Dog coat

Close up of a greyhound's 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[change]

Dog coats can come in many different colors, patterns, lengths, and textures.

Coat colors[change]

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	File:AustrKelpieChocolate wb.jpg Dark chocolate Australian Kelpie
Red	File:Seter irlandzki profil 5o899.jpg Red Irish Setter	File:Chowchow.jpg Red Chow Chow
Black	File:Newfoundland dog.jpg Black Newfoundland	File:Black Labrador Retriever portrait.jpg Black Labrador Retriever
White	File:American Eskimo Dog.jpg White American Eskimo Dog	File:Bichon Frise 600.jpg White Bichon Frisé
Gold	File:GoldenRetrDark4 wb.jpg Golden Retriever
Apricot	File:Apricot Poodle, Roxy.jpg Apricot Poodle
Yellow	File:MuttShepherdRetriever 72.jpg Yellow mixed-breed dog	File:YellowLabradorLooking.jpg Yellow Labrador Retriever
Cream	File:FrenchBulldog.jpg Cream French Bulldog	File:Yuki and Branca - Japanese Akita.jpg Cream Akita
Blue	File:Kerry Blue Terrier.jpg Kerry Blue Terriers	File:Australian Shepherd 600.jpg Blue Australian Shepherd
Grey	File:Weimaraner wb.jpg GreyWeimaraner	File:Miniature Schnauzer 2.jpg Grey Miniature Schnauzer

Coat patterns[change]

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.	File:Australien Kelpie.jpg Brown and tan Australian Kelpie	File:BTCoonhnd.jpg 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.	File:Border Collie 600.jpg Black and white Border Collie	File:CavalierKgChas2 wb.jpg 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	File:Beagle 600.jpg Tricolor Beagle
Merle: This pattern happens when a dog's colors are mixed in with white in spots and patches.	File:Australian Shepherd 600.jpg Blue merle tricolor Australian Shepherd	File:CatahoulaRedWhitePair wb.jpg 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.	File:Little Man Chihuahua by David Shankbone.jpg Tuxedo Chihuahua.
Harlequin: This pattern is when a white dog has black patches with an uneven border.	File:Great-Dane wo Background.jpg Harlequin Great Dane
Spotted: This is when a mostly white dog has any color of small spots.	File:Dalmatian b 01.jpg 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	File:AustrCattleDogBlue wb.jpg 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.	File:BostonTerrierBrindleStand w.jpg Brindle and white Boston Terrier	File:Galgo-Espanol.jpg Brindle Galgo Español
	File:MountainCur.jpg Brindle Mountain Cur	File:Big and little dog 1.jpg Brindle Great Dane
Saddle or blanket: When a dog has a large colored patch on its back.	File:Dunker.jpg Norwegian Dunker with black saddle
Sable: This pattern happens when a dog has black tips on its fur.	File:Pomeranian orange sable 600.jpg Red sable Pomeranian	File:Shetland sheepdogs.jpg Brown sable Shetland Sheepdogs

Coat lengths and textures[change]

File:Puli 600.jpg

The Puli's coat forms cords as it grows.

File:Hairless and coated half.JPG

Hairless and Coated Xoloitzcuintli.

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[change]

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.

Other websites[change]

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.