As Schatz gets older he is developing patches of fur that are two toned.

[Schatz's Mom]

On his ears and back of his neck patches of fur are either tan tipped with black or in some places it is white tipped with black. On the surface he appears to be a solid black and tan but if you ruffle his fur you see a different color underneath. Is this normal for a B&T or is it possible that he is a dapple but just not showing alot? Boy did my sentences just ramble! I hope you can make sense out of what I am trying to ask!

[pipsqueak21]

Peaches is a red, and she started to change colors too. The underside of her neck and her shoulder blades turned more of a blondish color. It looks like she has little wings on her back! :angel1: Also, her black overlay faded quite a bit.

[LUVMYGUNNER]

Sounds like he might have some dapple but Chrissie knows a lot about this and she will tell you. Gunner is 2 yrs. old and he is black/ tan his coat hasn't changed much since I got him. Petunia who is a b/t dapple is getting some light brown in her coat also she has a lot of white.

[Cindi]

Many black and tans will get that two tone effect behind their ears, sometimes on their ears (if they have enough hair <G>), along their shoulders and sometimes on the back of their thighs. Don't know what causes it (sometimes there is wirehair behind them but I've seen it on dogs that are pure for smooth).

Dappling usually removes color in the hair shaft so the two tone effect would not indicate dappling. *I say usually as some dogs have the dark dappling :faint:* I have a wirehair dapple puppy that is wild boar as the base color but a lot of her body area is silver with black spots. So.....maybe the dappling was large and the spots are just remainders of her wild boar natural pattern.

Sounds like your boy must have a nice undercoat to be able to have so much coloration. That is excellent.