schnauzer colours

Question
Hi,,I have recently had a litter of schnauzer cross toy poodles born to my mini  schnauz,,,they are all looking black,,,I dont think they will change colour, being crosses aswell,,but a friend of mine told me most schnauzers are born black/dark...could you shed some light on this,,just out of interest,,cannot find anything about it anywhere!!! Thanks in advance,,,Kind Regards,,,Lorna,,,uk

Answer
The colors would be purely genetic, but if the mother was dark, it could be that the puppies have little in the way of markings at this point. My black-and-silver puppies are born almost totally black, and only a knowing eye can spot the difference. Even some SPs look black at first, except for a bit of tan shading right behind their ears. http://tcmsc.com/newborn.jpg

There are also two types of blacks... heterozygous and homozygous. A homozygous dog can produce only black offspring, no matter what it is bred with, while a heterozygous black can produce several different colors, depending on the genetics of the two parents.