Dog coat
A dog's coat is the hair covering its body. A dog can have a double coat that has short, soft hair underneath a layer of long, coarse hair, or a single coat that has only the long, coarse hair. A dog's coat may also be called hair or fur.
Four main coat attributes
Dog coats can come in many different colors, patterns, lengths, and textures.
Coat colors
Dog coats come in four main colors: black, brown, white, and red. The same main color can have many shades. These shades are sometimes common enough that they are given their own color names, such as gold, yellow, cream, blue, and grey.
There may be several of these colors on one dog.
| Brown | File:Chesapeakebayretriever01-l.jpg Brown Chesapeake Bay Retriever |
100px Dark chocolate Australian Kelpie |
| Red | 100px Red Irish Setter |
Red Chow Chow |
| Black | 100px Black Newfoundland |
100px Black Labrador Retriever |
| White | 100px White American Eskimo Dog |
100px White Bichon Frisé |
| Gold | 100px Golden Retriever | |
| Apricot | 100px Apricot Poodle | |
| Yellow | 100px Yellow mixed-breed dog |
100px Yellow Labrador Retriever |
| Cream | 100px Cream French Bulldog |
100px Cream Akita |
| Blue | 100px Kerry Blue Terriers |
100px Blue Australian Shepherd |
| Grey | File:Weimaraner wb.jpg GreyWeimaraner |
100px Grey Miniature Schnauzer |
Coat patterns
Dog coats can also have many different patterns based on spots, patches, and mixing colors.
| Black and tan, brown and tan, blue and tan: This pattern has two colors, with a dark color on most of the body and tan patches on the belly, legs, chest, face, and eyebrows. |  Brown and tan Australian Kelpie |
 Black and Tan Coonhound |
| Bicolor (also called Two-color, Irish spotted, Flashy, Patched, Tuxedo): This pattern can be found with any color or even other pattern as long as it includes white spots. These spots can be on the feet, tail, nose, and neck, or even cover most of the dog. Sometimes special patterns of white have special names. For example, the Irish Spotted pattern is the same on both sides of the dog and includes a white chest, a white ring around the neck, a white belly, and white feet. | 100px Black and white Border Collie |
100px Blenheim (Red-brown and white) Cavalier King Charles Spaniel |
| Tricolor: This pattern has three clear colors. The body of the dog is usually black, brown, or blue. Its belly is white, and it has tan patches. | File:EntlebucherBall2 wb.jpg Black tricolor Entlebucher Mountain Dog |
100px Tricolor Beagle |
| Merle: This pattern happens when a dog's colors are mixed in with white in spots and patches. | 100px Blue merle tricolor Australian Shepherd |
100px Red merle Catahoula Leopard Dogs |
| Tuxedo: This pattern is when a dog is mostly one color, but has a white patch on its chest, a white spot on its chin, and white on its feet. | 100px Tuxedo Chihuahua. |
|
| Harlequin: This pattern is when a white dog has black patches with an uneven border. | 100px Harlequin Great Dane |
|
| Spotted: This is when a mostly white dog has any color of small spots. | 100px Spotted Dalmatian |
|
| Flecked, ticked, speckled: This is when a dog has very small spots of one color mixed in with its main color. | File:GermanShorthPtr wb.jpg Brown-ticked German Shorthaired Pointer |
100px Blue speckled Australian Cattle Dog |
| Brindle: This pattern is when a dog's coat is a mix of black with brown, tan, or gold. It sometimes makes a "tiger stripe" pattern. | 100px Brindle and white Boston Terrier |
File:Galgo-Espanol.jpg Brindle Galgo Español |
| 100px Brindle Mountain Cur |
100px Brindle Great Dane | |
| Saddle or blanket: When a dog has a large colored patch on its back. | 100px Norwegian Dunker with black saddle |
|
| Sable: This pattern happens when a dog has black tips on its fur. | 100px Red sable Pomeranian |
100px Brown sable Shetland Sheepdogs |
Coat lengths and textures
A dog's coat can be long or short. For most dogs, their hair reaches one length and then stops growing, but there are some dogs whose hair will keep growing longer and longer.
Some breeds of dog do not grow hair on parts of their bodies. These dogs are called "hairless". Examples of "hairless" dogs are the Xoloitzcuintli (Mexican Hairless Dog), the Peruvian Inca Orchid (Peruvian Hairless Dog) and the Chinese Crested.
Additional reading
- Cunliffe, Juliette (2004). "Coat Types, Colors and Markings". The Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds. Paragon Publishing. pp. 20–23 and various. ISBN 0-7525-8276-3.
- Fogle, Bruce (2000). "The Breed Section Explained". The New Encyclopedia of the Dog. Dorling Kindersley. p. 83 and various. ISBN 0-7513-0471-9.
Dog Coat Media
- Dog coat variation.png
Montage showing the coat variation of the dog.
- Friendly Labrador, Ontario, Canada, 8 October, 2018.jpg
A Labrador exhibiting a yellow coat colour
- MiniDachshund1 wb.jpg
Miniature Dachshund black and tan. "Rex" Taken Feb 22, 2004 at the SMART/USDAA dog agility competition in Salinas, CA.
- Five-year-old Miniature Pinscher.jpg
Jenny, a five year old miniature pinscher residing in Maine.
- Two Borzois playing KABUKI.jpg
Two Borzois playing KABUKI
- Dogo argentino sylwetka.jpg
Argentinian Mastiff
- Basset hound.jpg
- Bassethound
Other websites
- Schmutz, Sheila M. (March 4, 2020). "Dog Coat Color Genetics". University of Saskatchewan. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.