[ChocoBrun]

Hi everyone! I'm sorry if this is a rather stupid question to ask but I was wondering what kind of colour my lab is. He is my first dog and I haven't seen any labs with his colour before and I get asked often if he was a mix between a black and chocolate. But from what I have read there's no mixed colour. When it comes to colour in his papers it says his father was a brown colour and his mom was a chocolate. What's the diference? Also when you lift his fur a little you can see there's still some brown underneath the dark brown.

I am also including two pictures of my Brun, the 1st one at 3,5 months the other one taken about a week ago at 10. The 3rd photo is his mom, I currently can't seem to find any of his dad but I do remember him a little. He looks like the mom just a little darker, not as dark as mine though.

 

[JohnW]

his father was a brown colour and his mom was a chocolate. What's the diference

There is no difference, brown, chocolate or liver, it's all the same colour. But the colour can vary from quite light brown to very dark, just as with a yellow Labrador the shade can be from almost white to a deep fox red. (Fox red is not a different colour as some people think, it's just a shade of yellow.)

I get asked often if he was a mix between a black and chocolate.

You are right, the colour does not work like that. Very simply, both sire and dam must carry the gene for a particular colour for the pups to be that colour. If the sire and dam do not carry the same gene then the pups will be black. In other words, if both the sire AND dam dont carry the gene for yellow then there will be no yellow pups, and if both the sire and the dam dont carry the gene for chocolate then there will be no chocolate pups. and finally, if both the sire and the dam dont carry either the yellow or the chocolate gene then the pups will all be black.

Dogs cant change coat colour any more than humans, (Apart from going grey, but that is simply the lost of pigment.) But the shade of colour can change. A young puppy had a baby coat, quite soft and fluffy. As the puppy develops it grows it's adult coat, the outer coat being more harsh in texture and is often a different shade to the baby coat. But also a dog's winter coat is often darker than it's summer coat.

 

[Deboragh]

Our previous Lab Cleo was a very dark brown (Chocolate). Her puppy coat was quit a bit lighter though so as her adult coat gradually came in, it looked like she was 2 colours.