Red hue in Black & Tan dog?

[wildo]

It could very well be that Gretchen is not a 100% purebred GSD given that she's a rescue/foster. But she certainly looks very purebred to me. I'm really curious about this red in her coat. I've not seen anything like this before in a GSD:






Thoughts?

[RocketDog]

Black and red is extremely common in GSDs. I have one who's 5 months and in fact is just turning red from tan. She might be B&R, not B&T. She looks purebred to me.

[Emoore]

You're talking about that little bit of red shading in the black area, particularly on her tail? I think it might just be color bleaching or poor pigment. I don't think it means she's not pb.

[I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO]

I think I read on here once that black hair with the red tint is a sign of a poor diet?

Black hair can also turn reddish when in the sun- but being November that's probably not the issue.

I love the pictures, btw! She looks like a new dog

[Catu]

Black fur, when too dry or when the undercoat dies at shedding take that reddish tone. Perfectly normal.

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by Emoore

You're talking about that little bit of red shading in the black area, particularly on her tail? I think it might just be color bleaching or poor pigment. I don't think it means she's not pb.

I agree--I've seen that in a lot of black dogs, it's usually just sun-bleaching, or chlorine bleaching if the dog gets into the pool a lot. I don't think it means she isn't purebred. I see it a lot when dogs are blowing old, dead, dry coat. Might want to add some fish oil to her diet.

[wildo]

Good info everyone! Yes, I wasn't really intending to indicate she wasn't a PB- just stating I'd never seen a B&T dog with a red tint- and yes, I am referring to the tinting. A couple things:

1) Yes, she's had a very poor diet.
2) Yes, her fur does seem pretty dry.
3) Assumption- she's probably been an outside dog her life- so sun bleaching is feasible.

Thanks everyone. I think it's fascinating even if it is an indication of things we don't really want. She has this very cool red "shimmer" under certain lighting. Pretty neat. (Hopefully it goes away though with better diet and whatnot.)

[EDIT]-

Originally Posted by Freestep

Might want to add some fish oil to her diet.

I will look into this. Thanks again!

[msvette2u]

When their fur is coming out (old fur) it looks that way. Have you brushed her tail good? It'll probably fall out.

[pyratemom]

Pyrate actually has a lot of natural red in his fur and he is pb. I picked him for his red ears as a matter of fact because he was the only one that didn't have at least a black outline on his ears. The entire litter was a confiscated and adopted out by our local shelter when the owners were arrested for crack dealing. He has the natural black saddle but lots of red in the tan areas. Raina who is naturally mostly black has some red tint in the summer from sun bleaching as well.

[PaddyD]

Probably one of the above but someone told me once (a long time ago) that when she fed her dogs Eukanuba (sp?) they got a red hue. So I guess food is something to consider.