The unwanted Black and Tan

Sadly, the black and tan pit bull and all of it’s variations seem to be just as the big hairy black dog is to shelter rescue - the pariah, the unwanted, the just plain passed over.  A Tricolor is a black and tan dog with the addition of white.  I see these lovely dogs passed over again and again in rescue because people think they are weird, mixy, ugly, “not purebred” while the breeders pump out more and more yet seem to have no trouble selling their “rare” pups.  Any google search on tricolor pit bull will come up with tons of puppy mill backyard breeders pushing “rare” tricolors, blue tris, purple (really?) tricolor. Whatever they can do to push the sell for hundreds of dollars.  

The pictures with this blog post are pictures of dogs bred by J.P. Colby in the early to mid 1900s, circa 1910-1945 (sepia side pictures taken from Colby’s Book of the American Pit Bull Terrier c1997).  You didn’t see them that often, a sometimes combination of breeding a brindle to a black (in the text from Colby)  but I’ve seen tricolors appear in a red/fawn to red/fawn breeding. What causes tricolor genetics? I’m not sure but they aren’t mixed breeds based on their color.  Black and Tan or Tricolor is a viable color pattern in the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Though it is a fault for the two AKC  breeds and they aren’t considered “show quality”.  The ADBA and UKC have no such regulation on color with the exception of “Merle” (interesting to note that Merles do not seem to have the same stigma though they are clearly mixes as Merle is a relatively new coat coloration.  It began in the south with crosses of catahoula leopard dogs back to pit bulls.

http://www.apbtconformation.com/merle.htm).

The BlackNTan debate is not a new one and I will refer to this blog post (posted by prettyboy?) from a tricolor genetics piece originally written by Ed Farron (http://caldw3l.blogspot.com/2009/02/tricolor-genetics.html) of The Complete Gamedog and Wildsides Kennels.   The original article is called:  An explanation of the tan-point pattern sometimes seen in the American Pit Bull Terrier
-by Ed & Chris Faron 

I have noted that it seems to be only the Black/Tan & Black Tri, Blue & Tan or Blue Tri, (blue is a dilute of black) that are affected. The chocolate/tan pointed dogs don’t seem to suffer the same prejudice.  The tan points can also contain some brindle further muddying the waters.  

Did you know that Tan pointed dogs can show up in Labrador Retrievers?  These dogs aren’t mixed either, just a discouraged coat variation.   They aren’t show quality and responsible breeders typically remove them from a breeding program.

http://www.guidingeyes-md.org/Misc%20Files/Black%20and%20Tan%20LabradorsBCWEB.htm

http://www.blueknightlabs.com/color/coatcolor.html 

So when someone says “That dawg don’t look purebred”, you have some information to share.  These dogs are just as deserving as every other color of pit bull terrier.

http://www.apbtconformation.com/colors.htm

A tricolored or black and tan dog can certainly be a mixed dog, color alone however is not an indicator of purity.

Traditionally though APBT breeders have not paid much attention to those attributes beyond physical performance.  Therefore you are more likely to see Tricolors in APBTs than American Staffordshire Terriers (though I did see quite a few blue tri and black and tans in a red to red AKC breeding so it does happen). Some bloodlines tend to throw tricolors more often, like Sorrels. A quick look at Tatonka Kennels in florida will show quite a few black/tan and tricolors in their pedigrees as well as current dogs.

Not all brindle dogs are pit mixes just as not all black and tan are mixed with something other than pit bull.  Black and Tan/Tri is not new, it’s been around in this breed for a long time.