The GSD breed and sable dogs

The most dominant color in the German Shepherd breed is called sable. The average person may not be familiar with this color as they are used to seeing the typical black and tan colored dog. However, especially in the working lines, sable dogs are very common.

If you pluck a single hair from a sable dog, you will usually see two or three different colors on the strand of fur. This creates a pattern on the dog that is similar to a grey wolf in color.

A sable dog can range in color from a very light grey or tan, to a darker richer red or grey color, to a dark brown or black color. All shades of sable are acceptable but you want to see dark pigment. Lighter sables usually lack in pigment causing them to be washed out in color.

Since sable is the most dominant color in the breed, you must have at least one sable parent in order to produce a sable puppy. This is because a dog must have a sable gene in order to be sable. If a dog has a sable gene, he will be sable. A dog cannot carry the sable gene recessively. Two black and tan dogs bred together will never produce a sable puppy.

A homogeneous sable is a dog that received one sable gene from both of his parents. Some will also call this a 'dominant sable'. This means that he carries nothing but sable genes, therefore will only produce sable puppies no matter what female he is bred to. This can happen when a sable puppy is from two sable parents. However, just because he has two sable parents does not mean he is automatically a homogenous sable, as it depends on what genes he received (he could have gotten their recessive gene instead of their sable gene).

The very first registered German Shepherd Dog was sable in color. Sable GSDs have been around from the very beginning. The color is not very common in the German show lines and generally do not do as well in the SV style show ring. In the past several years there have been some sable dogs being bred into the show lines as well as some sable working line dogs who are receiving their V ratings in the SV style show ring.

Regardless of your color preference, be sure to always look at other aspects of the dog before making a purchase! Never choose a dog or puppy based on color alone. Color should only be considered after looking at health, temperament, working ability and structure.