# Coat colour



## P71 (May 13, 2014)

I have a 4 month old GSD Dutch cross. I am kind of curious about his genetics.

His mother is a typical Dutchie... short brindle coat. His father is a typical GSD... black and tan blanket. The puppies are an odd mix of colours. My buddy got a fawn puppy from the litter that looks just like a Malinois, most of the pups resemble a mixture of the parents... basically traditional GSD markings just with various degrees of brindle mixed in from light banding on the legs to basically brindle with a darker back.

Lycaon however is sable. He has a black face with lighter areas around the eyes. he has mostly tan legs with black pencil marks on the toes and some black down the fronts of the legs. He has a dark chest and tail. The back of his ears are brown as is the crown of his head. The rest of him is black overlaying mainly brown with a couple areas of grey starting to develop in his "mane". If you were to comb his hair straight back he would look mostly black. If you run your hand against the grain he is tan.

My understanding is that this colouration is a dominant trait, and neither of his parents have it.. so how did he get it? As close as I can figure from high school biology, it would have to be from his mother, assuming brindle was dominant over sable, and sable is dominant over whatever he got from his father...

Of course if THAT is the case how do you explain the fawn colouration of his brother? I assume his mother has at least some Malinois in her... the Dutchis is almost just a colour variation of that breed. But that would make her fawn x brindle...

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Parents... I know she looks kinda sable, but that is because the photo has been filtered











Mom










Lycaon...










Odin...










The litter


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I am not real familiar with the genetics but I do know that depending on the registry, the "Dutch" shepherd may have Malinois and that might influence the color. In some registries, a black or brindle is a "Dutch" and a fawn is a "Malinois" and they don't care what the parents were or if these two different breeds are coming out of the same litter. If it works, it works


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