few tan markings on the points, similar to a Doberman or Rottweiler.

Wolfie is a blanket black & tan.

 

[Chris Wild]

i have a question about my pup and thought this thread would be closest to it...
he has a complete black back minus the red on his ears, but there is a thick strip of shiney black but the same color, about as thick as his neck running from his neck all the way back along w/ a few white stray hairs.... is this normal? his back end is also rougher then the rest of his body... any thoughts?

Given his age and your description, I would suspect that strip of shiney black down his spine is just his adult coat coming it. It wills pread and eventually the longer, flatter, more shiney hair will replace the puppy fuzz on his whole body.

 

[Chris Wild]

Wolfie is a Melanistic Black and Tan. A true bicolor should have tar heels, black penciling on the forelegs and the black should wrap all the way under the belly. To make things more confusing, many dogs that people think are black are actually bi-colors. They will have just a bit of tan under the tail "at the vent" and a few paler areas on the face. So while they look solid black, they actually are a genetic bi-color.
We have a solid black male that there was some dispute about whether he was a black or bi-color(a fun dispute) and we were told by someone who is a genetics nut that since he didn't have the lighter coloring at the vent, he is a genetic black, regardless of the fact that he has some lighter hairs between the toes.

Yup. We've had 2 dogs that are unquestionably genetically solid black develop the tan bleed through on the feet. Kali's advanced so far in later years that there was enough on her front and back legs some people did ask if she was a Bi. Nope, she's black.

Some Bis are so dark the only way to know they aren't black is to peek under the tail. And some blacks develop such bleed through on the feet and legs as they age, only way to know they are black and not Bi is to peek under the tail. Of course, knowing the genetics behind them as to whether Bi or black is even possible can answer that as well. But if that's unknown the vent check is sometimes the only way to know for sure.