Sable Coat Change

Sable Coat Change - Color Morphing!

By: Carol Keen

 

What color will this Pom be when it grows up?

That is a question I have answered many, many times. The colors that throw people off the most is a more common one. Red Sable, Orange Sable, Cream Sable, Sable, and Wolf Sable are the colors in Pomeranians that are the sables. For this page will skip Wolf Sable, though it also has coat changes. Unless specifically bred to keep sable tipping or saddles, the sable coat will change. Black masks are a separate gene.

Let's talk about what happens with Cream, Red, and Orange Sable Pom coats. These pups are born dark brown. As they grow, they change coat color. They become "lighter". Sable is the black tipping on the coat. This tipping, which is tied to eumelania, changes! This page will have photographs of the sable coat color change. It will also have a few examples of coats that do not loose the sable tipping.

This is Baby Grace, aka Cinnamon Grace. She is an orange sable.

Look at the way her coat gets lighter and lighter as she grows up.

 

This girl is Lil Beauty, or Beauty. She is an example of a sable who keeps most of her sable tipping. She has secondary tan marking genes.

 

For fun, these photos are in reverse! No, that isn't reverse sable, but starting as young adults backwards to puppies. These are two sisters. Tangerine, who is the darker sable girl, and Mandarin, the lighter sable girl. In their adult photos to the side of this text you can see how one kept more sabling coloring than the other one.

Here is darling little Ursula! She got that name from the "U" on her nose. She is a super example of how the cream sable coat changes to all cream and only a little bit, sometimes no sable left.

 

Here is Smudge, tiny smudge of white on his chest. Look at his dark, dark sable baby coat. He grew out quite light, like most sables.

I'll add to this page as I can. I hope it helps, please feel free to ask questions!