Colors of your Breed?

[~Jessie~]

Bre's Boxer thread got me thinking about different breed colors...

1. Which color(s) can be found in your breed?

2. Which colors/markings are considered unacceptable?

3. Pictures (or links) would be fun to see as well.

I'll start:

Chihuahuas

The AKC standard allows: Any color - Solid, marked or splashed.

Some examples of colors:

Examples Of Chihuahua Color Combinations

Border Collies

Can come in a rainbow of colors as well. I'm imagining that every color is permissable, as there is no breed standard.

Border Collie Colors - Welcome to border collie coat colors site! Help us make this a place to learn about breeding the colors of the border collie!!!

The only color/pattern that is unacceptable in APBTs is merle, I believe.

Ok, now my fave color of all time in the pit bull...

This color is called champagne, if I am not mistaken.



Just because we are on the subject of color, I would like to post my all time fave. This is not my breed. These are catahoula bulldogs and the color is red merle (the two pups up front on the right).



One of these days, when I find the right breeder, I will get my hands on a red merle longhair chi. One of my dream dogs.

[Miakoda]

Reggin, that color is "champagne", but it's one that has been bred into the dogs by irresponsible breeders and byb just breeding for color alone. In fact, the term is even challenged by reputable APBT owner/breeders because it is a fashion-derived term.

This constant breeding of blues to blues and the dilution effect happening is not just creating a whole host of "new" coat colors, but a whole host of new dogs with new issues that are not positive ones for our breed.

[FoxyWench]

cresties can come in any natural color...
my next one, i want either a black, black and white (whos more black than jasper) or a chocolate/liver.

[Fran101]

Originally Posted by FoxyWench

cresties can come in any natural color...
my next one, i want either a black, black and white (whos more black than jasper) or a chocolate/liver.

lol im pretty sure one of your cresties has been pink before!

[AllieMackie]

Border collies come in B&W, B&W tri, red, red tri, blue merle, blue merle tri, red merle, red merle tri, sable, and Australian red (looks champagne-ish). All are permissible by the AKC and CKC breed standard, not that most proper border collie owners care about kennel club standards. :P

Also OMG Jessie, that colour site makes me cry. Crazy show/colour breeders.

[Romy]

Borzois can be any color. Though, nobody has ever seen a merle one and I don't think they exist, it doesn't prohibit them in the standard.

The Russian standard recently made ticking a fault. Which is crap because they did it for totally cosmetic reasons, and there are many top quality dogs with ticking.

Lots of photos
borzoi coat color reference

My favorite is brindle, self black, or black masked red or sable. Any sable, red, fawn, silver, etc.

The next MALE I get will NOT have white on his front legs or belly though!!! Oh my. gosh. I hate getting the pee stains out. Now watch, since I said it my next male will end up being pure white.

[currywoodcollies]

I have collies. They come in sable, tri, blue merle, sable merle, and white (with sable, blue, tri, or sable merle markings. they can be tri or white factored as well. Sables have a varierty of color differences too. I will attach my rainbow of puppies. Sable merle does not exist in the show world.

Hudini :: Puppies3weeks087.jpg picture by Currywoodcollies - Photobucket

there is a lab or two mixed in there as well.

[skKi]

Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers come in red.

[Zoom]

The four recognized colors in Aussies are black, red, blue merle and red merle. You can have self (no copper or white), bi (base color with white) and tri (copper and white) with any of those, but they all refer back to the two main colors, black and red. "Blue" is used for black dogs with merling, as the merle gene gives the coat a "blue" look, depending on the shade and amount of merling present. The base colors should be deep, rich colors, though the red color is often subjected to fading or sunbleaching. Working lines seem to carry more of the deep, non-fading "liver red" the standard refers to.

In this picture (taken by me) you can see Sawyer, a dark blue merle with minimal copper, a black tri and the back end of a red merle. The black and white dog on the right is a border collie mix.


This is a better picture of that red merle. He has rather heavy merling, copper and white modifiers and a blue eye. (photo by me)


Any other color is considered a DQ, although there are also a large number of "yellow" or "sable" Aussies running around, as it's the most common "mismark" in the breed. They used to be allowed and there are pictures of sable tri Aussies running cattle on the old ranches. For whatever reason though, that color was disallowed almost immediately upon the forming of ASCA. Aussies can also throw dilutes (quite commonly) and possess the genes for brindling and ticking.

This is Sunnypup's Sunny, a short-haired yellow. The gene for short-hair is so uncommon! (photo swiped from her profile)


Depending on which registry one is dealing with, the amount of white allowed or desired tends to vary. The constants are that the white must not extend beyond the shoulders and there should be no "body splashes". This is a DQ because of the visual resemblence to MxM "lethal white". Color headed whites, like with Paps, sometimes occur, even in litters born to minimal white parents. Sometimes the argument arises over a pup that has extremely light merling, both in amount and color, as to whether it's a "merle" or "mismark". Aussies carry the "Irish spotting" pattern like Border Collies and Rough/Smooth collies; i.e. white collar, chest/legs and blaze. This is often referred to as "chrome" "splash" or "flash". Some idiot show breeders will cull pups for not being "flashy" enough. They need to be backhanded and barred from showing, IMO.

There are also some interesting coat patterns referred to as "Tweed" and "Harlequin". Harlequins and Tweeds

This guy is supposedly Aussie/BC; his owner rescued him and his littermate off of Craigslist. I posted him on my Aussie board and there was a big debate as to what his coat pattern actually is. I think he falls under "Harlequin", others said he was just a very interestingly marked merle (photo by me).


Likewise, the copper markings should be confined to "traditional" spots, side of muzzle, eyebrow, minor chest markings, some on the legs. It should not run up onto the body.

The biggest fault of all is "lethal white", which we're all fairly familiar with. It happens when two merle dogs are bred together, producing a MxM dog. These dogs typically have sight and hearing issues, total deafness being very common as well as the lack of properly formed irises and in some severe cases, a total lack of eyeball. Dogs with an excessive amount of white should not automatically be classified as "LW".

Inheritance of Color in the Australian Shepherd is the best site for Aussies and coat genetics. It's really rather fascinating! There is one dog, documented from birth, who went through a complete color change when shedding his puppy coat and ended up being totally white, though without any of the problems normally associated with white. He's under "Coat Changes"

Shalako Australian Shepherd Illustrated Breed Standard_Color is the Illustrated Breed Standard. This site belongs to Shelly Hollen, an ASCA senior breeder judge.

I could go on forever, but I have somewhere to be and I'm already going to be late, LOL!