THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, OFFICIAL RARE COLOR CHART

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There are thirteen + different locations or loci on the chromosomes that have a combined effect to determine the color of a particular dog. At each locus, there can be found many variations or alleles that can be dominant or recessive in nature. Chromosomes come in pairs, so each dog has two different alleles at each locus on the chromosome pairs, and depending on the dominance of the alleles contained at the locus determines the color of the individual dog. The genetic material of the dog is inherited one half from the mother and one half from the father. The final characteristics of the offspring is determined by the new combination that results and the dominance, recessive nature, & hierarchy of the alleles that they inherit. 

As in all the Tri Colors (3 colors on the dog one of which is always the tan points), the tan points are typically on the eyebrows, cheeks, front shoulders (right above the chest area between the legs), around the tail, and partial on both front and back legs. Tan points will not show up if the dog is white where the points would normally be. Tan points can also be hidden by other genes, such as the SEAL gene, as it is higher on the hierarchy of genes. Tan points can bleed through on some dogs when only one [at] is present. It normally takes a double [atat] dog to show tan points. As of this writing, the geneticists do not know why this happens on some dogs with the same dna & not others.

It is my thinking that Sable EB's that show tan points &/or have dark etching, DO carry one [at] & are ayat in their dna. Most TRUE Fawn (red based dog) will not show sable hairs, tan points, or dark etching & will be ayay in their DNA. To back this up, we conducted a private study to back up our thinking. Visit our Black Color Study Page for more info.

Platinum basically means an ALL WHITE Dog. Platinum is not a color, but is rather a lack of pigment. So you can technically have a genetic true color dog, such as a Dark Chocolate Tri who is ALL white! It has been accepted for years now, that dogs with spots of color that represent 10% or less of the total body color, may be designated Platinum. The preferred True Platinum has an all white coat. Any where the dog is white could have hidden color, remember white takes out the color that would normally be there. 

In Red/Yellow (Fawn) dogs, the hair is not affected by the 2 DILUTE genes [bb & dd] nor the Merle Dilute Gene. The nose, footpads, and eyeliner is the only thing affected by these color genes. Therefore, you can have a dog with it's original hair color, but with diluted pigment as noted. These dogs are correctly referred to as Lilac Fawn/Sable, Blue Fawn/Sable, Chocolate Fawn/Sable and Ghost Merle. There is no Black Fawn/sable, this is the same as the standard fawn/sable dog with a black nose.

For any color dog to be TRUE color rather than Fawn/Sable Color, it has to have a FULL Black Base or at least one dominant seal gene base. The 2 black Bases are the SEAL gene [Kb] needing only one since it is a dominant gene, and the Black and Tan gene [atat]. 

Visit our Sable vs Fawn Study Page for more info. 

The genes that cause dogs to be Brindle are not yet fully understood, even by the scientists themselves. What we do know so far is that one of the markers on the K gene, specifically Kbr, is responsible for the brindle color on the coat, whether it be a partial or full brindleing, such as the Tan Points being brindled, which is what we call Trindle. The agouti gene overrides the brindle gene on the dogs body coat & makes it look solid color, except for any area where the dog is tan pointed or white.

The K gene is confusingly called Dominant Black, because this gene shows as brindle, and black (seal). ALL brindle dogs carry at least one K gene. It takes only one since it is a Dominant gene to show on the dog. 

The Merle Gene dilutes random sections of hair to a lighter color which leaves Patches of the original color, sometimes these patches can be very small. If you start with a black dog and add the Merle Gene, you still have a black dog genetically, but with sections of the black diluted. Unlike the piebald pattern, these patches or sections may look jagged on the outer edges. Merle affects only the Eumelanin, and does not affect the Phaeomelanin (red/fawn) which will appear normal. This means you can have a merle dog and not see it visually. Merle affects only black based coat color. Eyes, and noses can also be merled.

Black Merle dogs are often called Blue Merle because the Merle gene dilutes patches of black to a grey color. Blue Merle on genetically Black Merle dogs is a widely used term, but is not correct. They should be called Black Merle, their nose, footpad, and eyeliner pigment is still black. If these dogs did not have the merle gene, they would be solid black. The term Blue merle, when used on black dogs is misleading because blue dogs should have the [dd] gene if they were truly blue. A black merle dog will never have the double [dd] gene, but the True Blue Merle dog would always be [dd]. It is the patches on the dog that will visually define the dogs color and what it should be appropriately called. This can be backed up with DNA testing. Thus in the True Blue Merle dog, the patches that are left would be True Blue and the sections that are diluted would be a much lighter color blue. This is the case in all the Rare Colors. The sections left on the lilac Merle dog are almost white, it is so light. Makes since when you think about it. There are 3 dilution genes at work in a Lilac Merle dog. Some of these colors will blend in with the diluted color so much, that DNA Color Testing may need to be done to be sure of the true color.

The Merle gene when doubled up, can, but not always does, cause health issues, mostly deafness and blindness. For this reason, two merles should not be bred together, as this could result in double Merle puppies with possible problems. These problems are virtually eliminated in single Merle gene dogs and the percentage of incidence is the same as in any breed, color, or pattern. Double Merle can be problematic because it can cause lack of pigment in certain vital areas, such as the eyes and inner ears. Single merle dogs have plenty of pigment because they still have a non-merle allel to make pigment. Double Merles often have large areas of white where there is no pigment produced.

In the hierarchy of genes, the Merle Gene overrides the Dominant Black(SEAL) gene, the Seal gene overrides the black and tan gene, so you can have a Black and Tan, Black Seal, Black Merle dog and would mainly see only the merle, but muted. It is very important to know the TRUE DNA of your dog if you plan to breed. 

We have used UC Davis for many years and recommend them above all other labs for color testing. The Results Chart below uses UC Davis' letter system. Other labs have different lettering systems, which is very important to differentiate. CREDITS: The reading and results in the chart, are predominantly excerpts from the UCDavis Website.

Other genes restrict agouti expression such as the dominant black gene. There are 4 known alleles of agouti which are: fawn/ sable (ay), wild sable (aw), black-and-tan (at), recessive black (a). The agouti test is also useful to help determine the color of dogs that have white patterns that may obscure the distribution of the colored pigment.

ay ay: Full fawn/sable

ay aw: Fawn, carries wild sable

ay at: Fawn, carries black and tan

ay a: Fawn, carries recessive black

aw aw: Full wild sable

aw at: Wild sable, carries black and tan

aw a: Wild sable, carries recessive black

at at: Full black and tan

at a: Black and tan, carries recessive black

a a: Full Recessive Black 

There are two alleles, the dominant full color (B) and the recessive brown (b). Two copies of brown are needed to dilute black pigment to brown. For red or yellow dogs, the brown allele does not dilute the hair color, but will change the color of nose and foot pads from black to brown if two brown alleles are present.

B B: Full Color, no brown gene present

B b: Carrier, 1 copy of brown present

b b: Full brown. Black pigment, if present, is diluted to brown, red/yellow dogs will have brown noses and foot pads. 

There are two alleles, the dominant full color (D) and the recessive dilute (d). Two copies of dilute are needed to lighten black pigment to grey, which we call blue, and red pigment to cream.

D D: Full color, no dilute gene present

D d: Carrier, 1 copy of dilute present

d d: Full Dilute. Black pigment, if present, is diluted to blue, red/yellow dogs will have blue noses and foot pads. 

This gene produces dominant black vs. brindle vs. fawn/sable colors.

K K: Full Dominant Black. This could present as Brindle or Seal and is confirmed visually.

K N: Carrier, 1 copy of Dominant Black present.

N N: Does not carry Dominant Black. 

Merle is governed by a SINE insertion in SILV gene. Merle only dilutes black pigment, so dogs with an MC1R ee genotype have no black pigment and thus do not express merle visibly. However, they can produce merle offspring. The 3 alleles for merle are, merle (M), SINE with longer poly-A tail, cryptic merle (Mc), SINE with shorter poly-A tail,  and non-merle (N). Dogs with Mc typically display little to no merling. Inheritance of merle is genetically unstable for both M and Mc alleles. During DNA replication and cell division, M may occasionally undergo poly-A tail reduction to produce Mc, while Mc may undergo expansion and revert to M.  

M M: Full Merle. 2 copies of Merle present.

M Mc: Full Carrier. 1 copy of both Merle genes present.

M N: Carrier. 1 Copy of Merle present.

Mc Mc: Full Carrier. 2 copies of Cryptic Merle present.

Mc N: Carrier. 1 copy of Cryptic Merle present.

N N: Non-Merle. No copies of Merle or Cryptic Merle. 

A DNA variant has been found in the MITF gene that is associated with piebald spotting. A dog with one copy of the MITF variant has some white pattern expression, while a dog with 2 copies of the variant display more extreme white. Additional mutations in MITF or other white spotting genes appear to be present in some breeds that affect the amount of white being expressed. In other breeds, piebald behaves as a recessive trait, that is 2 copies of piebald are needed to produce white spotting. White/Piebald can be either recessive or dominant according to the breed, and in some breeds also behaves as a dosage dependent trait.

N N: Non Piebald/White. No copies of piebald/white present.

N S: Carrier. 1 copy of piebald/white present.

S S: Full Piebald/White. 2 copies present.