Paling you mean? thats what I know it as. I think beagles fade too, probably others too. I think they have to have the paling gene. Im not sure if its the same in Beagles as it is in GSD's though.
I don't know what it means Dawn. I read it in a USA GSD book. I haven't googled it yet. If it is paling, what does that mean? What is the affect of it on a dog?
CCs colouring is know to fade on both the hairless and puffs. For example alot of CCs are born with gingers crests, that go cream, brown puffs can go cream, black puffs can go cream, or a grey..ect..ect! Is that what you mean?
Of course all shepherds pale as they first grow from babies except for sables, who will mostly darken. All GSD puppies except true sables, & whites will be born black but by 8 weeks their colour will be showing but they will often continue to change untill they reach their adult coat. However paling refers to a shepherd who pales as an adult. Many shepherds lose there defined black saddles as they grow older. My friend & I were discussing this the other day & commenting that as far more bitches pale than dogs whether there is a hormonal link to this.
Thanks GSDSue, didn't know that all GSD pups (with those exceptions) are born black. What is a true sable?
Not entirely correct, my bi-colours were born bicolours, black & Gold born black & dark red, black & red born black & dark brown. Blacks are born black obviously, blues are born blue, "white"/cream/biscuit born whitish. Colour paling happens if the dog has poor pigmentation & all the colours of the dogs coats literally pale from tan to gold, gold to cream, black to grey. All blacks never pale & neither do grey dogs with a sable pattern, the sable patterning gets darker as the puppy grows up. The so called "Gold sables"do pale off as they do not have true sable patterning gene & tend to be poor black & golds.
True Dyane there is a hint of colours there & blues & browns do have that odd hue to the tips of their coats. Ny bicolours were born with dark brown where their flecks of gold were. I don't fully understand the colour gene as my first bicolours were born from a very pale paling black & gold but I kept one & she went on to produce two more in her litter. Malcolm Willis tried to explain the reason for this but I'm afraid he lost me, at some point along the line. My current bitch has paled in so far as her black has shrunk & on her back she is quite pepper & salt but her tan colour has not lightened as she has got older. Werewolf I said a true sable because I have seen dogs described by their owners as sable who are actually paled black & golds. To produce a sable at least one of the parents has to be a sable.
Thank you all xxxx I have seen a few NIDs whos colour has faded as they have grown a bit older and they have turned into what NID people call 'saddle' backs, is this the same thing do you think?
