# Help me with long coat and sable genetics please?



## lauramichelle (Mar 11, 2009)

I am confusing myself! We have picked the litter our puppy is coming from. I am just curious and learning about genetics and trying to figure out how likely it is to get long-haired puppies. (I've had college level genetics...so I am all too familiar with punnet squares!).

This all the info I have on the dam.....she is a red sable. She is short haired. Her grandmother is long haired, grandfather was short haired. Her mother was short haired, and her father was short haired. I have no idea about the recessive long hair gene in her parents.

The father is a black sable long hair. That's all I know right now....besides good health and temperment









All the puppies in the litter are sable. Some dark, some light, but all sable.

Now I read on a website (that I cant find now) that if a dam throws all sable puppies....she has to be homozygous for short hair (not carrying long hair gene). I have no idea if this is true or if its only true if they are bred to a non-sable and throw sables. I wish I could find the site that said that again.

Anyways, what chance would give each pup to be long haired based on that? I know I dont have complete info, sorry. 

The puppies are almost 2 weeks old...so we'll know for sure in a few weeks.


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## Amaruq (Aug 29, 2001)

> Quote:Now I read on a website (that I cant find now) that if a dam throws all sable puppies....she has to be homozygous for short hair (not carrying long hair gene).


Throwing all sables has absolutely nothing to do with length of coat genetics. Sable is the most dominate color in GSD so breeding sable to sable and getting a litter of all sables is not unexpected. 

To get a long coat both parents have to carry the gene.


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

Coat color and coat type are inherited separately. The genes have nothing to do with one another. So as Ruq said, being homozygous sable has nothing to do with the ability to throw long coats.


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## lauramichelle (Mar 11, 2009)

Thanks. It didnt sound like it made a whole lot of sense. I didnt think color and coat length had anything to do with each other. Just needed some clarification.

Thanks.


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