[Jaylie]

Has anyone ever heard of a black/chocolate lab?? I picked up Carley on Thursday (Not Crusoe anymore...Long story. I'll post about it later. ) and have been noticing that her fur, while definitely black, is also chocolate.

It's hard to put a finger on though. When she's in the sun I swear she's chocolate, but only portions of her fur. When she's not, she looks all black.

I know the black/chocolate theory isn't too plausible, but I'm not about to say that she's either black or chocolate. I'm just not too sure yet. I would post a picture to show what I mean, but it's not the kind of thing that would show up in a picture.

I guess I can just wait 'till her puppy fur goes away and then decide if she's black or chocolate, (not that it even matters much. ) but I'm just curious to hear if anyone's ever had this "problem" (haha) before.

 

[Dogstar]

Sounds like sunburning or a 'poor' black. Some blacks with less depth of pigment just appear to have a red-brown cast.

 

[lovemygreys]

ditto what dogstar said. Some of our black hounds who like to sunbathe are starting to get a reddish tinge to them, when they are normally dark black in the colder months. They also tend to look redder (browner) when I need to take a shedding blade to them and get out their winter coat (still on the to do list )

 

[Dogstar]

oh, and frequently? 'bad blacks' have a reddish cast as puppies, although htey look perfectly black as adults.

 

[JeanninePC99]

There's a webpage somewhere that explains the color genes in labs. From what I remember, black labs have all four color genes. Chocolates have three. Yellows with black noses have two and yellows with liver noses have one. This is why litters have mixed colors in them sometimes.

I'm not a geneticist, but you might try to do some googling about that.

 

[tipper]

Hi,

Both my girls look 2 tone when they are moulting. Then genetics is a hard one to explain taken me long enough to understand it. lol


hope this help. http://www.blueknightlabs.com/color/coatcolor.html

regards

p.s

On top of all that then you got the mismarks in the breed and then the bolo pads.

Then all the health problems the breed has learning about them inside out.

If you want do some more home work

 

[RonE]

Cubby was not as black as other black labs, but you'd usually only notice it when he was standing with another lab. He was actually listed as a chocolate lab, but he was much closer to black.

If I posted a photo, you'd say black.

 

[spanielorbust]

As coat color is a polygenetic trait, describing how it works can get a little complicated but black and brown variation is quite straight forward. The chart at Tipper's link that describes the loci is great.

http://www.blueknightlabs.com/color/coatcolor.html

If you want to get more into it there is a great coat color chart at the following link that demonstrates the genetics of coat colors. There is also a yahoo group set up that specifically discusses canine coat color genetics. I've read that sometimes with a black dog carrying a different color, the black will not completely "seal" and will not be as boldly black as it would be if it was black carrying black.

http://www.vetgen.com/canine-coat-color.html

This is a good link too.

http://www.vetgen.com/chromagene-coat-color2.html

This next lists the identified genes that have to be considered. I think it might be an old writeup as they missed a most important locus that has been more recently identified, and that is the "K" locus.

"The control of coat and pattern in mammals is complex. In dogs, several genes have been associated with coat colour including: A (agouti), B (brown), C (albino), D (blue dilution), E (extension), G (greying), M (merle), R (roaning), S (white spotting) and T (ticking)."

http://www.healthgene.com/vet/c128.asp

 

[Dogstar]

The thing is, a dog can be genetically black and have a brown cast. (Or yellow nad have a red cast- think the 'fox red' labs- carrying chocolate doesn't produce that color). It's not as simple as the charts make it look. There's modifiers that affect color outside of the main factors. Those are what I think is in play here.

 

[Jaylie]

Thanks everyone! All that information is *very* helpful.

Should be fun to try and explain to her blind partner if she graduates...I hardly can put a finger on the color. I can't imagine trying to imagine a color like this if I were blind.