# Dog breeding question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-breeding-question/407720>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 12, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-breeding-question/407720 "2007-06-12T15:58:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-breeding-question/407720/1 "2007-06-12T15:58:01Z")

</div>

What happens if you breed a [yellow lab](http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/allschools/providence/keenan/chem/images/yellow_lab.jpg) with a [black lab](http://www.zartgallery.com/images/logoblacklab.jpeg)? What colour are the puppies?

Chocolate? Seems unlikely.

I have never seen a “mottled” lab so I suspect it would end up as one or the other. And I can’t recall ever seeing a “lab mix” in any colour other than black or chocolate, so my guess is that the dark colours are dominant.

So is it one of those where you’d get a litter of all black the first time, and then if you bred those together you’d get some black and some yellow?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-breeding-question/407720/2 "2007-06-12T16:36:45Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=cowgirl]  
What happens if you breed a [yellow lab](http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/allschools/providence/keenan/chem/images/yellow_lab.jpg) with a [black lab](http://www.zartgallery.com/images/logoblacklab.jpeg)? What colour are the puppies?

Chocolate? Seems unlikely.

I have never seen a “mottled” lab so I suspect it would end up as one or the other. And I can’t recall ever seeing a “lab mix” in any colour other than black or chocolate, so my guess is that the dark colours are dominant.

So is it one of those where you’d get a litter of all black the first time, and then if you bred those together you’d get some black and some yellow?  
[/QUOTE]

You’d get a mix. Some would be yellow, some black, maybe even a light yellow almost white one. Happens all the time for people who are not straight up breeders. As a matter of fact, my uncle in VT has a breeding pair of labs. Mom is yellow, dad is black.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-breeding-question/407720/3 "2007-06-12T16:36:56Z")

</div>

All three colors ( chocolate, black and yellow ) can appear in the same litter. So they aren’t distinct breeds - just different color varieties within the breed.

- Tamerlane

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-breeding-question/407720/4 "2007-06-12T17:03:50Z")

</div>

Neat! Thanks!

I love questions with easy answers!