it. Before I get into how that works, what it means, and why it does not make the puppy “less pure” or “mixed,” here’s the little one everyone is talking about.
See for yourself:
Chocolate brown Newfoundland puppy beside a black littermate on a plaid blanket
Chocolate brown Newfoundland puppy beside a black littermate on a plaid blanket
- The surprise is the brown coat, not a different breed
The last puppy in our litter is a rich chocolate brown, while the others appear black. That alone is enough to make people assume something unusual happened, but a brown Newfoundland is absolutely a real Newfoundland. In the breed, black is the color most people expect, so when a brown puppy shows up in a litter, it feels dramatic even though genetically it can be completely straightforward.
In person, the difference is even more obvious than in photos. Black puppies tend to
