11 puppies, 5 females and 6 males

colored collars help to recognize puppies that all look alike

Coat color at this age is unpredictable, they can change as they get older. It looks like we have 3 blacks, 7 black sables and 1 wolf sable.

Good pigment should be sought after but many factors such as health and temperament should always be much more important than coat color. Coat color, in and of itself, should always be subordinate to structure, gait, type, and character and should never take precedence over the working abilities of the dog. Eye color should be dark and nose pigment should be black as well.

Concerning Genes

AGOUTI (SABLE) The basic body color of the German Shepherd is controlled by the genes. The order of German Shepherd coat colors dominance is as follows: golden sable, grey sable, saddle marked black and tan, bicolor* black and tan (bicolor is where the dog only has tan on the legs and face, not on the body), and black.

Additionally, know that the black gene is recessive to all the other colors in GSD's. The sable colors are dominant over all the other colors and patterns in the German Shepherd Dog breed

BLACK This gene controls the black pigment formation on the GSD, not the hair color. The German Shepherd coat colors order of dominance is exactly as follows: Black pigment including nose, eye rims and pads; Carrier for liver color; Liver color - brown black colors, brown nose, eye rims and pads.

Note: most GSDs are considered black pigment including nose, eye rims and pads.

Above are excerpts from http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/German-Shepherd-Coat-Colors.html, a very helpful and informative website on the GSD.

REGARDING COAT

Short-coated German Shepherd's maintain a short coat, which lies close to the body. These dogs usually have less undercoat.

The Plush Coat German Shepherd has a medium length coat with a thick, fluffy undercoat. These dogs do not have any feathering as in the long coated GSD's.

The coated German Shepherd, also called Long coated German Shepherd's, have much longer fur around their ears, on the backs of their legs, chest and tail (feathering) than other German Shepherd's.