I often see photos of Rufus as I'm scrawling through Facebook, he's a Nico x Kia son. This photo came up today, a quick glance and he's a black and gold male, but look closer ... zoom in at the saddle. Of course, I have an advantage, I knew the puppy! Rufus, as you can see from the puppy pic, like his mother, is a sable.
Mostly sables are more obvious than Rufus, Ross is obviously a sable, but what about Meerah? At the moment yes she's obviously a sable, but as sables darken with every moult .. well time will tell. Meerah hasn't had a moult yet so I guess the junior moult will be quite an explosion!
Someone told me at Leeds Champ show that they didn't like sables, they preferred the traditional black and tan. Ooops look at the breed history Mrs, what colour were the early examples of the breed? I love all the standard colours, though my preference is for a rich black and red tan like Orin, a rich sable or a black and tan that's hinting on a rich amber like Beti. I'm not so keen on lighter shades of black and gold, solid blacks, pale or black sables, but of course we have to remember colour is of secondary importance to construction.
I've been involved in numerous chats about what is tan, and what is gold? Which is the richer colour? I guess it's another one of those subjects that's open to personal interpretation. Having a black and tan Rottie in the early years firmly imprinted into me that tan is darker than gold. Tan, is a light shade of brown, while gold is a yellowish-orange colour, according to Wikipedia. "Even a red tan, which is a darker shade of tan, is still within the brown colour spectrum, whereas gold is a lighter, brighter colour." Still people in the breed still think "Gold" sounds better and register their pups, regardless of the secondary colour, as "Black and Gold!" To me, Jezi and Asha were Black and Gold, the others are Black and Tan!
(Top photos are both Rufus. Middle Miss Meerah and the wonderful granny Sammi, and the third photo is black and gold Jezi with black and tan Loki.)
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