Hi everyone
I am new to this site and new to breeding. My bitch has just had her first litter, the pupps are 3 weeks old. I have had a few people requesting black, black and silver pupps. The trouble is working out how they will change. They all look black with tinges of brown right now as my bitch once looked then turned pepper and salt. My bitche's mother was black and the father pepper and salt. How can I tell what colour these puppies will be? I just presume they will all be pepper and salt as both parents are but as I have no experience I am hoping someone could give me some advice. Thank you in anticipation...

Hopefully someone will be along that can give you breed specific answers.  I can only say, that, for my breed (Long Coat Chihuahuas)  I refuse to discuss adult colour.

I had a litter of cream and whites, with one stunning gunmetal grey pup.  Naturally he stood out big time and was much admired.  However, I was emphatic that he should not be sold on colour, as I suspected that he would turn fawn.  As an adult, he's fawn with a blue mask.  My breed alters too much for me to be pushed into guaranteeing colour. 

It may well be that you can be sure with your breed, but, as a matter of interest, I'm throwing this into the mix!

Thank you for your response, it certainly is difficult to tell. I know myself I wanted a [breed removed] so much that colour really wasn't at the top of my agenda. Maybe some people are just determined to get a specific colour but I don't know how any breeder can guarantee the colour.

I believe salt and pepper is caused by agouti gene (aw), and black and silver is caused by the tan gene (at). If that's right tan is recessive to agouti. The black in the breed I believe is dominant black (KB) KB is dominant over ky, a dog needs two ky to show the effects of the A locus (sable, agouti, tan, res black).

So as both parents are pepper and salt they shouldn't be solid black as both parents will be ky/ky unless the breed also has recessive black.  You should be able to look at the pups fur and see if it's two toned or not. Solid Black and black and silver the hair shafts would be solid black where as agouti the hair shafts are two tones.

A friend had a litter of Lhasa where two of the pups looks almost black for the first couple weeks but when you dug around in the coat you could find non black hairs spread about, they were both sable but just very heavy on the sableing, as they got older it became more obvious as more non black hair showed threw.

thank you

With my main breed, colour really doesn't matter other than if somebody wants a bicolour (red or lemon/white - or Mahogany) or a tricolour (black blanket, saddle tri and so on).   Marking can matter and affect the overall look of a hound however.  So I'm not really into colour.   If a puppy is a tricolour, his colouring will lighten.   If a bicolour, especially lemon and white, he's born almost white with brown splodges which darken - until they get elderly when they go almost white again!!   I have a photo of my lemon/white boy when he was very elderly - he looks like a ghost.

However, when I bought my Whippet, I wanted/preferred a blue brindle which she was as a puppy.  In fact in the summer she lightens to a tan/brown brindle but the blue comes through more during the Winter.

Hopefully somebody with direct knowledge of how the Min.Schnauzer develops (colour) will be able to answer.

Schnauzer pups don't change colour from birth they are either all black, black and silver or pepper and salt. White as well of course but anybody could spot a white A black will not turn into a black and silver for example. Although all 3 will end up the colour of the undercoat when adults if clipped so may get lighter in colour. If stripped they will retain their colour.

The blacks will have not have other colouring anywhere. With the other two there should be lighter colouring on the paws, eyebrows, rump and beard. If there is some silvering/lighter colouring behind the ears then they are pepper and salt. No difference in colour on ears black and silver. You can get very dark pepper and salt which you may think is black and silver, but if it has lighter colouring behind the ears its a pepper and salt no matter how dark it may look.

Black and silver is recessive and they can pop up in litters from pepper and salt matings. The same way as a white can pop up in a litter.