# Brindle



## Gus Gus (Feb 7, 2009)

My puppy is 3 months old and he is a Lab Sheperd Chow mix is brindle with a white chest. I dont know to much about this type of breed. im looking for anything at all about him.









P.S.

Any one who has pics of there Lab Shepard Chow i would love to see your cutie!!


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

Well I'll tell you one thing...if he's brindle it's unlikely he's any of the above!

Oh, I'll tell you another thing....he's CUTE!

And for future reference, it's spelled "Shepherd" ^_^


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## Gus Gus (Feb 7, 2009)

Spelling fixed thanks why do you think this breed cant have a brindle coat.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

For one thing, he's not a breed, he's a mutt (nothing wrong with mutts, but you can't call him a breed when he's not ^_^).

For another, onle one of those breeds comes in brindle, and it's a rarity. It's an extinct color in the GSD, it's extremely rare in the Labrador (and even then I only see these markings on the legs usually), and it doesn't exist in the Chow Chow


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## Gus Gus (Feb 7, 2009)

Well he was rescued and thats what i was told he was. thanks for your input i would like to find out more about him and what his mix might be. hes 25lbs already. Do you know of anyway to figure out his mix or do i just wait to see what he grows into. he has mostly Lab and Sheperd features.


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## LoupGarouTFTs (Oct 27, 2007)

It's possible that whomever identified the "Labrador" might have mistaken a Plott Hound for a lab. It's not hard for an uninformed person to do, since the breeds bear a passing resemblance to each other, and the Plott is a brindle dog. It's hard to tell how big he'll get, but I'm guessing he'll top 50 pounds. Very pretty puppy, though--good luck with him!


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

I wouldn't guess Plott either...they're not terribly common and there's nothing other than the color that would possibly make it so.

He's probably a heinz 57 puppy (A lil bit of everything, lol). I'd agree with the above though, and say he'll be 50-60ish in weight. Mostly you'll just have to "wait and see" lol


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## Gus Gus (Feb 7, 2009)

well hes a great pup very play full and well behaved. ill post more pics when i get them and just wait till he grows up. I never new that brindle was such a rare coat. thanks for all your help.


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## Spicy1_VV (Jun 1, 2007)

You can have the wisdom panel DNA test done to get an idea. 

I'm not sure who thought he was those breeds but they must be a little out there. He could be any number of breeds all mixed up. Perhaps he has some Boxer, American Bulldog, Pit Bull, Boston Terrier, Bullmastiff, Greyhound who knows where the brindle comes from, could be any one of those or more. 

The photo is also very dark to really see his features.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

To the OP, Brindle as a COLOR is not rare in the dog world. It is just not in the breeds you listed as his mix.

By the way, I don't want you to think I'm getting down on you or anything. The people who gave you his "breed info" were just sorely mistaken. I hope you enjoy your puppy very much, and that he turns out to be a lovely dog.

Thank you for rescuing ^_^


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

When my daughter adopted Dante from the shelter last summer, they told her he was likely a shepherd/chow mix.

It's possible, but nobody here really cares. He's a handsome, good-natured guy. From what I can see, so is yours.


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## Gus Gus (Feb 7, 2009)

he was a rescue dog and i got him to save his life ill post some better pictures when i can.


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## Spicy1_VV (Jun 1, 2007)

Dutch Shepherds are brindle. I didn't see where they said GSD, only shepherd. Dutchies are not as common but they sure don't seem to be too hard to find, just not very popular with GP or as easily recognized.


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## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

Looks just like a younger version of our girl Mesquite!




























She is a confirmed German Shepherd/Akita mix. Definitely a possibility for yours too!


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## Spicy1_VV (Jun 1, 2007)

Oh wow you can send her to me!


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## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

Spicy1_VV said:


> Oh wow you can send her to me!


Not in a million years! Was hell just getting this girl out of the shelter. Then having to rehab her so she didn't piss herself every time a man walked within 30 feet of her. Not to mention spending nearly 2k in vet bills within the first 3 months of having her.

I think she'll stay here


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

trumpetjock said:


> Not in a million years! Was hell just getting this girl out of the shelter. Then having to rehab her so she didn't piss herself every time a man walked within 30 feet of her. Not to mention spending nearly 2k in vet bills within the first 3 months of having her.
> 
> I think she'll stay here


Darn! I was going to try to trick you out of her, too. What a beauty.


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## Dan57 (Jan 1, 2010)

My dog is a German Shepherd/Chow mix with a brindle coat.









BTW your puppy is really cute!


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

OP. Your dog is a stinkin' cutie! I would venture to say that your dog could have anyone of the dog breeds that Spicy mentioned in his mix. It would be fun to have him DNA tested. 



Dan57 said:


> My dog is a German Shepherd/Chow mix with a brindle coat.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And no, that is not a brindle coat.


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## Dan57 (Jan 1, 2010)

ok, then what is a brindle coat pattern? his hairs have 2 different colors on them. even his eyelashes are tan on the inside and black on the outside.


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

Would that be "sable" ??


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

Dan57 said:


> ok, then what is a brindle coat pattern? his hairs have 2 different colors on them. even his eyelashes are tan on the inside and black on the outside.


Brindle usually ranges from sparse but clearly defined black stripes on a fawn background. 

Hopefully Xeph can chime in, but your dog (very cute, btw) looks like he has very much a GSD coat.


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## pittsabowawa (Jul 26, 2009)

@ OP.. your puppy is cute... do you by any chance have any pictures with flash? That would help us see his coat better. Its possible he could have a little boxer in him (I'm pretty sure they brindle) but I really can't tell from the pics.

Congrats on your new baby.. whatever he is 



pugmom said:


> Would that be "sable" ??


I did a google search and some of the definitions of sable match the look of his coat so maybe??


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

Dan57 said:


> ok, then what is a brindle coat pattern? his hairs have 2 different colors on them. even his eyelashes are tan on the inside and black on the outside.


Your dog is sable. Brindle is where the have stripes of two distinctly different colors, meaning each hair shaft is only one color. Sable is where they have a red base coat going to black at the tips, that means each hair shaft has 2 colors on it like your dog has.

PS- Trumpet's dog looks like it might be sable as well, though it's hard to tell. In the first pic it looks brindle-ish, but in the other pics it looks more sable.



Xeph said:


> For another, onle one of those breeds comes in brindle, and it's a rarity. It's an extinct color in the GSD, it's extremely rare in the Labrador (and even then I only see these markings on the legs usually), and it doesn't exist in the Chow Chow


Xeph do you have any info on brindle being an extinct gene in GSD's. From my understanding with colors in afghans, black and tans are dominant over brindle. Is it possible that there could be a recessive brindle hanging around that doesn't appear in GSD breedings that are full of dominant genes, but may be seen in breedings to dogs with recessive color genes. The gene was there before, so unless it's a dominant gene, how do we know it's extinct.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Dan57 said:


> ok, then what is a brindle coat pattern? his hairs have 2 different colors on them. even his eyelashes are tan on the inside and black on the outside.


Brindle is a striped pattern. 2 different colors (ie: black tipped) on the same strand would be sable. 

Brindle:

http://dogexplained.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/bostonterrierbrindlestand.jpg

http://www.sbtcv.org.au/photos/shows/champshows/2007/june/grad dog1.jpg

http://www.boxerunderground.com/bu2000/abc2004/images/3rd_12_18brindle_dog.jpg

Sable:

http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/photos/PiperL.jpg

http://www.lakeshorecorgi.com/public_education/colors/sable.jpg

http://image02.webshots.com/2/2/87/57/46828757Ytnplx_ph.jpg

There are many different variations on each of course.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

While there have been claims of pure GSDs that are brindle, to the best of my knowledge and the knowledge of the GSD fancy, brindle no longer exists in the GSD.

The claimed brindle GSDs were usually either pure Dutch Shepherds mistaken for GSDs, or GSD x Dutchie crosses.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

Animal Cracker, brindle is not recessive to black/tan - it shows up in the tan points on black/tan animals - look at 'black/white' cardigans (there are no 'biblack' cardis).


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

Yes Afghans have black and brindle as well. But it was my understanding, at least for Afghans that solid brindle was recesive to black, black & tan, black & silver, and black & brindle. Do you have any info showing the dominance of the color genes. There's a few articles out there for Afghans, I'll have to look for them, perhaps I've just misunderstood or confused the genes.


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## Dan57 (Jan 1, 2010)

animalcraker said:


> Your dog is sable. Brindle is where the have stripes of two distinctly different colors, meaning each hair shaft is only one color. Sable is where they have a red base coat going to black at the tips, that means each hair shaft has 2 colors on it like your dog has.


My dogs hairs sometimes go brown/black/brown/black. not just brown underneath with black ends. Is that still sable?


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Probably. He doesn't look brindle to me based on that shot. (Do you have another pic of him?)

I just looked at my sable dogs and you really can't see banding like you could on my past dogs (shelties). These appear more like solid black hairs mixed in the red on the dog. Sable varies a lot between individual dogs. I know this is breed specific but it shows a good variation of what is considered 'sable'. These are both sables:










http://www.letitpapillons.com/info/colors/sable.htm

I also have one dog that has black and brown hair mixed and she's actually tricolor. It gets confusing.


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## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

From what I've been told, Corona is a "sabled red". Lots of her hairs are two-tone as well.











To the OP - would love to see some more pics of your puppy!


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## Shaina (Oct 28, 2007)

Another example of agouti - sable (also called wild type banding):











Just trying to help...


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## pittsabowawa (Jul 26, 2009)

Hmm I wonder if Bella would be considered sable? Her fawn is two toned dark and light hairs with hairs that have dark tips as well. She also has sporadic black hairs on her but you can only tell if you look close up.


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## belleview (Jun 20, 2012)

We just got a puppy a couple of weeks ago that looks a lot like yours! Here's a link to some pictures of her...http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/photo/albums/lady My E-mail address is *****

Unless you REALLY like spam, it's a very bad idea to post your email address on a public forum.


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## belleview (Jun 20, 2012)

also, here's a link to a video of Lady I did of her after we just got her...


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## juliemule (Dec 10, 2011)

Here are two brindles and a sable.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

animalcraker said:


> Yes Afghans have black and brindle as well. But it was my understanding, at least for Afghans that solid brindle was recesive to black, black & tan, black & silver, and black & brindle. Do you have any info showing the dominance of the color genes. There's a few articles out there for Afghans, I'll have to look for them, perhaps I've just misunderstood or confused the genes.


You can't really say "at least for Afghans" because colors inherit the same across the board, regardless of breed. Solid brindle is a modifier on red, which would actually make it dominant to black... I think. Since red usually "covers up" black. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

Also, the dog in my sig and avatar is technically sable


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

I would like to point out the Plott Hound isn't that unusual in the north. Most rescue dogs in PA and NY come from southern shelters. We get at least a Plott Hound a month around here, and that's pure Plotts. Most of the Plott mixes are probably misidentified as pit bulls.


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