GALLERY 3

Black, Charcoal, Silver

Pure black is the deepest darkest colour. Glossy jet black. The expression of black can be modified by an assortment of genes. Here we see what happens when the silvering gene affects black. The addition of one copy of the silvering gene leads to dark silver or charcoal and two copies of the silvering gene leads to medium to light silver. Variations of shading are dependent on the age of the dog and the current stage of colour change as well as the effects of other modifying genes. Silvering starts at the muzzle, face, feet and legs. Silvering can take 12 to 18 months or longer to develop. Although all the dogs on this page were black at birth, their look as adults may be significantly different.

Dark silver/charcoal is sometimes referred to as Blue. Genetically, the term blue is a dilute black colour and not caused by the silvering gene. The name blue still persists for both the black dog that turns dark silver/blue grey (like the Kerry Blue Terrier) as well as the dilute dog that is born blue. See the dilute colour gallery for photos and more information about this.