The Coat and Color of a German Shepherd:
The German Shepherd comes in three varieties; namely: short haired, medium haired and long haired. Some groups or breeders have focused on variants of the breed that are not recognized by most kennel clubs as standard show German Shepherds. The long-haired, or “fuzzy” variation of the breed is similar in looks to the Belgian Teruvian Shepherd Dog. The gene for the long hair is a recessive gene, and so it is more common to have the shorter or medium-length variety.
Color-wise, there are many color variations found in the German Shepherd:
- Conformation-line dogs, are mostly black-and-tan and black-and-red. Combinations containing very light hues such as cream are typically considered as faults. All-black is usually, but not always, accepted. For conformation-line dogs, the “saddle” marking is probably the most well-known. This consists of a large black patch on the upper and mid back, extending partway down the dog’s sides. The “sable” marking, which consists of one color with randomly-sized and -shaped patches or swaths of different-colored hair mixed in, is typical for working-line dogs. Some sable-pattern dogs have three colors in their coat; this is called agouti. The other popular marking is called “bi-color”, and consists of a dog that is all one color (typically black) save for differently-colored paws and lower legs, and sometimes a swath on the belly.
- Working-line dogs are typically sable, black-and-tan or black-and-brown.
One can sometimes see White German Shepherds, but these are also called Berger Blanc Suisse, or the White Swiss Shepherd dog and they are actually recognized by the FCI as a separate breed!The recessive gene for white coat hair was fixed in the German Shepherd Dog breed DNA by the late 19th and early 20th century German breeding program that extensively used “color coated” dogs that carried a recessive gene for “white coats.” The American-, the German- and the Canadian German Shepherd Club all see the white coat as basis for disqualification.
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