No, yellow labs can’t biologically have black puppies. Mating your two yellow labs will never give you black puppies unless you breed them with your black lab.
Generally speaking, genetics greatly influence fur pigmentation as well as other traits. It plays a significant role in controlling the color outcome of your labradors.
If you learn enough about labrador fur pigmentation, you can predict possible color outcomes when breeding different colored labs.
How Labrador Colors Come Into Play
The three primary labrador colors recognized by the American Kennel Club are black, chocolate, and yellow.
Black labradors are more popular. You may see them more often than other lab colors because of the superior color gene.
Labradors have grown in popularity and have become a favorite breed for many. As a result, there are now more lab colors you can observe from breeders and dog lovers alike.
These colors are white, silver, and red or red fox, with these three sub-colors being rarer than the main ones.
The Science Behind Labrador Color Genetics
As much as you may want to have black pups from your yellow paw tribe, it’s just impossible. Remember the superior color gene mentioned earlier?
The same predominant color gene inhibits you from having black labs by mating yellow labs.
Labrador color genetics may be slightly puzzling, but it’s not rocket science. You just have to recognize the role of the pigment eumelanin and how and when it stops manifesting.
Eumelanin is the pigment responsible for black and chocolate labradors. Black labradors have more eumelanin pigment, while the chocolate ones have less.
What Is a B Gene?
The amount of eumelanin in your dog depends on the B genes found in its DNA. The big B gene represents more eumelanin, while the small b gene represents less eumelanin.
Take note that the big B gene is dominant while the small b gene is recessive. A dominant gene will easily manifest its traits, while a recessive one will not show but will get passed on.
Your dog will inherit two B genes, one from each parent. Three combinations can result from these:
- BB: the dog’s fur color is black because of the dominant big B genes
- Bb: the dog’s fur color is black because of the dominant big B gene. It will pass the chocolate color to its offspring when mated with another black lab with Bb genes
- bb: the dog’s fur color is chocolate because of the recessive small b genes
What Is An E Gene?
Sometimes, a labrador with a BB gene or Bb gene will not be black, and a labrador with a bb gene will not be chocolate. So does this mean you’ll have a yellow lab?
The E genes dictate the yellow fur coat in labradors. These genes can override the black and chocolate colors from the B genes, giving you a yellow lab. So how does it work?
There are two types of E genes: the big E gene and the small e gene.
The big E gene is dominant and does not override the B genes. The small e gene is recessive and can hide the black or chocolate color, resulting in yellow fur.
Three combinations of E genes:
- EE: there’s no masking of chocolate or black color because of the two dominant E genes.
- Ee: there’s no masking of chocolate or black color because the big E gene cancels out the small e gene
- ee: a yellow labrador results from breeding because these small e genes cancel the B genes.
Can I Predict the Color of My Labrador?
It’s possible to predict the color of your labrador puppies. The key is to look at the different combinations of B and E genes called genotypes.
Take a look at these gene combinations.
- EEBB: produces black labrador
- EEBb: produces black labrador because of the dominant B gene
- EEbb: produces chocolate labrador because of the recessive small bb gene
- EeBB: produces black labradors because of the dominant big B gene. There’s no masking of the black color
- EeBb: produces black labrador because the small e gene is not enough to mask the black color
- Eebb: produces chocolate labradors because of the recessive b genes
- eeBB: produces yellow labrador because the recessive small e genes mask the black color
- eeBb: produces yellow labrador because the recessive small e genes mask the black color
- eebb: produces yellow labrador because of the recessive small e genes that switch off the chocolate color
In short, a black and chocolate lab will only show if there are no two small e genes in the combination. You can’t have black puppies from mating your two yellow labs.
Yellow labradors will always result in yellow puppies.
Are All Lab Puppies Born Black?
Although black labs are more common, it doesn’t mean all lab puppies are born black. Some lab puppies may be born chocolate, yellow, silver, white, or red. It all depends on labrador color genetics.
Can You Breed A Black Lab With A Yellow Lab?
There’s no problem if you want your black lab to mate with your yellow lab. However, you should not expect higher chances for yellow pups.
A black lab bred with a yellow lab will most likely produce black and chocolate puppies. The chances of getting a yellow puppy are low.
What Is The Rarest Labrador Color?
Silver labs are the rarest of them all. The silver color coating of these dogs appears striking under the sun.
These silver labs are chocolate labradors with less concentrated color pigmentation.
Do I Need A Dog Breeder To Get Top-of-the-Line Labradors?
Whether you’re thinking of buying or adopting a dog, getting the best one from the pack is often your concern.
Dog breeders can help you get the best dog that will be a good fit for you. They also ensure that you get a dog with fewer chances of developing diseases because they do selective breeding.
You should consider getting a dog breeder or buying your dog from reputable sources. The harsh breeding conditions, as well as other factors, can affect the overall health of your fur baby.
Take a look at this guide to help you find the right person for the job.
Paul has been creating content for the dog niche for many years. The information he shares comes his first hand experience growing up in dog lovers household and then owning multiple dog breeds of his own as an adult. Paul enjoys doing the hard research to collect, analyze and present our dogtemperament.com readers with the best answers to their questions.