Coat Colors

What do you think when you see that a dog should be merle, roan, or have ticking? Doesn't make any sense? Now it will! Here is a guide to dog colors!

Color	Description
ASCOB	This term is used for Cocker Spaniels and is an abbreviation for "Any Solid Color Other Than Black".
Belton	This describes flecking or ticking. Refers to the white with blue, orange, lemon or liver ticking with English Setters
Biscuit	Light yellow/brown
Black and Silver	The base coat is black and has silver markings
Black and Tan	The base coat is black with tan markings
Blenheim	Chestnut red markings on a white background. The English Toy Spaniel and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel are examples of this.
Blue and Tan	The base coat has a blue-gray coloring with tan markings.
Boston	Black and white dog that has a black mantle and white face, collar, legs and chest.
Brindle	Light background, often gray or tawny, with darker streaks or flecks, sometimes called a tiger pattern.
Broken color	Solid color that is interrupted by white or another color.
Cafe au lait	Pale brown color similar to coffee with milk, like found on Poodles .
Chestnut	reddish brown
Collar	Markings circling the neck that are usually white
Dappled	Dogs found with cloud-like or round patches of color on their coats in addition to the background= no one color is usually dominate. The Dachshund is a good example.
Dead grass	Dull, straw like color used to describe on of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever's coat colors.
Domino	Reverse facial masks pattern- lighter colored around the eyes. Example is the Afghan Hound .
Dun	Varies from neutral to slightly brownish dark gray.
Fawn	light brown.
Flashings	White markings on the chest, neck, feet or tail tip.
Golden Liver	Reddish brown with golden overtones, such as with the Sussex Spaniel .
Grizzle	Black or red hairs mixed with white hairs, usually blue or gray, such as in the Scottish Terrier .
Harlequin	White with distinct, irregular black patches like found on the Great Dane .
Hound-marked	White, tan and black, usually white with black and tan markings.
Irish Marked	A solid colored mantle, with white on the face, legs, chest, collar and tip of the tail, such as with the Saluki.
Isabella	Fawn, mouse, or light red color.
Landseer	Refers to a Newfoundland with a white base color and black markings.
Lemon	Bright yellow color
Lion	Tawny colored.
Liver	Deep reddish brown.
Mantle	Color on shoulders and back, somewhat down the sides.
Mask	Dark shadings on the foreface, particularly around the eyes.
Merle	A swirled color pattern of dark blotches on a lighter background of the same pigment. Usually black flecks marking a blue-gray coat.
Mole	Any color coat shaded with gray.
Parti-Colored	Having patches of two or more colors, one of which is white.
Pied	Large patches of two or more colors, also called piebald, parti colored and pinto.
Pinto	White coat with colored patches covering more than half the white.
Roan	Red, black or brown base color muted and lightened by a mixture of white hairs.
Sable	Gold, fawn, silver, or gray coat hairs tipped with black.
Salt and Pepper	Light or dark gray sprinkled with black and white, like with the Schnauzer .
Sand	Yellowish gray
Seal	Black with red cast, usually in Boston Terriers.
Self-colored	All one color, other than slight shading variations.
Sesame	Red hairs with black tips.
Stag red	Deep red with black hairs.
Ticking	Small areas of colored hairs on a white background. Also called flecking or speckling.
Tri-colored	A combination of three colors, black, tan and white, like the Bernese Mountain Dog .
Wheaten	Degrees of brown or tan ranging from light fawn to mahogany red.
Whitelies	White body color with red or dark markings, such as on the Pembroke Welsh Corgi .
Wolf	Gray sable.