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"Eyes black. The top colour shall be a rich dark brown, as dark as possible, from nose to tail root. The belly colour to be as rich a golden tan as possible and the shading from top to belly to be gradual and even with no line of demarcation nor any blotch, patch, ticking or streakiness. There should be no white hairs whatsoever."

Breeding information below the pictures.

	Excellent dark back, very good gradual shading, good red pigment. The shadings also extend from the nose to the hair root, as it should. SHS Sable doe Noddyn Triplemoon b. & o: Satu Karhumaa pic: Arttu Väisälä
	Somewhat light example on Sable, with a back turning to chocolate shade, somewhat light shading and lustrous red colouring. The lighter patch on the nose is due to molt, which is what Sables do (a lot...). As you can see, the whisker bed is dark, so this mouse does not have the common light nose fault SHS Sable doe Evening Star's Amber Ornament b. & o: Carita Gunnar pic: Arttu Väisälä
	Nicely red Sable, with good shading. The back colour should be darker. Note the lighter patch on nose (due to molting) Lk sable naaras Noddyn Hestia b. & o: Satu Karhumaa pic: Arttu Väisälä

Note: This article is old and waiting to be rewritten.

Quick Look

Sable is a modified Red and as that it cannot breed true and has the same problems than other members of the red group - reduced litter size due to the inherent lethal factor (when bred together), tendency towards obesity and infertility caused by overweight.

The 'original crossing' with Sables is Red to Black tan. Black Tan contributes "umbrous" genes, which causes sooty appearance in Reds. These Reds are best suited for Sable breeding (but they shouldn't be used for breeding Reds). If possible, choose a Red with Agouti Tan background. Mating Sable to Sable for two or three generations causes the tendency of shading to decrease rapidly once the level of show quality is achieved. Nevertheless this kind of matings should be used to improve the quality of Sables from the initial Red to Black Tan crossing. Best outcross with Sable is Black Tan, as it helps to keep the top dark and the belly fiery as well as improves size, type and vigor of Sables. In Sable litters there will appear also Black Tan and (depending on the genetic make up of the Sable) Agouti Tan mice. Of these some Black Tans should be kept to mate them back into the Sables. If the Sables are becoming dark and lack the required gradual shadings, a good Chocolate Tan outcross may help. However, over use of Chocolate Tan, as well as using Chocolate or Cinnamon bred Reds will lead to Chocolate Sables. These mice have more of a chocolate brown shading, are usually rather red in color, but "fade" (lose shadings) relatively quickly ending up looking like sooty Reds.

Sable isn't an easy variety to breed and as that it isn't a good beginner's variety and doesn't suite for a breeder with limited space either. As the standard states, there should not be any white hairs whatsoever in a Sable mouse and this fault should be carefully monitored by the breeder. The most difficult fault to breed out seems to be light nose, a fault that seems to intensify with age.

Showing Sables is yet another tricky thing, as they have great tendency to molt, which causes uneven coloring. So, the period of showing is very short with Sables. An excellent Sable mouse showed in peak condition is a truly beautiful mouse and well worth all the hard work!

It is also possible to breed other than Black Tan based Sables, namely Chocolate Tan based (which unfortunately is far inferior in appearance compared to Black Tan based Sables) as well as Blue and Lilac Sables. The Blue Sable is rather attractive. The Lilac Sable is a delicate colour and look simply delicious. These varieties are unstandardized.