2 Liver pups in a litter of 8. I took these photos myself in June of 2000 near my home in Modesto, California. The pups were 7 weeks old at the time of the photo shoot and varied immensely in color. This photo is quite accurate in depicting actual coat color of these two cuties.
Here is the lighter of the two pups. It wasn't until recently that I began to rebuild my site and study photos of not only my Gypsy'slitter, which resulted in not only Blue pups but 3 Fawn pups as well, but also began to take a closer look at these photos. In doing so I am now wondering if this lighter pup wasn't indeed a Fawn instead of a true Liver.
The darker of the two pups. While his eyes were typical of a Liver pup of that age, being some shade of green or greenish-yellow. His lighter Liver littermate had eyes that were an extremely pale blue.
This photo of the lighter pup is not accurate in color representation and shows him to be much darker than he actually was.
The darker pup next to a traditionally colored littermate. This pup was of the Cinnamon variation of the Liver pigmentation. His lighter littermate lays behind him and again in this photo accurate color is definately not represented in his regard. He appears just as dark or darker than the Liver pup sitting. This was very much not the case in person.
This photo is an excellent example of coat color for the lighter Liver pup and indeed is how he appeared to the naked eye. Note his startling light blue eyes and light colored nose leather. He appears so much like my Fawn pups at that age it is uncanny. At the time this set of pictures was originally taken Gypsy was not even pregnant yet and as such I had no clue about Fawns or what they would look like or I may have identified him for what he was (genetically) at the time.
The darker of the two pups. Although I posted their pictures (with the permission of the breeder) I never did place her contact information on my site nor gave it out to people inquiring by e-mail. From the looks of her property she was indeed a puppy miller. Albeit on a small scale. The 10 or so adult GSD's I saw there were all tethered to trees on short heavy steel chains of about 5 feet in length. It was very sad.
The lighter of the two Liver pups again. In this photo he looks slightly darker than he actually was. It is possible he was just a very paled Liver. Sort of like the difference between Powder and Steel Blue pups and not actually a Fawn.
The darker pup again. The breeder told me (quite proudly) that she repeated this breeding (probably every heat that poor dam had) because the Sire and Dam threw at least two Livers in each litter. These are the type of breeders that give those of us who truly love the Liver and Blue colors and want to see them bred properly a bad name.
The light pup again. It is still quite possible this pup was indeed a Fawn, genetically being dd bb, as the adult GSD's this woman had all came from Ace Kennels who was known for having many Blues and Livers in their lines.
