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Hair and Coat Types

A dog's coat gets its texture from two types of hair. The outermost hairs or guard hairs, are stiff, thick and longer than the secondary hairs forming the short, woolly, protective undercoat. Not all breeds have an undercoat, although a thick undercoat is important in the Nordic breeds. The coat has an aesthetic and protective role and reflects the dog's general health. Coat colour is determined both by the distribution of colours on the hairs and by the pigmentation of the nose and skin. Coats can be described as whole colour or variegated.

Whole-Color Coats

- Gray is a mixture of black and white and there are many shades, including mouse-gray, slate (Yorkshire), wolf gray (yellowish gray with black tips) and silver-gray (an obvious dilution of black, although puppies are blue at birth).

- Fawn is a yellowish color with red, orange or golden highlights (as in apricot-colored Poodles). When very diluted, it appears tawny, as in the Labrador. Smoky fawn (fawn hairs with black overlay) is found in the Tervuren and a blackened sand color (often described as gray or pepper and salt) can be seen in the Giant Schnauzer.

- Brown (plain brown or liver) can be light, dark or sometimes reddish-brown. Poodles of this color are a uniform dark brown. Newfoundlands are chocolate with bronze highlights.

Variegated Coats

- Black and tan coats are found on the Gordon Setter and the Beauceron, with well-defined borders at the lips, eyelids, chest, front of the stifle and the ends of the limbs. In the German Shepherd, however, the colors are mixed.

- Mottled coats such as merle and harlequin consist of diluted spots. Australian Shepherds and Shelties can have merle coats (spots on a light background), while harlequin (gray background with black and white spots) is seen in the Great Dane. The gene responsible for this color is also associated with hearing and vision abnormalities.

- Brindle refers to a coat with dark streaking on a fawn background, as in the Boxer.

- Hounds'coats often contain three colors (fawn, black and white).

- Pied coats have black, brown or blue spots on a white background.

- Skewbald coats have brindled spots on a white background.

- Red roan is an even mixture of white and light red hairs.

- Reddish-brown. It is found in some wild dogs.

- Some Picardy Spaniels are a rare roan color made up of white, black and fawn hairs.

Notwithstanding the above definitions, coats can vary in appearance. A coat with a mantle has the same color on the back and sides, as in the German Shepherd and the Airedale. A whole-colored dog with white markings is said to have a self-marked coat. A coat can be splashed (white hairs on a brown background), flecked or speckled (fawn flecks). It can also have highlights of various colors or be diluted or grizzled. In dogs with blue merle coats, bare patches caused by a reduction in the amount of pigment present can be observed around the nose and eyes.