I recently bred a litter of black pups and got a surprise. One male -- quite posibly the pick of the litter -- is very nice but his coat is more charcoal gray than black, and some of the toenails on his rear feet are white -- although they appear to be darkening now (near 8 weeks). He has Bolo marks on his pads, if that makes any difference. He also has a thick short coat, he's very balanced, and he has good bone. If he were by himself his color might not be noticeable but when he's alongside the other pups he stands out. My question is, will he stay charcoal gray or darken as he ages, and has anyone else ever experienced this? I'm sure a silver breeder would love to get ahold of him but that's not going to happen!

Hope this isn't BS, but if his top coat hasn't come in yet and it's still just the fuzzy undercoat, it can have a grey-ish tinge to it. I've had puppies in the same litter get their topcoats at different ages.

What did he look like at birth? I've seen photos of what the silver breeders call "charcoal" puppies alongside their regular black and chocolate littermates, and they were VERY noticeably different at birth. I would have called them silver they were so light and shiny. If he wasn't silvery at birth, then it's probably just a puppy coat thing.

This definitely isn't BS. I've asked several people to pick out the puppy that looks a little different, and they always pick him. Again, if he were alone it might not be noticeable but alongside the others in the litter, he definitely looks gray. One breeder thought his head looked a little darker and suggested the entire coat may darken too. I hope so! He's a great pup with potential for the ring -- but aren't they all at eight weeks, lol?! Fingers crossed!

Are you sure it's "charcoal" or is it just that puppy is more of a matte black where his siblings are a "shinier"? I've had one puppy in a litter of blacks have a very short, dense, matte coat that almost look like velvet where the others were a tad longer and had a bit of a sheen to them...he definitely looked different, but nothing I'd describe as a dilute color. He grew up to have a wonderful adult coat.

Could be a zinc deficiency. Check it out.

Don't worry about it, it will darken as he gets older. It usually means they will have a great coat so be happy.

I've had one of those too. No big deal, it just means you have some real good undercoat. I took pics , because like you , I thought I had a silver puppy, nearly fainted when he was born ! Keep the puppy if he has good structure, and keep your mouth shut.

Read , Reaching for the Stars, its in there !

You can answer your own question with a DNA test from one of the various places that offer the test for the silver gene.
Better safe than sorry; it would be terrible if you were to perpetuate that gene in your lines or spread it to others.

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Oh geez - spoken like a true silver breeder. Yes, you can test your puppy, but unless you have bred into silver lines, the chances are 100% that you have a puppy with a grey-ish undercoat with no topcoat yet - the harsh shiny black hairs. I've had these puppies often enough, particularly when breeding into lines with very heavy coats - the puppies don't get the topcoat until 8-10 weeks, so up to then a few of them look somewhat grey - but it's grey fuzz, not a grey topcoat.

WTH?! It was just a suggestion to help the OP solve their mystery of what they called a charcoal. I am no &%#*!& money leaching color breeder! I agree with you and the others that it sounded like the boy is a plush black that has just not grown into his full coat. I was only making a suggestion to help the OP know for sure and avoid spreading something they would not want to, unlikely as that would be. But that blasted gene has shown up in more than just silver lines.
Peace of mind and better to be safe than sorry.

Really? Where? In what reputable lines? I know a LOT of reputable show breeders and no one has EVER produced a dilute puppy!

I personally think it's just a light black and once the top coat comes in, the worry will be over. But for crying out loud, it's certainly not a sin to suggest a coat color test. I don't think dilute genes just "happen" like silver breeders want you to think, but god forbid it IS actually a hidden gene that we have all be lucky enough to not have seen expressed in our litters.

Like I said, I wouldn't worry about the puppy, but the color test is a good idea. Was this litter dominant black? If not, you can also find out if it carries any other colors...

When we had a litter of 10 all black puppies I commented to the stud dog a long time breeder that they were different shades of black. She said at that time and was correct that the grayer ones had more undercoat and they would be thick proper coats.