Quality Breeder of Show, Pet and Performance Puppies
updated 1/14/10
This is a new page on this web site. It will be added to as I find interesting content for it.
|
Coat Color and how it Changes
Sarah
I get so many people
that ask me if Tibetans coat color can or will change. It can and
it may. In sable colored dogs it almost always does. Some will
change a bit and some more dramatically. Sarah's coat to this day
is one of the most extreme examples of color change I've ever
seen. Ultimately as you can see in the above photo her coat was
beautiful but it went through some pretty awful stages along the
way. You could actually see the lines where it would change from
one shade to another.
Here's another
view of the same photo but up a bit closer
black tips then
a beautiful rich reddish brown, the a darker almost black brown,
next a lighter tannish brown and next to the skin almost black
again.
Most Tibetans
don't have this drastic a change in color. This was all in her
first year of life. It settled down after that and although it
continued to change a bit it never went back to these extreme
color changes of her first year of life. I've had a lot of
sable dogs over the years but she stayed a very dark sable
which most of mine don't.
So here are a
few of my observations on Tibetans and how their colors can and
do change. Sables will change. I've never seen one that
didn't. When someone is looking at a puppy of mine and says
"oh that's just the color I've been looking for" I tell them
they will be disappointed if they think their dog will stay what
it is for it's entire life. The colors will change, usually
getting lighter. They may lose some white from the muzzle and
blaze as well.
|
Black and whites
usually keep the black. They may lose some white, most especially
on their muzzles and face. Sometimes they will also get ticking
anywhere they are white. This can include the whole body if they
were a white dog with markings of another color. This isn't as set
in stone though as a sable's color change is. It's a gene and it
just depends if they have it or not. 
Annie as a puppy
 Annie at 4 years old
Panda Panda was born with an almost all white body with a few large black spots on him. He looked the same way at 10 weeks when he was sold. As an adult he looks very different. He's got a lot of ticking now making him appear very salt and pepper. I think it's very nice on him but not all people like ticking. This isn't the best picture but I think you can see how much ticking he has.
|
