people seem to be getting a little confused here. in labs black is the dominate gene( that we all agree with?) then yellow , then choc then the very rare( and unwanted silvers). of course in yellows there are a variety of shades. 2 yellow dog can only make yellow pups ie yy to yy = yy pups. a dog that carries yellow and black will always be black ie by (black dominate to pup black). therefore a black dog mated to a yellow will produce a black litter. a black/ yellow to black/yellow is likely to produce a mostly black litter ie by to by = ot quite sure if im remembering right but should be 1 bb 2by and 1 yy in a ideal litter of 4 obverisly thing dont work exactly like that so they occasionally come out all black.) i think its a 1 in 4 chance of a yellow(that is very roughly) a yellow dog mated to a black/yellow is likely to have a mostly black litter as most puppies will be black/yellows. (this is the combination i used ad i got 8 pups of which 3 were yellow.) there father is a very dark yellow but all my yellow pups were very light.

the only thing i know about mating choc's to yellows is you are more likely to get silvers( which have alot of health problems and are usually put to sleep at birth.)

i hope this is helpful. although this is very basic genetics and there are more varibles.

the main thing is that 2 yellows can only make YELLOW

"therefore a black dog mated to a yellow will produce a black litter." says Ikkledevil

Not necessarily!   http://www.vetgen.com/color.html

As you can see the results are totally up to the genotypes of the parents.

>therefore a black dog mated to a yellow will produce a black litter."

Ohh, if only it were that simple ;)

Exactly what I thought this morning when i read it, kay, it undone everything that was said earlier in the thread, and has probably confused those who know no better :)

'therefore a black mated to a yellow will produce a black litter'
My black bitch( yellow father/black mother) was mated to a yellow-fox red dog(black father/yellow mother)==11 pups 7 yellows and 4 blacks

Yes, if you repeated the mating it would almost be certain to be an all black litter. Both parents need to carry a colour to produce it, for example,  if you want chocolate puppies both parents need to carry the chocolate gene, doesn't matter if the parents are black or yellow they still need to carry the gene to produce it.  Mating chocolate to yellow to me is NOT a problem,   you can get light eyes   etc when two blacks or two yellows are mated,  yes you can get Liver pointed puppies however this will not happen  if the chocolate parent does not carry yellow,  the chocolate colour  will not be diluted by the yellow, if the  chocolate lines are dark chocolate, mating to a yellow is not going to make any difference, that is like saying mating a black to a yellow will lighten the black or darken  the yellow I have mated black to black and got  more chocolate puppies than black, mother carries yellow father does not hence no yellow puppies,  both carry chocolate HOWEVER some of those puppies will carry yellow. You need to know your lines

Hi Chocymolly I was going to reply to that when I had a bit more time on my hands. I confess I had checked tests that were needed hips scores, eyes etc. which I hasten to add I have had done. Unfortunately my other lady has hip problems (I had her spayed) so I was determined I would do all I could to get it right. I did find 2 potential stud dogs & the question of colour yellow & chocolate was never raised as an issue by them. I was taken aback when I read on here that yellow & chocolate was frowned on. I have since spoken with the stud dog owner who has told me he does not personally have an issue with chocolate & yellow mating. He has been breeding labs for over 45 years & did come recomended from a local breed group I belong to. I am not blaming him because I am responsible for my lady, however hindsight is a wonderful thing. I know I will probably get slated but I did believe I had done everything correct.  Having now looked into the colour query I will not mate her again with a chocolate. It would appear she is eeBB no chocolate gene & the stud EEbb no yellow gene which is why all of the pups were black. Still at present I am thankfull my lady is doing well & her babies are beautiful. Thankyou all for the replies on the colour question Good & Bad - I did learn a long time ago don't ask the question if you don't like the answer. Oh well off to change the vetbed.

I Don't understand  when you say you don't  blame the stud dog owner,  what has blame got to do with a perfectly healthy all black litter,  I get the impression that you mated to a chocolate  and assumed that you would get chocolate puppies and was disapointed when you didn't, and that some how it is the stud dogs  owners fault. This is where knowing your lines really helps, if you had known what lines and the colours were in your girls background you would have had a  good idea whether or not she carried chocolate, yes sometimes even breeders who have been breeding for many years still get the odd little surprise  when an unexpected colour turns up. Of course all your girls  puppies will carry  chocolate as their father is chocolate, just as they will all carry yellow because their mother is yellow

I was not in anyway saying I was disapointed that the puppies were all black, frankly I was replying to the fact that the 2 stud dog owners did not mention anything about chocolate & yellow matings being frowned upon. A fact I did not know until I posted the colour question.

well   obviously it was not an issure    for them, as it isn't for me, however I know that neither of my chocolate dogs carry yellow  so there will be no Liver pointed pups  by them., and this is the only reason I would  hesitate to mate a chocolate that carried yellow to a yellow who carries chocolate.  I know my first litter that contained chocolate puppies also had one liver pointed yellow, this was a Black /yellow mating, I knew my girl carried chocolate but both the stud dog owner and I were amazed that her dog carried  chocolate, the stud dogs grandfather had produced  chocolate pups many years earlier, but  no other chocolates had poped up in the next few generations,  so it was a surprise for both of us. Oh the joys of breeding Labradors.