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Glossary of Terms Used in Relation to Dog Coat Colours and Patterns

  • Belton a name for ticking in the English Setter
  • Bicolour a dog that has some shade of black or brown and also white but no tan in breeds like the Shetland Sheepdog
  • Blenheim a name for red coat colour with white markings in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
  • Blue a coat colour that is typically a solid grey (note that a Blue Belton is a black ticked/roan dog however)
  • Brindle a pattern of alternating stripes of eumelanin and phaeomelanin pigmentation, i.e. yellow and black, red and black, cream and grey, etc.
  • Chocolate a coat colour that is typically brown, used in breeds such as the Labrador Retriever
  • Dilution an effect on a coat colour that causes it to become a paler shade like blue or cream
  • Eumelanin a melanin pigment that causes some shade of black or brown coloration
  • Harlequin a coat colour pattern of ragged black spots on a white background in the Great Dane
  • Irish Spotting a pattern of white markings that include white undersides, a white blaze and usually a white collar
  • Liver a coat colour that is typically brown but is occasionally used to describe a shade of orange or phaeomelanin pigmentation
  • Mask a pattern in which the muzzle and perhaps as far back as the ears are pigmented by eumelanin, resulting in a black or brown face
  • Merle a pattern which reminds one of marble in which the melanin pigment is swirled and patchy amongst many white areas
  • Phaeomelanin a melanin pigment that causes some shade of red, orange, gold or yellow coloration
  • Piebald random spots of colour on a white background
  • Red a coat colour that is typically the result of phaeomelanin pigmentation, however in some breeds such as Doberman Pinschers brown is called red
  • Roan a pattern of intermingled white and coloured hairs on some part of the body
  • Ticked a pattern of many small pigmented spots on a white or roan background
  • Tricolour a combination of some shade of black or brown, some shade of red often called tan and some white. Therefore both eumelanin and phaeomelanin pigmentation occurs on the same dog.

 
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