The Schnauzer Forum

Just a question for the schnauzer genetics pros Or if you are just really good at IDing puppy colors/patterns!

This is my new puppy He was born July 30th. Both his parents are Black schnauzers.



It's the only pic I have.
Black or Black/silver?

Hi Kat,
Your puppy is very sweet but not easy to tell from a face view photo of a very young puppy for certain what his colouring will be as an adult. If both parents are black (and his pedigree is from black dogs) he is most likely to be black himself. There will be some silver/white colouring on the face if he is going to be B&S usually quite visible from 3-4 weeks of age.

We have never had a black puppy but the photos below show a B&S pup we had years ago in a litter from pepper and salt parents who both had the B&S gene. The first photo is at 3 weeks and the other at 4 when you can see the contrast with his P&S brother.

Thank you! I have looked at so many puppy pictures trying to figure this out, but the angle of the snap is bad to show markings.

The breeder says he's Black/Silver and I think if both black parents have 1 B/S gene along with a black gene, and the puppy gets the two B/S genes, that it's possible the puppy is B/S.

The breeder says she gave up on genetics a long time ago. But she's been doing this for 40 years, so she knows something!

I was wondering if some B/S were darker than others....
Like perhaps with black parents and black lineage, the B/S gene is darker. I do see some B/S schnauzers online that are quite dark in the face.

I asked for another pic, we shall see!
I just find genetics so interesting!

I suppose there must be some B/S darker then others. You certainly get very dark P/S that could be mistaken for B/S.
Dont know if this helps
http://www.katewerk.com/color/color2_pg ... (tanpoint).

Dawnspell wrote: ↑26 Aug 2020, 12:45 I suppose there must be some B/S darker then others. You certainly get very dark P/S that could be mistaken for B/S.
Dont know if this helps
http://www.katewerk.com/color/color2_pg ... (tanpoint).

Yes thanks so much! I love these detailed genetic articles i'm gonna have fun this morning haha!

So I bookmarked that info for future reference since there's a lot of info there, but I think the agouti gene that determines how much B/S pattern coverage a puppy will have.

So if a black puppy has one agouti gene, maybe it wouldn't have as much agouti coverage?

**Update**
We got some more pics in! He is Black and Silver!

I tried to upload a pic, but I don't know if it worked.

Thanks all for the info

https://i.postimg.cc/TPbgvGX0/20200830-202532.jpg

The breeder is not good at taking pics unfortunately lol!

But his makings on his legs clearly show he is Black/Silver. Good enough for me

So thought I'd update my thread. Ozzy is indeed B&S, although he has a brown undercoat and old dead hair is chocolate. I have found the odd white hair in his jacket, even one banded one, but I believe that is more due to his mixed lineage as his pure black father had produced all 3 colors.

Anyway some pics to show his colour







In the sun especially, his amber really shows up. In the natural light and dark, he looks black like a regular B&S.

I'm curious if his jacket will fade with age if I continue to hand strip? Because mostly it's his furnishings and undercoat mixed in his jacket that is chocolate.

Jaspers breeder also bred B&S she had a 12 year old that she sort of semi stripped just to keep the wire and that hadnt faded.

Ok thanks! I can't see the jacket wire fading, it's more curiosity for me. I find genetics so interesting!