Color guide for proper AKC Registration{I wish the AKC would adopt this or a similar system to try and improve accuracy in color registration of the GSD.}If dog is Sable or Gray, check the box for agouti, and if the dog is a pattern dog {black/*}, check the box for two-tone, and indicate the color of the markings in addition to the body color. If the dog is a solid color, check only the box for the solid body color. White, of course, should be represented only as a solid color.

Pattern-Choose 1	Primary/Solid Color-Choose 1	Markings-Choose only if dog is agouti/two-tone
Agouti	Black	Red(br)
Two-Tone	Blue	Tan(g)
Solid	Liver	Cream(g)
	White(Solid Only)	Silver

The letters br and g are the abbreviations for the German terms braun and gelb, used to indicate red and tan. Gray (grau-gr) is used to indicate agouti, while the color is called sable in the USA. However, I've also seen the term gr (grau) used to indicate silver markings on a black and silver dog. While black and silver is rarely seen listed in the modern Zuchtbuch, one comes across it frequently in old Zuchtbuchs.

Agouti is a much better term than "sable" or "gray" because it correctly defines this particular pattern. A novice person can look up the term in the dictionary and get an idea of the agouti animal's appearance by the definition of the word "agouti". This is not true of the other terms used to define this pattern.

Two-tone is a better way to define the dog that is usually referred to as "black and tan." This pattern occurs in other combinations than black and tan! By defining the pattern as two-tone, the pattern would accurately describe a dog that is of any of the three dark primary colors and a corresponding marking color.

The marking color{tan/red/cream/silver/} is also referred to as the "ground" color. This is The color of the area around the head,cheeks,neck, and the outsides of the legs. The inner legs and belly may be a lighter shade of the ground color. White chest blazes, toes,or tail tips are caused by the white spotting gene, which is independent of the basic ground color.

The primary body color{for lack of a better term for it} is usually black, but may be blue or liver{two seperate genetic dilutions of the black}. Solid colored dogs may be black,blue,liver,or solid white,which is a recessive gene in an independent location from the location of black or dilute genes.

ACTUALLY, although going against the way color is usually thought of, the body color of the dog should be regarded as tan, red, cream, or silver. The BLACK is actually the MARKING color, superimposed to varying degrees and in the various patterns onto the ground color. Because people are so accustomed to thinking of the body color as the black and the marking color as being the light color, this article presents it in that fashion. In actuality, it should be regarded as the exact opposite.

Agouti is the genetically dominant pattern in The GSD Breed. There are many variations within the agouti spectrum, however. Agoutis may be very light,with little black present,all the way to having so much black in their coats that they may appear solid black when seen from a distance. Genetically, agoutis may be pure for agouti, meaning that they can produce only agoutis, they may carry what I like to call the "Two Toned Pattern"{more about this later}or they may carry the solid black pattern gene.

Agoutis go through a number of lightening and darkening stages of coat development before they reach maturity. Agoutis carrying the solid black gene are usually extremely dark at birth,sometimes they look like solid blacks until they start to dry off and then the agouti pattern shows through in the coat behind the ears and on the lower legs. Agoutis carrying black usually show this in their pattern, a very dark pattern with black extending down the legs and present on the tops of the toes. Agoutis carrying the saddle pattern gene look quite different from the black agoutis at birth,they are lighter on the sides,with more black concentrated in a stripe down the back.{sometimes we jokingly refer to this as a "reverse skunk" appearance} Pure for agouti dogs{dogs that do not carry either the two-tone pattern or the solid color gene and can only produce agoutis regardless of what they are bred to}can sometimes be tough to distinguish by looking at them. Pure for agouti dogs can only come out of two agouti parents.
So far, I have seen few exceptions to these characteristic agouti patterns. I have seen a few agouti dogs that proved to be pure for agouti, that had the typical intensity and extension of black in their coats that is typical of black carriers. These pure for agouti dogs who had the "black carrier" appearance were out of parents who were black carriers.
I have seen agoutis that produced both black and white-these dogs were quite rich in pigment.I am seeking more pedigree and photographic data on agouti to white breedings.

Some agouti and two-tone dogs that carry the white gene, appear to reveal their carrier status subtly in such ways as having masks that resemble the pattern seen in bicolor and tricolor dogs such as the collie and doberman, with the lower part of the muzzle being lighter, as well as some other pattern differences. Much more photographic and pedigree information on colored dogs that carry white, is needed to determine the degree of consistency with which white carriers show these differences from colored dogs that don't carry white.
Contributions of photographic and pedigree data of colored dogs carrying the white gene are needed! Send your data to either the snail mail address on the front page or to DrGSDGenes@gmail.com. Your dog's registered name will be kept confidential upon request.

When born, two-toned dogs are much darker than they will be at muturity. Some may even be so dark as to appear to be solid black at birth,and then when the puppy dries off the marking color will be visible around the anus and in the hairs on the top of the feet. As a two-toned puppy grows,the lighter ground color spreads upward and outward up the legs,chest,underside,and around the cheeks and ears.

Two-toned dogs as adults may vary from the saddle marked dog with very little black on the dog other than the saddle and muzzle,all the way to very dark dogs that appear nearly black. Two-toned dogs also usually have silvering through their coat at the neck,across the withers,and down the topline.The degree of this silvering{also sometimes called salt&pepper,or peppering}may vary widely from dog to dog.This silvering has nothing to do with the silver ground color gene,and does not mean that the dog can produce Black/Silver.The darkest two-toned dogs usually carry the recessive for solid black. I do not like to use the term "Black/Tan"to denote the two-toned dogs-as these dogs may be any combination of the primary and secondary colors-and genetically the colors are the same for these and agoutis,it is the pattern that differs between these and agoutis.

This picture shows an agouti dam and her saddle patterned "two-tone" black and tan daughter. You can see how much alike they appear, and how strongly the genetic pattern shows in the coat of the agouti dam. The agouti dam is on the left, her daughter is on the right. This pattern is very common in show dogs, being flashy. The dog in this picture has not had her coat or color enhanced in any way. Dogs in show pictures of this pattern quite often have had cosmetic help to richen the black and intensify the contrast between the two colors in their coats.

Occasionally I have seen pictures of GSD's with very different facial markings than usual,dark on top of muzzle and light below,rather like the pattern of facial markings found in a Tricolor Collie, Siberian Husky or Doberman. I recently had the opportunity to actually see and photograph a dog like this. It also had a light undercoat, much like a black smoke cat, where the outer coat appeared black and the undercoat was light gray. The owner stated that this dogs development of pattern was typical of the two-tone rather than agouti. This is probably a variation of the two-tone gene. A well known dog of this type was Sel. Ch. Countee's Flo-Jo of Windwalker.
Pictures of one of these strange bicolor variations from the front, side, and close up of the undercoat follow, along with a picture of Flo-Jo. I have other pictures of dogs of this strange variation that I will add soon. I wonder if this is a gene similar to the smoke gene in cats.
These dogs apparently are NOT sable (agouti) because they do not produce agoutis unless bred to an agouti partner.

I have seen an uncommon variation of the extremely dark two-tone GSD. In this variation, the puppy appears solid black at birth, so far the ones I have seen have all had the anal patch of the marking color common to GSDs that are not solid blacks. This is the only feature that distinguishes these dogs from solid blacks at birth. When this type of bicolor reaches several weeks of age, hairs of the lighter marking color may appear in the eyebrows, inner edge of the ears, across the front of the chest, or in the cheek area. I have only been able to observe a small number of these pups at this time, and am seeking photo and pedigree data on others that may be of this variation. Of the pups observed, some retained the markings, and others have darkened again and then regained the markings at several months of age. These vary from the usual two-tone pattern in that the pups appear black at birth, gain markings, lose them again, and then regain them. Of the ones I have been able to observe, one female at maturity appears to be a black with common shadings in the lower legs, except for her anal patch and a few hairs of marking color that have appeared in her eyebrows at about 21 months of age. Another one at nearly a year of age has slight cheek markings, eyebrow hairs, marking color in the hairs on the inside edges of the ears, a slight "butterfly" marking pattern on the chest, and shadings in the back of the legs (but the leg shadings are no greater than found on some genetic black dogs) and of course, the anal patch.
This variation seems quite uncommon, and more data is needed on it to further my knowledge of it.

Solid black is recessive to both agouti and two-tone patterned dogs.A dog must carry the gene for solid pattern to produce solid blacks. White is a gene independent of these three genes that determine pattern in the colored dogs. White will be more fully discussed later.
One thing I do not understand about the solid blacks is why some remain solid black as adults,and others have "bleedthrough" shadings of ground color,usually at the back of the lower legs and inside the rear legs. Everyone I have seen has been solid black at birth,and on the ones that ended up with "bleedthrough" developed the shading as they grew. Some of these can be difficult to distinguish from the very dark bicolors by looking at them. Sel Ch Die Herzogins JJ was an example of a black with quite a it of shading in his legs,yet he was genetically solid black. I have found that the blacks with bleedthrough and blacks that stay black may be born in the same litters. I would like more data to answer questions on this. For instance,if two solid blacks without any shadings are bred together-do the progeny all end up solid black,or can some of them end up with bleedthrough? I have found that the color of the bleedthrough does indicate the ground color the black dog will produce if bred to a dog of the agouti or two-tone pattern.

I also have observed another unusual color development in dogs that are apparently genetic blacks. They are born black, then develop very subtle (meaning sometimes just a concentrated sprinkling of hairs) markings in the cheeks, ears, chest, and lower legs. Some of these keep the lighter markings, some lose them again, and I don't yet have photographic or pedigree data from enough dogs showing this unusual color development, PHOTO AND PEDIGREE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DOGS EXHIBITING THIS KIND OF COLOR DEVELOPMENT WOULD BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL TO MY RESEARCH!

White is completely independent of the genes for agouti, two-tone, or solid patterns that occur in colored dogs. It is also totally independent of either of the blue or liver dilution genes found in the breed. The white gene masks the genetic coat pigment of the dog, although it does not affect skin pigment. A good white should have dark eyes, and a black nose and lips.

Because white is in a different location on the chromosome from the genes for patterns, primary body colors, and marking colors, a white dog may genetically be of any pattern or combination of primary and marking colors found in the dark dogs. For example, a white dog may actually be genetically an agouti dog carrying the two-tone gene. When such a white dog is bred to a solid black dog, the black dog would provide the pigment allowing the genetic patterns of the white parent to show up in their non-white progeny. That is why black to white breeding can produce agoutis and two-tone dogs. Only if the white parent has at least one gene for the solid pattern can a white to a black produce solid blacks. The colored parent must also possess at least one gene for the white recessive gene for a black to a white to produce whites. Dogs of other patterns than solid black may produce any of the patterns and colors found in colored dogs when bred to white, depending on what pattern and color genes BOTH of the parents possess.

I do believe that the gene for recessive white is totally independent of paling genes.I have seen too many dogs of rich pigment born out of white to colored breeding,and there was absolutely no indication in the non-white progeny that they carried the white recessive.

Research data is revealing that the dog's basic color of red, tan, cream, or silver, isn't totally masked by the white gene. Whites who are off-white for instance, are genetically reds or rich tans. The myth that white dilutes pigment in colored dogs with a white parent, appears more and more likely to be due to the fact that when a dog is genetically silver or cream, a white out of that dog will be a whiter white. Thus breeders selecting for whiter whites, are likely selecting dogs that are genetically creams or silvers.

Breeding white to white will result in whiter whites,and that breeding white to dogs with red ground color will produce whites with more cream tinge in their white. It is interesting too,that when a white has cream tinge-the cream usually is in the parts of the coat corresponding to the darkest areas on an agouti or two-tone dog-possibly a further indication of which whites also possesses pattern genes. It is likely that breeders of whites selected dogs of paler pigment to breed with whites, in an effort to produce a whiter white, instead of white causing paling in colored dogs carrying a white gene. I have seen a number of good whites with excellent black pigment and very white coats. White whites with black pigment are the most desirable,but like good breeders of other colors,reputable white breeders also have to consider many things other than color in choosing their breeding partners.