Ya, supposedly they're purebred, though apparently, all silver Labs originate from one kennel... hmmmn, I think there's something nefarious going on there... However, for all intents and purposes, they are purebred Labs.
They're marketed as silver, and that's just what it is, a marketing ploy. It's quite possible there are various alelles which would hypothetically give this sort of dilute shade to the coat, but technically it's just chocolate/liver. I haven't had my bitch tested, but she's very likely to be dilute, it's not always obvious ie they don't always have a lighter coat, darker dogs can throw pale pups and vice a versa. A few pics of my bitch and her daughter: Tau left, with her half sister, Indie It doesn't help that she also bleaches, again something that's genetic, in the same way that greying is Her actual coat colour, with a patch of bleached fur left in With my other dogs, Rhuna, Tau, her daughter Zasa and Indie again As long as they're brown and do what they're meant to shade of coat doesn't bother me, although I know lighter coats are not rewarded in the show ring generally, but it's not something I would breed for specifically, which is unfortunately what these sort of breeders are doing. I'm not convinced of the argument that Weimerarners are always mixed in with these sort of shades, since an outcross *should* produce the default colour, black, although my understanding of these things isn't exactly comprehensive. There was a thread elsewhere about this recently, and the possibility of a dilute allele being brought in from Chesapeakes was raised, it wouldn't necessarily have to be recent, but could just be something lurking in the background. As well as silver, if you start searching you will find all sorts of other colours, charcoal, white, cream etc. All people exploiting a freak genetic occurrence with their dogs, or possibly introducing lines from elsewhere that will produce these colours, and marketing the pups as something rare, which then makes them desirable.
In the US we DNA test for the dilute gene. My dogs are all clear. There is a big debate here about dilutes. 'Silver', 'charcoal' and 'champagne' are the dilute colors.
I saw one in the shop a few months ago - absolutely stunning IMO. edit: Must point out not for sale, was a family pet
Unluckily this is not an active topic anymore. I wanted to share something I found about black labrador and want to hear some comments so if anyone is here active please share your thoughts https://worlddogfinder.com/blog/dog-breeds/black-lab
