Rommel

"Rommel" at 14 weeks with his new loving owner Kim at the kennels where he was purchased. Rommel is a dark liver and tan saddle back out of American Conformation lines.

Rommel at 16 weeks. It is especially difficult to capture the accurate coat color of a liver or blue GSD in photographs. My bet is his saddle color looks much darker in this picture that it does in person.

Snapping a playful shot of Rommel standing next to a Martini glass, his owner joking named this picture, "Martini Time!"

This shot here clearly shows his liver colored nose leather. According to the AKC standards for the German Shepherd breed, the blue and liver coat color are serious faults, however a nose leather which is not predominately black is a disqualification. It is for this reason that blues and livers cannot be shown in the Conformation ring. They can however participate in any other sanctioned event, such as Obedience, Agility, Flyball, Herding, Schutzhund, etc. They are also just as capable as their "normal" colored littermates in becoming Service(Aiding a disabled person during their daily activities such as the dogs on the ArfKids website), SAR (Search and Rescue), K-9,or Therapy dogs as well.

Rommel once again at 16 weeks. Even though in places his coat may appear black it is the lighting. I imagine that his coat color is chocolate brown on his saddle. In order to capture photos that depict an accurate coat color for blues and livers special instructions usually must be left with the developers.

This shot clearly shows the light muzzle and nose leather color. Like all true livers Rommel has no black pigmentation whatsoever. His eye rims, foot pads, lips, nose leather, etc. will have no black pigment. The liver gene completely blocks the formation of any black pigment.

In the shade Rommels facial color looks much darker. I am betting in person his true facial color is lighter than this shot but darker than the shots taken in full sunlight. This is also a great shot of his light eyes, most liver pups have green or green-yellow eyes. They will change drastically in color over the next couple of years. More pictures of Rommel will be added as his owner sends them to me.