[Bailey20225]

I purchased our GSD from a breeder and have all of her paperwork. I am trying to find out if this is a rare color. She is in training and goes with me everywhere and is a year and a half old. She is the best dog I have ever owned, so smart and easy to train. I would like to get another dog just like her but the breeder does not breed GSD any longer. If it is a rare color I guess I will stop looking for her coloring.

 

[Jax08]

It's not a rare color. I see a light pattern but the colors are very washed out and not to standard. No offense to your dog. She's obviously well loved and special to you and very pretty. But that is not a color you will find at any reputable breeder. It would probably be hard to find that shading.

 

[cesartriangle]

Looks like an American german shepherd. Nice dog but it lacks in colors.


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[GSDchoice]

I believe her color might be called "fawn".
If you google "fawn GSD", a lot of the pictures look like her.
I think she is pretty!
Aren't the Belgian Malinois dogs kind of this color, too?

I have no idea if fawn is considered a desirable breeder's color or not.

 

[Sunsilver]

No, GSD, it is not. The breed standard says that dark, rich pigment is preferred.

Would be interested in seeing the pedigree.

 

[Whiteshepherds]

She's rare only in the respect that more GSD's than not typically have darker coats, but she's not rare like in "wow...you never see a GSD that color". The lighter coat is the result of genes passed down to her from her parents...do you know what colors they were?

If you're looking for another dog "just like her" keep in mind she's not who she is because of her coat color. Good GSD's come in all sorts of colors and none of those colors have anything to do with their temperaments.

 

[Sunsilver]

Also, as said above, a dog that colour is NOT the product of an ethical breeding program. Someone who breeds for 'rare' colours often ignores more important things like temperament and health testing.

 

[GSDchoice]

I became curious about GSD colors and I found this chart online...

(My own dog, white AND a shep/husky mix, is 100% unacceptable...but anyway he's the BEST dog in the world

 

[Sunsilver]

Whoever made that chart didn't understand GSD genetics AT ALL! Blue and light blue are genetically the same, and neither one is acceptable, nor is liver.

Also there is no difference genetically between sable and grey. As a matter of fact, the German term for sable is "wolf grau" (wolf grey). Sable is genetically dominant over the other colours, so it should be the most common colour, except the SV has decided they don't like it, and most dogs that are sable can't get a placement in the annual Sieger show.

I have never seen a pure red GSD, and don't really think they exist, unless they are referring to a red sable.

 

[Sunsilver]

THis site gives an explanation of the fawn colour. It's a dilution gene (ay) I think their explanation is correct - haven't had time to fully check it out!

https://k9pines.com/fawn-gsd

 

[GSDchoice]

Ah, I think you are right.
OP's dog looks a lot like Ay fawn with a black mask?
Parents were not necessarily also "fawn" colored then...

PS
That chart was from big website called "PetHelpful" and article was called "German Shepherd Coats and Colors".
Ha ha, people on the forum know more than the author, I guess...!!

 

[Sabis mom]

I was pretty sure that the fawn coloring was really a washed out black and tan saddleback pattern. It pops up pretty commonly in BYB dogs around here and a good many of them show a faint greyish saddle.


As to that chart, Black and tan, black and cream, black and silver and black and red are all technically black and brown and sable is sable.

 

[Sunsilver]

This is a washed out black and tan:

The page I linked to says she never had any bleed-through of saddle markings on her dogs, which I think would have happened if the actual genetics were black and tan. You sometimes get this bleed through with white dogs that have the black and tan gene, but are homozygous recessive for white.

 

[Sabis mom]

@Sunsilver, that's a very pretty dog, correct or not.

And you may be correct, I have no clue. All I know is there are a ton of dogs like the one in your picture around here and they seem to produce those fawn and also cream colored puppies.

 

[Sunsilver]

Sabis, are you talking about the picture I posted? Thank you. I like her structure, but was disappointed when the pigment faded. Dad was red and black and mom was black and tan, and she was a black and tan saddle back when she was young.

 

[McGloomy]

Agree that colour would be classified as 'fawn'... But are there purebred GSDs with that colour though?

 

[Sunsilver]

Yes, indeed there are. The OP's dog is one of them. She says she has all the paperwork from the breeder.

Would still like to know the pedigree, so I can see what her parents/grandparents looked like!