Color Change in a German Shepherd Puppy?

Question

I selected my baby girl because she was so beautiful. She has brown but her face was the darkest one. Now she is almost 3 months old and it seems her face is getting lighter. How much can it change? How long until her true colors show? Any training tips?

Answer 1

German Shepherds can change color throughout their lifetime, especially if they are sable, although most of them seem to settle on their adult coloring between 1 and 3 years of age. Most GSDs are born dark and lighten as they age.

My best training tip is to teach her to look at you (make eye contact) now, while she is young and impressionable. GSD's can be very destractable as adolescents and your life will be made much easier if you teach her that you saying her name means that you want her to look you in the face.

Another good one, teach her now that handling her feet is a GOOD thing! GSD's can be the biggest babies when it comes to trimming nails. Things will be much less stressful for both her and whomever is trimming her nails if you desensitize her to having her feet handled now while she is young. Be very patient. Start with just handling her feet. Hold onto a foot until she stops struggling and trying to pull it away from you. When she stops struggling and relaxes, immediately praise her, pop a treat in her mouth, and release her foot. Do this until she will let you hold her foot for about 30 seconds. Then you can work on squeezing individual toes and clipping just the very tips of her nails. Just do one at a time. Clip the very tip of the nail and make a big deal of it...lots of praise and a couple of yummy treats. If she starts struggling and trying to pull her foot away, just sit there and hold on to it until she stops struggling and then reward for her being still and allowing you to hold her foot. Then release her foot and play with her for a few seconds before trying again. Some of her squirming and struggling will probably be objections to you holding her foot, but a lot of it is likely to be her objecting to being asked to sit still for so long (very few 3mo old puppies like sitting still for the length of time it takes to get all four feet trimmed). At this stage in the game you really need to make nail trims and having her feet handled seem like a great thing to her. Keep it fun and she will soon learn to tolerate holding still for nail trims.

Answer 2

I had a German Shepherd dog that went through two seasons of changing color. She was largely tan with coal black snout. The odd thing is that her snout changed the first summer I had her when she was about nine mos. old. It turned almost as light tan as the rest of her body! It was eerie. Then when the fall came, it darkened- coal black again. Same thing happened the next season. After that, by the third or fourth season, it did not get light in the summer but was not as dark, maybe a dark dark brown but not coal black and that was how it stayed.

Answer 3

Do not use puppy food past the age of 6 months. Puppy foods have many supplements that can speed up growth and change joints. This makes your dog at higher risk for hip dysplasia and other joint problems. German shepherds are already at risk for hip dysplasia so why try and speed up the growth? I recommend Eukanuba Naturals or Taste Of the Wild ADULT dog food. They have higher protein contents which will help with muscle building.

Answer 4

Every year Spike sheds he gets lighter. He's a mix and he started out almost completely black. Now his stomach is beige and you can see a pattern of beige hair on his head and sholders. I often wonder if he'll ever stop.

She's going to be a big dog so make sure that you never allow things like jumping up or letting her on the coach unless you want a 100 lbs. dog in your lap. Make sure that she understands that your the boss it will make her less protective and less likely to get grumpy with people and other dogs.

Answer 5

Mine looked like a brown teddy bear when she was a pup,then as she grew,her "saddle" began to turn black,along with her muzzle.She is six years old now,and is tan,and gets more black hairs every year,so I guess she is going backwards as opposed to yours!

Answer 6

All german Shepards are brownish black and they lighten up around the outline of their body

Answer 7

OK I AM A GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG BREEDER AND MORE THEN LIKELY SHE WILL CONTINUE TO LIGHTEN UNTIL SHE IS ABOUT A YEAR!!! SHE WAS MORE THEN LIKELY BORN BLACK!!!! I HAVE A LITTER OF THEM NOW AND ALL BUT ONE WAS BORN BLACK AND HAVE BRINDLED OUT TO BLACK AND GREY!!! DUE TO THE FACT THAT BOTH PARENTS HAD WHITE IN THEIR BACKGROUND!!!! MY FEMALE HAD ONE THAT WAS ALL WHITE AND IT WILL STAY THAT WAY BUT THE OTHERS WIIL CONTINUE TO CHANGE!!!