Maggie's fur as a young pup was identical to your puppy. She went from dark (like that photo) to very light reddish and she's on her way to being a mahogany sable. Sables seem to change coloration a lot as they age. Even my sable Lucy's fur is still darkening and she's around 7 or 8 years old.
Gold vs Sable?
- Thread starter Eleore
- Start date
BarbV
Forums Celebrity
Am I wrong that I see some sable merle here? Most sables have darker guard hair around their ruffs that I've seen, but this pup is very light around the ruff?
Emmasmom
Forums Sage
I see Bear is a descendant of Ryan O'Neill. That was my Hamish's father and Hamish did darken up to be quite a dark sable. Ryan O'Neill shows up in all my dogs, even my blue merle Noah and my tri Liam.
I'm guessing Lucien will be similar to Aston, a puppy from an earlier litter of the same parents. I saw his puppy pictures and he looked really similar. Here is a pic of him, he is the only adult in the pic. BTW, Lucien is the only sheltie looking at the camera 
My boy is also getting darker every day, so I think you are right Barb. I actually love darker sables, so I couldn't mind that less
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Sheri, I don't remember if I saw a picture of Maggie... will try searching, you have me very curious now!
My boy is also getting darker every day, so I think you are right Barb. I actually love darker sables, so I couldn't mind that less
.Sheri, I don't remember if I saw a picture of Maggie... will try searching, you have me very curious now!
No not a Merle but could be either tri or bi factored. It leads to that smutty looking grayish/blackish coloring.
BarbV
Forums Celebrity
Thanks! I'm still learning colours. The "factored" thing is still something I don't get. I guess I knew though that the colouring was different.
Noneeds4me
Forums Enthusiast
Our Spring is considered a "Lemon Sable." I'd never heard of that before! 
ClantyreSheltie
Forums Sage
In Shelties "factored" simply means that the dog carries recessive black, either with or without tan points. So a "tri-factored sable" is a brown dog who carries black with tan points. A "bi-factored tri" is a black dog with tan points, that carries black without tan points.
Sable is dominant over black, and black with tan is dominant over black without tan points.