GSD Coat Color Explainations
Posted to WhiteShepherdGenetics@yahoogroups.com on 9/8/2004
by Rhonda McMahan, SureFire Shepherds, surefireshepherds@earthlink.net

For Sheila and all others who have an interest in our colored shepherds' coat colors and/or what their white dogs really are behind their masked white coat:

Think of the color/marking pattern of the dog as a painter's canvas.  First a base color is painted on - this can be thought of as the color "intensity" (listed as Jen did in order of dominance, but with a little more variance) Red, Rich Tan, Tan, Creamy Tan, Cream, Creamy Silver (an ivory color), or Silver/gray (nearly a white color).  Then the marking pattern is painted on - either the agouti or the sable.  The agouti pattern can range anywhere from solid black to a very small saddle shaped area on the back and no black anywhere else except the muzzle. *The dark muzzle is controlled by a separate gene from the marking pattern gene. Some of you may argue that a solid black is a separate marking pattern altogether - I do not believe it to be separate, but  simply the darkest expression of the agouti marking pattern.  The agouti marking pattern expresses itself as solid black hairs layed over the base coat, the sable marking pattern expresses itself as banded hairs layed over the base coat.  A sable's black hairs, when pulled out and examined, will have black at the base and black at the ends, the middle color of the individual hair will be whatever base coat color the dog has. The dog will also inherit (for lack of a better word) a "degree" of marking pattern, determining how much of the dog will be marked with the black hairs or banded black hairs (be it the agouti or the sable marking pattern).  This gene is what is responsible for making a sable appear very light (not much black on its body) or very dark (like a black sable).  The lowest degree of black (what my Destiny has and what the dog in question has) is dominant over a higher degree of marking pattern.  This makes a solid black dog recessive to all other marking patterns. So in order of dominance in the agouti marking pattern you have (listed as most dominant to least dominant) - small saddle, extended saddle, blanket, bi-color, near blacks (have color between their toes and behind their front legs and scattered colored hairs on their hocks), and lastly solid blacks (which have no color anywhere). I have produced agoutis with such a small saddle that they nearly look self colored except for their black muzzle.  This extreme light marking pattern can be confused with the extreme light sables at maturity.  Some breeders identify these dogs by the base coat color that the dog exhibits - such as a "Silver" or "Cream" or "Tan".  They really do have a marking pattern, but the marking pattern appears non existent - but it IS there! I don't like loosing the marking pattern in the description of the color of the dog because on a pedigree you really don't know what you have when it is labeled a "Silver". All you know is the base coat color. 

Then there are other coat modifiers that can change the affect of the dog as well.  One is the silver tipped hairs found on the neck and down the back of the dog - I have heard this called "ticking, tipping, grizzle", etc. This tipping color is located on the ends of the black guard hairs and can also be different intensities of color.  Typically  the tipping is a silver color but it can also be a cream or tan color.  This tipping color does not show up until the pup gets a little older and will continue to come in as the pup matures. The black/tan/red show people don't like this affect and they will (some of them, not all!) dye the black blankets/saddles of their dogs to hide this tipping color so they look to be a richer black.  On a Black/silver dog it actually adds to their black/silver coat and is attractive. Sometimes this silver tipping is found in extreme amounts around the neck area and makes a blanketed dog look to be nearly a sable. But the hairs are not banded, they are tipped. I have also had the silver tipping so extreme that the entire saddle of the dog looks salt and pepper at maturity.   And some shepherds don't have the tipping present at all.  I have found that if one parent has it and the other does not, the offspring generally WILL have it and it seems to affect the females to a greater degree than the males.  I have seen dogs with a lot of silver tipping called a black/silver by the breeder because the tipping is a silver color - the dog is actually a black/tan or in some cases even a black/red but they are incorrectly registered as black/silvers and sold as such to unsuspecting buyers who think they are getting a black/silver shepherd. Another thing I see a lot in dark to white breedings is white patches on the chest - this is not in any way associated with the white gene.  Nor is the extreme light sables or agouti's in any way associated to the white gene.  You may see it come out of a white parent, but that is only because the white parent probably has the trait under that white masked coat, because the trait cannot be seen, it has not been bred out.  White on toes and occasionally on the tip of the tail also appears occasionally.  This trait also appears from parents in which only one parent has it.  I have even had it come out in pups where neither parent has it - so it may be a simple recessive trait.  Again, most black/tan/red show people don't like it and will breed away from it.  It is not as noticeable on a matured black/silver but it is noticeable on the black/tans.  There are many other coat modifiers that add to the end result, but those are the basic ones.  Adding the longer coat to the dog also creates an entirely "different" looking dog, especially in the sables because you can see the banded hairs better because the hair is longer. 

I want to stress too, that the lighter base coat colors (such as the silver and the cream) is not associated with the white gene.  We only see more lighter base coat colors come from white dogs bred to dark dogs because in selection of a pure white coat (with no buff) we are selecting for these colors without even realizing it.

So...in general terms - our dark shepherds will inherit three basic genes that will determine what their coat looks like (and our white shepherds will have the same genes, we just won't see them until a colored breeding proves them to be what they are:
1. Base coat color intensity - listed in order of dominance, this would be: (Red,Tan,Cream,Silver) and all the variations in between
2. Marking pattern type (Sable or Agouti)
3. Marking pattern degree - listed in order of dominance, this would be:(Very little amount of marking pattern present to extreme amount of marking pattern present)
   a. For a Sable - listed in order of dominance, this would be: (Very light sable that appears nearly self colored with its base coat color, traditional sable, black sable) and all the variations in between
   b. For an Agouti - this would be: (Nearly non-existent saddle, Small saddle, extended saddle, blanket, bi-color, near black, solid black)and all the variations in between

Just a note here * A black dog HAS a base coat color, you just don't see it.  You can actually predict the base coat color by looking at the intensity of his black coat.  The blacks that have a cream or silver base coat color are a blue-black and the ones with the red or tan are a red-black.  This intensity can be seen in the light and especially can be seen if you have two blacks next to each other that have one of the other base coat colors.  Of course, breeding to a colored dog whose base coat color you can see, really is the true test.  A lot of breeders think that a solid black dog is not responsible for the resulting color that the pups have - not true!  A black who has a red base coat color will produce black/tans or even reds when bred to a black/silver.  He can also produce the buff color on our whites!  Any dog, no matter what the marking pattern or the degree of marking pattern will produce buff on our whites if he has a red or tan base coat color. 

Remember too, that the marking pattern degree gene can be inherited separately from the marking pattern type.  For instance...a very light sable can get her sable gene from her sire and yet get the gene that makes her sable marking pattern very light from her mother - you can end up with a dog that is very different from each parent when the genes are combined.

Please remember these statements are my opinions, but my opinions are ALL based on actual breedings that I have done myself and is the collection of many years of experience with many different colors of shepherds. I have documented very well most all of the breedings that I have done with pictures of the parents and offspring and have added adult pictures of the offspring as I get them in from their new owners.  I have included pedigrees with coat colors for all my breedings.  You can see them all on my website.

I keep saying I am going to put up a page on my website explaining coat color inheritance as I see it...one of these days...

Rhonda McMahan
SureFire Shepherds
www.surefireshepherds.com