# Black and tans with banded hair???



## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

Hey guys, so I'm just wondering if it's common for black and tan shepherds to have banded hair/fur. I'm 99.9% sure that my boy is a black/tan. His dam and sire looked black/tan (to me anyway lol), he looked black/tan as a puppy and according to embark his a locus is at/a (sorry don't know how to make the t small) which if I'm understanding correctly means tan points and recessive black. Correct me if I'm wrong. All of this points to him being black/tan. So I always assumed that he was black/tan. However about a week ago a lady asked me to brush his coat backwards against the grain and she told me that he had a "sable saddle." I hadn't really noticed that his saddle was only black at the tips. I had noticed that his saddle wasn't as black as other shepherds. It looked off compared to the other's I've seen. I thought maybe he had some skin issues or maybe his coat is a bit faded/washed out. So I'm just curious if it's common for black and tan shepherds to have banded fur as I know that seems to be a sable thing. Thanks in advance for your guys input!


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

Here's a pic of him. Sorry for the ugly free stack lol


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

Here's what his fur looks like


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Yes it's common. Sounds like someone with just enough knowledge to be dangerous.


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

Sabis mom said:


> Yes it's common. Sounds like someone with just enough knowledge to be dangerous.


Haha what do you man by that? And is it considered faulty for his saddle to be like that?


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

Black and tan .
Lacking pigment.
Bright . Bitch stripe .
this is normal .

to the budinski who asked you to brush the dog to prove her (ill informed) point
lady you are wrong ! 

the dog looks dry -- get some essential fatty acids into the diet 

the colour / pigment that the dog has can be enriched with a better diet 

but he will always be lacking strong colour 

on which point this seems very important to you - even having gone for a locus ttest - why?

the dog looks like a happy sound dog -- appreciate the things that are important .


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

carmspack said:


> Black and tan .
> Lacking pigment.
> Bright . Bitch stripe .
> this is normal .
> ...


Thank you for your input! Will definitely try a different food and add some fatty acids. He is currently on Nature's Variety Instinct. His color doesn't really bother me I love the guy he's a great dog, except that people seem to like to comment about it. So I was just curious what other people thought. We did the embark dna/genetic testing just for some peace of mind since I didn't really know too much about his parents so I wanted to see if there were things that I should look out for and things that I can rule out. It was definitely an interesting read.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Who are "people"? "people" usually are ill informed, otherwise they wouldn't be called "people".


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Yes. Banded hair is common. Even my bi-color has some banding. 



One suggestion: learn to blow off "people" --- whether random pedestrians or club members.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Kyser808 said:


> Haha what do you man by that? And is it considered faulty for his saddle to be like that?


People in general are often guilty of spewing off about things they heard somewhere that are in their minds fact.

Yes it's a "fault" but so are lots of things that have no bearing on the animal being a good pet. I have attached one of my favorite pics of my current dog that plainly shows the odd "sabley" bitch stripe down her back. The only parts of her that are actually black are the sides of her ribcage. But I love her none the less.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

That's not so much banded as it is just undercoat. The top hairs are dark and the undercoat hairs are light. Banded hair is literally that. Black on both ends, light in the middle. Like a wooly bear caterpillar.


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

middleofnowhere said:


> Yes. Banded hair is common. Even my bi-color has some banding.
> 
> 
> 
> One suggestion: learn to blow off "people" --- whether random pedestrians or club members.


Haha yeah I'm really am learning to do that. Most of the time it's just random people or his littermate's owners. First I learned to blow them off because they would tell me that he was so skinny just because he wasn't 90-100lbs...he was 75lbs at last check. He's almost 2 years old and I think his weight is great and I almost feel more comfortable exercising him more to gain more muscle. Now I have to blow people off when they talk about his color. People are never satisfied lol


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

Sabis mom said:


> People in general are often guilty of spewing off about things they heard somewhere that are in their minds fact.
> 
> Yes it's a "fault" but so are lots of things that have no bearing on the animal being a good pet. I have attached one of my favorite pics of my current dog that plainly shows the odd "sabley" bitch stripe down her back. The only parts of her that are actually black are the sides of her ribcage. But I love her none the less.
> 
> View attachment 511997


I love her coloring. I'm a big believer in when Max von Stephanitz said that "no good dog can be a bad color." I may be biased but I think he is a good dog lol. Other than a little dry skin he's been perfectly healthy and he's really intelligent and picks up things quickly. In the couple months that we've been apart of a schutzhund club both of us have grown and learned a lot. He may never compete in worlds but I'm happy with him :grin2:


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## Kyser808 (Dec 28, 2017)

Jax08 said:


> That's not so much banded as it is just undercoat. The top hairs are dark and the undercoat hairs are light. Banded hair is literally that. Black on both ends, light in the middle. Like a wooly bear caterpillar.


Oh interesting. I thought because his black guard hairs along his spine and ribs were only black at the tips meant that they were banded. I learn something new everyday.


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