Coat
Dogs
Coat
A dog's
coat is its
fur. A dog can be double coated—that is, having both a soft
undercoat and a coarser
topcoat. Some dog breeds are single-coated—having only one
type of coat or the other, more often only the topcoat. The state of the
coat is considered an indication of the animal's
breeding and health.
Most dogs shed their undercoat each
spring and regrow it again as colder weather comes in; this is also referred
to as blowing the coat. Many domesticated breeds shed their coat twice a
year. In many climates, the topcoat and undercoat might shed continuously in
greater and smaller quantities all year.
Some dog breeds' coat is more like human
hair than like
other animals' fur; for example, the
Poodle's coat
grows continuously, getting longer and longer, and requires frequent trimming.
Show dogs
The nature and quality of a
show dog's
coat is an important
conformation point in the
hobby of
dog fancy.
Some considerations in judging the quality of a dog's coat:
- Colour (coat colour other than those allowed in the
breed standard results in disqualification)
- Markings (distribution of colour, spots, and patches; for example the
spotted coat of a
Dalmatian
and the
merle coat of an
Australian Shepherd are distinctive, the markings of a
terrier
vary.)
- Pattern (specific, predictable markings;
brindle,
for example, is a common pattern.
- Texture of hair (smooth, rough, curly, straight, broken, silky)
- Length of hair
Colours and patterns
Dogs' coats come in a tremendous variety of colours and patterns. Some breeds
come in only one or two specific colors, while other breeds can have a wide
range of colors, patterns, and shades. Breeds bred strictly for their
working
ability tend to have more variations than breeds bred primarily for their
appearance over a longer time, although some very old breeds also have more
limited coat colors.
Words used for coat colours can vary from breed to breed, so a colour that is
called red in one breed might be called brown in other breeds.
Colour names
Brown
Chesapeake Bay Retriever |
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Brown and its variants, including mahogany, midtone brown,
gray-brown, blackish brown; the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, whose color
"must be as nearly that of its working surroundings as possible", also
uses the terms sedge and deadgrass. (Weimaraners
are often described as "steel-grey" but they are in fact light brown,
the colour of the powder for instant
hot chocolate.) |
Red
Irish Setter |
Dark chocolate
Australian Kelpie |
Red—reminiscent of reddish woods such as
cherry
or
mahogany—and its variants, including
chestnut, , tawny, orange, roan, rust, red-gold, reddish brown,
bronze, cinnamon, tan, ruby; also includes
liver, a reddish brown somewhat the color of
cinnamon or
bronze;
the breed often determines whether "liver", "chocolate", "brown", or
"red" is used to describe the color, as in a liver
German Shorthaired Pointer or a chocolate
Labrador Retriever. |
Apricot
Poodle |
Dark
Golden Retriever |
Gold Rich reddish-yellow (orangeish), as in a
Golden Retriever, and its variants, including yellow-gold,
lion-colored, fawn, apricot, wheaten (pale yellow or fawn, like the
color of ripe
wheat), tawny, straw, yellow-red, mustard, sandy, honey. |
Yellow is a common color for
mixed-breed dogs |
Yellow
Labrador Retriever |
Yellow—yellowish-gold tan, as in a yellow
Labrador Retriever—and its variants, including blond and lemon.
Lemon is a very pale yellow or wheaten color which is not present at
birth (the puppies are born white) but gradually becomes apparent,
usually during the first six months of life. |
Cream
French Bulldog |
|
Cream: Sometimes it's hard to define the line between pale
yellow and cream. Depending on the breed and individual, cream ranges
from white through
ivory and
blond,
often occurring with or beneath
lemon, yellow, and sable. |
Dark orange sable
Pomeranian |
Lighter sable
Shetland Sheepdogs |
Sable:
Black-tipped hairs; the background color can be gold to yellow, silver,
gray, or tan. The darkness of the coat depends on how much of each hair
is black versus the lighter color. |
Black
Newfoundland |
Graying black
Poodle |
Black: Usually pure black but sometimes grizzled,
particularly as dogs age and develop white hairs, usually around the
muzzle. |
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|
Blue: Not the rainbow's
blue but
rather a dark metallic gray, often as a blue
merle or speckled (with black).
Kerry Blue Terriers,
Australian Silky Terriers,
Bearded Collies, and
Australian Shepherds are among many breeds that come in blue. |
Silver gray
Weimaraner |
Salt and pepper (?) gray
Miniature Schnauzer |
Gray—sometimes also called blue—and its variants,
including pale to dark gray, silver, pepper, grizzle, slate, blue-black
gray, black and silver, steel, silver-fawn. |
White
American Eskimo Dog |
White
Bichon Frisé |
White: Pure white, but distinct from
albino
dogs. |
Patterns
Patterns, like colours, might be called by different terms for different
breeds.
Liver and tan
Australian Kelpie |
Black and Tan Coonhound |
Black and tan, liver and tan: Coat has both colors but in
clearly defined and separated areas, usually with the darker color on
most of the body and tan (reddish variants) underneath and in highlights
such as the eyebrows. |
Black and white
Border Collie |
Blenheim (Red-brown and white)
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel |
Two-color coats such as gold and white, liver and white, tan
and white, black and white: Usually sharply contrasting colors, usually
with the darker color on most of the body and lighter color underneath
and in highlights such as the eyebrows, although sometimes one color is
in patches, ticks, or other types of markings. Some breeds have special
names for the color combinations; for example,
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel uses Blenheim for reddish brown
(chestnut) and white. |
Blue merle tricolor
Australian Shepherd |
Red merle
Catahoula Leopard Dogs |
Merle: Marbled coat with darker patches and spots of the
specified color. |
|
|
Piebald |
Harlequin
Great Dane |
|
Harlequin: "Torn" patches of black on white. Only the
Great Dane exhibits this coat pattern. |
Spotted
Dalmatian |
|
Spotted |
Red patched
Borzoi |
Brown and white patched and speckled
English Springer Spaniel |
Patched |
Red-speckled
Australian Cattle Dog |
Liver-ticked
German Shorthaired Pointer |
Flecked, ticked, speckled: also called belton
in
English Setters |
Blue belton (black and white speckled)
English Setter |
Blue speckled
Australian Cattle Dog |
Light brindle
Great Dane |
Darker brindle and white
Boston Terrier |
Brindle:
A mixture of black with brown, tan, or gold; usually in a "tiger stripe"
pattern. |
Medium brindle
Galgo Espańol |
Very dark brindle
French Bulldog |
Black tricolor
Entlebucher Mountain Dog |
Red tricolor
Miniature Australian Shepherd |
Tricolor: Three clearly defined colors, usually
either black or red on the dog's upper parts, white underneath, with a
tan border between and tan highlights;
for example, the
Smooth Collie or the
Sheltie. Tricolor can also refer to a dog whose coat is patched,
usually two colors (such as tan and black) on a white background. |
Tricolor
Beagle |
|
Brown and white patched grizzled
German Wirehaired Pointer |
|
Grizzled |
White
Whippet with brindle saddle |
Airedale Terrier with large black saddle |
Saddle or blanket: A different color, usually darker,
over the center of the back. |
|
|
Particolor: Two-colored coat with the colors appearing in
patches in roughly equal quantiles. |
Miscellaneous
Coat may also refer to a
dog coat (also known as a dog rug); a
garment made
by humans to protect their pets from the elements.
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