Dog coat

A dog's coat is the hair covering its body. A dog can have a double coat that has short, soft hair underneath a layer of long, coarse hair, or a single coat that has only the long, coarse hair. A dog's coat may also be called hair or fur.

Four main coat attributes
Dog coats can come in many different colors, patterns, lengths, and textures.

Coat colors

Dog coats come in four main colors: black, brown, white, and red. The same main color can have many shades. These shades are sometimes common enough that they are given their own color names, such as gold, yellow, cream, blue, and grey.

There may be several of these colors on one dog.

Brown  100px|  Brown Chesapeake Bay Retriever 100px  Dark chocolate Australian KelpieRed 100px   Red Irish Setter none|80px   Red Chow ChowBlack 100px  Black Newfoundland 100px  Black Labrador RetrieverWhite 100px  White American Eskimo Dog 100px  White Bichon FriséGold  100px  Golden RetrieverApricot  100px  Apricot PoodleYellow 100px  Yellow mixed-breed dog 100px  Yellow Labrador RetrieverCream 100px  Cream French Bulldog 100px  Cream AkitaBlue 100px  Kerry Blue Terriers 100px  Blue Australian ShepherdGrey 100px  GreyWeimaraner 100px  Grey Miniature Schnauzer

Coat patterns

Dog coats can also have many different patterns based on spots, patches, and mixing colors.

Black and tan, brown and tan, blue and tan:  This pattern has two colors, with a dark color on most of the body and tan patches on the belly, legs, chest, face, and eyebrows.  100px  Brown and tan Australian Kelpie 100px  Black and Tan CoonhoundBicolor (also called Two-color, Irish spotted, Flashy, Patched, Tuxedo): This pattern can be found with any color or even other pattern as long as it includes white spots. These spots can be on the feet, tail, nose, and neck, or even cover most of the dog. Sometimes special patterns of white have special names. For example, the Irish Spotted pattern is the same on both sides of the dog and includes a white chest, a white ring around the neck, a white belly, and white feet. 100px Black and white Border Collie 100px Blenheim (Red-brown and white) Cavalier King Charles SpanielTricolor: This pattern has three clear colors. The body of the dog is usually black, brown, or blue. Its belly is white, and it has tan patches. 100px  Black tricolor Entlebucher Mountain Dog 100px Tricolor BeagleMerle: This pattern happens when a dog's colors are mixed in with white in spots and patches. 100px Blue merle tricolor Australian Shepherd 100px Red merle Catahoula Leopard DogsTuxedo: This pattern is when a dog is mostly one color, but has a white patch on its chest, a white spot on its chin, and white on its feet.100px  Tuxedo Chihuahua.Harlequin: This pattern is when a white dog has black patches with an uneven border. 100px Harlequin Great DaneSpotted: This is when a mostly white dog has any color of small spots.100pxSpotted DalmatianFlecked, ticked, speckled: This is when a dog has very small spots of one color mixed in with its main color. 100px Brown-ticked German Shorthaired Pointer 100px Blue speckled Australian Cattle DogBrindle: This pattern is when a dog's coat is a mix of black with brown, tan, or gold. It sometimes makes a "tiger stripe" pattern. 100px  Brindle and white Boston Terrier 100px  Brindle Galgo Español 100px  Brindle Mountain Cur 100px  Brindle Great DaneSaddle or blanket: When a dog has a large colored patch on its back. 100px  Norwegian Dunker with black saddleSable: This pattern happens when a dog has black tips on its fur.100px  Red sable Pomeranian 100px  Brown sable Shetland Sheepdogs

Coat lengths and textures

A dog's coat can be long or short. For most dogs, their hair reaches one length and then stops growing, but there are some dogs whose hair will keep growing longer and longer.

Some breeds of dog do not grow hair on parts of their bodies. These dogs are called "hairless".  Examples of "hairless" dogs are the Xoloitzcuintli (Mexican Hairless Dog), the Peruvian Inca Orchid (Peruvian Hairless Dog) and the Chinese Crested.

Additional reading

Other websites

Category:Dogs
Category:Hair