Czech Wolfdog Colour Genetics

[saschia]

Hi,

I am not an expert in the field of dog coloring and it's genetics (far from it, actually), but there are some things I would like to point out to you anyway. I would also like to stress that I use the expression sable here not by my choice (as I also associate the word with black), but to stay with Mosi's nomenclature.

1) One part of the wolfish-grey colouring (that is the color type requested by the standard) is the way how the colors blend into one another. Any dog which got a mark Vyborny (Excellent) at dog-shows refereed by good judges (those trained by either slovak or czech clubs) has this typical way. It is best shown on your first photograph, Mosi, as the dog has the intermediate color. I think (but am not sure) it is the aguti type, which is a wild-type coloring in mammals and is dominant. and it is due to the distribution of pigments in the hair (light base with dark tip) and distribution of different hairs in the overall coat.

2) Second part is the colors of pigments present in the dog's hair and their relative amounts. Actually all first three photographs are a good example of this. The firts photograph shows and animal, which has cream, black and brown (or tan) pigments in it's hair. The tan pigments are mostly pronounced at places which you showed at the diagram plus ears. In the "silver sable" - to use your expression, the animal has brown pigments present at the same places, only they are lighter and not that pronounced. Those parts which look white on first picture are actually of cream color, and that is the color of undercoat and also basic color of hair of the pictured dog. In "silver sable" this basic color is white or almost white. Therefore the coat is actually composed of almost white hair with black tips, all above very light undercoat, which produces almost silver coloring. Now the third picture shows an animal with cream base but the brown/tan pigments are more pronounced and present on higher percentage of the dog's body.
Actually I am not sure, if the cream and tan pigments are not one in fact, only present in different amounts. But the way it causes the coloring of hair makes these two types.

3) About the genetics of these traits. I have only one example, from my own litter of puppies, but it shows that this is not simple mendelian genetics.
The mother of the litter (Baby Tribec CS) was more of the type "silver sable", but her coat changed in seasons, so sometimes she was almost intermediate (first photograph in Mosi's post). The father (Synek z Rosikova) could be characterized as intermediate.
From 5 pupies which survived to the time when coat color could be assesed, one was of the "tan sable" (Anorien Potomok Vlkov), two of "silver sable" (Arwen and Ayrton Potomok Vlkov) and two intermediate (Aragorn and Arien Potomok vlkov). Here is the picture of three of the puppies at 5 weeks of age.