Sable German Shepherd Dog

Sable German Shepherds have the original wolf colors

German Shepherd has an original wolf color, with pale ground color , covered by the mantle of hard black tipped guard coat. In a sable German Shepherd this ground color is usually tan, having a heavy overlay that seems to be black when viewed from distance. Dr. Malcom B Willis Dr. Willis - the senior lecturer in Animal Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne had discussed upon the existence of two alleles for sable that are grey and yellow. It is to be remembered that similar variation in German Shepherd colors can also be found in Black Tan dogs.

A Sable German Shepherd can be identified quite easily. Sable German Shepherds (also known as agouti or wolf gray, in various colors of comparatively paler shades) usually have multi-colored individual hairs throughout the body. The Agouti gene actually determines if coat color of the German Shepherd is banded agouti coat color or a solid non-agouti coat color.

Study on mice have shown that the Agouti gene gives the mice a pale coats accompanied with having a tendency towards obesity, which may or may not hold good for dogs. Sable German Shepherds may also be masked by dark or black guard hairs. Concerning the color genes, the order of dominance of German Shepherds colors in the Agouti Series is as follow... golden sable, grey sable, saddle marked black-tan, bicolor black-tan, and solid black. In a sable German Shepherd Dog the sable color is dominant over all the other German Shepherd colors and patterns. The variation of shades in sable German Shepherds can be categorized into Rich saddle sable, black sable, faded sable. Sable may not improve the pigmentation in breeding just because the subjects are sable German Shepherds.  In a Sable German Shepherd Dog, possibilities are there that the sable can be as poorly pigmented as other patterns. If a sable German Shepherd is comparatively more more melanistic (darker) than an average Black and Tan GSD, it will appear equally dark, which in turn bring forth relatively better pigmentation to a breeding than a less melanistic subject, because the dog is genetically more melanistic (darker).

Sable German Shepherds are known for the multi-colored individual hairs, though they may have good dark mask or black guard coat as well. The color different blends of colors in the individual hairs consequently leads to a range of shades of colors and patters that may largely vary from sable German Shepherd to sable German Shepherd. The Sable German Shepherd Dogs appear in many shades ranging from of silver, gray, gold or mahogany colors. Most often sable German Shepherds have the dark mask, although at times masks tend to to be fade or sometimes almost absent. Agouti or Sable German Shepherds usually undergo few many stages of coat colors development - towards both lighter side as well as darker side, until they become fully matured i.e. around the age of three.

Sable German Shepherds are born all tan. The typical black tipping starts showing up as they reach a few weeks of age, followed by a continual process of change - either lightening or darkening until the puppy reaches an age of around three years. Sable German Shepherd puppies hence undergo an dramatic change of coat colors during their growth process. Most of the times the Sable German Shepherd puppy ends up with either darker or lighter shade.

Sable German Shepherd Dogs have wolfish look due to their original wolf colors

 

Note: The images of Sable German Shepherds have been reproduced from the original work of Linda J Shaw (www.shawlein.com)