# Pencil toes and tar-heels



## wildo

I've always heard that a bi-color _must_ have pencil toes and tar-heels, which this thread seems to indicate. I am curious what GSD colors can and cannot display these traits? 

I know I've seen quite a few sables with pencil toes and tar-heels (Killian comes to mind). Is it limited to bi-color and sables only?

[EDIT]- additionally- are the two traits _always_ seen together?


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## lhczth

Bastin Kokeltal was homozygous for BI and did not have the pencil toes, but did have the tar-heels. I have never seen the toe penciling without the tar heels. Most sables that carry black and those that carry BI will also have the tar heels and toe penciling.


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## paulag1955

Shasta had faded toe penciling when she was a pup but it's gone now. Never had tar heels at all. She is a patterned sable.


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## Castlemaid

Some melanistic black and tans will show toe pencilling and tar heels, but often it will fade as they age.


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## Wolfiesmom

Wolfie is a black and red. He had pencil toes and tar heels as a baby. His pencil toes have faded to the point where we can only see them on the outside toes of each paw. He still has tar heels.


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## Freestep

Vinca has pencil toes and tarheels; she is a sable carrying bicolor (I assume--her father is homozygous sable and her mother is bicolor).


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## Geeheim

My sable female has penciling on just her inner toes. She as well has tar heals. Another thing I've always heard about bi-colors is they must have a vent.


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## onyx'girl

Onyx is a bi-color with white spotting, so her pencil toes are masked by the white. She has tar heels. Karlo is a dark sable with toe penciling/tar heels though it isn't as dark as when he was younger. 








** photio deleted by admin. HUGE over sized photo. Please resize to no larger than 800X600 and repost**


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## WarrantsWifey

Toe Penciling, I can't wait to read the answers!


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## Dainerra

toe penciling!

I'm not sure what "tar heels" look like, but here is a view of his legs from the back


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## Magnolia

I'm clueless. What are pencil toes and tar heels?


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## WarrantsWifey

You see those black lines going down all the toes of the GSD's posted. That's Toe Penciling.... 

The back of Dainerra's dog has Tar Heeling.


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## Emoore

** Photo removed by admin**

Kopper's pencil toes-- you can see a little tar heeling on the back.


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## Magnolia

Got it now. That's really interesting looking. Emoore - I want my puppy to have those toes!


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## Dainerra

Victoria, I thought those were "tar heels" but I wasn't 100% sure. 

Everyone LOVES Singe's pencil toes though. People are just amazed and think it's really unusual. I guess I'm just used to it by now?


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## BlackthornGSD

"Tarheels" ....

** oversized photo removed by Admin**


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## wildo

Freakin' rule... Please everyone- reupload your photos, as I didn't get a chance to see some of my favorite GSD appearance traits!


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## onyx'girl

I did re-size mine to 600x800 right before I posted it. How long does PB take to edit a pic??? I just tried again, and it still puts up the big one.


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## wildo

Onyx'girl- yesterday my photos took well over two hours to resize. You should post it, and admins should give it some time. Actually- even though the photo displayed large in the forum, if I clicked on it and went to photobucket to view the image info- the info stated 800 x 600.


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## onyx'girl

Karlo's first night home: 
now

Onyx's tar heels

this pic shows her white spotting on her feet:


** Picture size is 800X600. The photos are too wide**


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## FG167

What's Ikie? He has tarheels but no pencil toes. His belly is black until his groin area and then tan...



Kastle has toe penciling that is getting darker and darker and the fronts of his legs are starting to get dark too...


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## onyx'girl

I still think Ike is a bi-color...he does have a bit more brown than most Bi's, but as he's matured, it hasn't changed at all.


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## Cassidy's Mom

Halo is a sable and she's got pencil toes - they've faded quite a bit and are hard to see because of all the hair between her toes that sticks out all over the place No tarheels. She has a dark patch on her front legs in the knee area too. 










Her toes were much more prominent when she was younger:


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## paulag1955

Castlemaid said:


> Some melanistic black and tans will show toe pencilling and tar heels, but often it will fade as they age.


Lucia, what do you mean by melanistic?


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## Castlemaid

I think Ike is a melanistic Black and Tan - too much tan under the belly, down the inside of the thighs, and on the underside of the tail to be a bicolor, I think. 

Melanistic meaning that the dog is genetically a black and tan that has a LOT of melanin expressed, which is the black pigment.


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## BlackthornGSD

BlackthornGSD said:


> "Tarheels" ....
> 
> ** oversized photo removed by Admin**


The picture I posted was 800 x 468. Is this not an acceptable size?


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## lhczth

BlackthornGSD said:


> The picture I posted was 800 x 468. Is this not an acceptable size?


They are coming up too wide.


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## lhczth

Ike is a Bi. I can't remember what color his mom is, but could be he inherited BI from both parents so is like Bastin (mentioned earlier).


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## BlackthornGSD

lhczth said:


> They are coming up too wide.


I don't understand--if the picture is 800 wide and we're allowed 800 x 600... what's the difference? Are you saying they must be under 600 wide? Because that's not what I got from the rules thread. 

Also, if the concern is the size of the image causing downloading problems--which is what the sticky thread says--then 800x600 is going to be the same as 600x800 as far as image size.

I guess in the future, I'll just post a link.


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## wildo

I don't understand the argument: if the picture was 800 x 468 or 468 x 800- it still meets the requirements of the rules... By the way, picture size is stated as "width x height."


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## lhczth

The photos can not be WIDER than 600 or we will remove them. 

This isn't the thread to discuss the photo sizing. If you want to again complain about our photo rules please take it to the appropriate area.

Thank you

ADMIN Lisa

BTW: I would rather not have to remove people's photos since it does distract from a thread. Not something any of us WANT to do. 

***********


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## BlackthornGSD

lhczth said:


> The photos can not be WIDER than 600 or we will remove them.
> 
> This isn't the thread to discuss the photo sizing. If you want to again complain about our photo rules please take it to the appropriate area.
> 
> Thank you
> 
> ADMIN Lisa
> 
> BTW: I would rather not have to remove people's photos since it does distract from a thread. Not something any of us WANT to do.
> 
> ***********


I am sorry to have to respond in this thread--but I have looked, but the only threads I find discussing this rule are locked announcements and say only that the size limit is 800 x 600 for reasons of helping the board to load faster because of downloading time (e.g., http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru.../153986-maximum-picture-size-800-x-600-a.html). 

Where is the appropriate location to continue this discussion?


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## Castlemaid

lhczth said:


> Ike is a Bi. I can't remember what color his mom is, but could be he inherited BI from both parents so is like Bastin (mentioned earlier).


Shows you how much I know! The Bi-colours I've seen in person all had much more black on them, but I do remember seeing pictures of Bi-colours with more tan on them, like Ike that were genetically bi-colours.


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## wildo

lhczth said:


> The photos can not be WIDER than 600 or we will remove them.


...Unless, of course, the picture is 800px wide, which is specifically stated in the rules. Inconsistent remarks don't help halt a discussion. Why would you say that pics can't be wider than 600px?? 

800 x 600 is 800 wide and 600 tall (landscape layout).
600 x 800 is 600 wide and 800 tall (portrait layout).

Both have historically been acceptable under the current rule.


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## onyx'girl

I've never had a problem before with any of my pics. oh, well....


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## 1sttimeforgsd

*Pencil Toes*

My boy never lost his pencil toe markings, I just love his feet.


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## dogsnkiddos

Our Old Male was tar heeled and black everywhere like was it Ike? above...
Beast has pencil toes and tar heels. He has no saddle...he is just Beast.


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