In the Thoroughbred horse world, horses that appear black or nearly so are registered as "black or dark brown." Nobody ever had a problem with that. They do that because many of the born blacks mature with brown in the same places as dogs do... and since changing colour on the registration certificates isn't allowed, the very first registration will give the colour as above. Peggy legatogsd wrote: >I have always just called this 'dirty legs'. No big deal. It is not really >a genetic mystery. I have had a black bitch from a black x black breeding >who had 'dirty legs'. I've had several black GSD's over the years and they >nearly all either had or developed at some time, 'dirty legs'. > > > ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2005. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://www.showgsd.org ============================================================================