# Canine Coat Colour and Temperament



## Ladybug Bulldogs (Feb 8, 2010)

I have been researching if there is a connection between a dog's coat colour and it's temperament. We know from the domestication experiment done on the silver fox (Belyaev, 1959) that when breeding for tameness,the coat colour of the fox changed (as well as other physical changes). 

There is research done on rats/mice as to a coat colour connection, but not much on dogs. An OEB breeder I have spoken to says that red nose dogs tend to have lower thresholds for drive, particularly prey drive, and they also tend to be more handler responsive than their black nose counterparts. Unfortunatley, I cannot find any statistics to support so I have to rely on observations by others.

I have heard from lab owners there is quite a difference between the black, yellow and chocolate labs in temperament, but again there isn't much in the way of actual scientific research.

So my question to you all would be this... 

To those of you who have experience with dogs of the same breed but of different colours/patterns...would you say there could possibly be some connection between colour/pigment & temperament?


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

One instance could be when a certain color gets really trendy and BYBs breed for the color above all and ignore temperament and health. Then you end up seeing more dogs of that color with non-standard temperaments and/or poorer health than those dogs bred more properly. 
Like blue pit bulls; there are awesome blue pit bulls of course but because they are in demand and BYBs can sell them for more money being "rare" they get bred without regard to health issues. Since blue is a recessive gene (dilution of black) they end up breeding closely related dogs that both carry the gene and often end up magnifying health problems.
I've seen this in Chihuahuas also- people breeding for the "rare" blue or lavender colors and getting really nervous or nippy etc dogs since again, they are only breeding for color.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

According to professional Lab breeders, there is no difference among the colors. You can have all three colors (and variations) in one litter. There can easily be temperament differences across bloodlines and type of Lab, but those aren't color related.

However, in various breeds, specific colors can indicate genetic problems. Some genetic expert may speak up, but I think the common 'problem' colors are white (albino etc.) and merle. You mentioned one: a red nose that stays red. I think that's a red {!!!} flag in most breeds. I don't know if geneticly deaf dalmatians have a color issue ?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I like Shell's theory. On top of that, in some breeds with strict color standards (I'm thinking of Danes, specifically) it's common for certain colors to be bred together and not others. Iit's so easy to produce non-allowable coloring that breeders stick with matings that are guaranteed to produce correctly colored offspring. In this case, there might be populations of dogs within one breed that are fairly separate, as they don't tend to outcross to other colors. Not sure if that made sense - I might need to look up specific colors, but the brindle population of dogs might be very separate from the harlequin population and temperaments could be specific to each group. In that case, temperament would not be linked to color genetically, but it could seem that way.

In labs, the yellow color is recessive, so any breeder who wants only yellow labs would have to breed only yellows. A black lab can be used in yellow breeding, but a chocolate probably wouldn't due to the high probability that the pup could end up with a liver nose which is a fault. I don't know enough about lab breeding to know if there are really separate populations by color, or if breeders don't focus on that, but it's definitely possible.

My breed only comes in one color, so I don't have any experience there. 

I've heard of this research being done on cats - something about ginger cats being friendlier?


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

I agree with the above. The differences in the fox coat colours had to do with the coat going from red with black points to piebald, which is different than the difference between a red piebald and a black piebald.

Also, we see what we expect to see. In one famous experiment, scientists took 50 children and separated them into groups. They told half the mothers that their children were given sugar, they told the other half nothing. None of the children were given anything to eat or drink. They then asked both groups of mothers to rate their child's behavior. All 25 mothers who thought their children were given sugar rated their children as being "hyper" and "disobedient". None of the mothers in the other group rated their child's behavior as abnormal.

So, if you expect that a dog of a certain colour will be a certain way, you'll see it. It's how humans work.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

I think its important to point out what "linked" traits mean. It doesn't mean that the genes for yellow coat (in labs, say) causes a temperament of a certain colour. What it means is that the locus for yellow coat is on the same chromosome as the locus for friendliness (for example). Thus it makes genetic sense for certain coat/colour traits to be linked to certain temperament traits simply by virtue of where the genes that encode those traits are located within the genome. Genes that are located close together are more likely to be inherited together than genes that are on opposite ends of the chromosomes, due to the likelihood of cross over.

FI has always liked dogs, and has always liked big dogs. He used to read gas meters as a summer job, so he came across quite a few dogs of different sizes, breeds, temperaments, etc. To this day swears that black labs are less friendly than golden labs, on average. I think also, there is a visibility issue with black labs (and other dark-faced dogs) because it is much harder to see their facial features from a distance.


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

As Shell said, fad coloration can too often take precedent over temperament amongst unscrupulous breeders. I think that when it comes to dogs bred for show for trends, this is especially true--such as the OEB and APBT.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

hanksimon said:


> According to professional Lab breeders, there is no difference among the colors. You can have all three colors (and variations) in one litter. There can easily be temperament differences across bloodlines and type of Lab, but those aren't color related.
> 
> However, in various breeds, specific colors can indicate genetic problems. Some genetic expert may speak up, but I think the common 'problem' colors are white (albino etc.) and merle. You mentioned one: a red nose that stays red. I think that's a red {!!!} flag in most breeds. I don't know if geneticly deaf dalmatians have a color issue ?


It can be odd to say that "Merle" has no health problems but "double merle" has a load of health problems. Obviously you can't have "double merle" without first having "merle" but it's an important distinction to make. 

As far as red noses go, those are perfectly fine, all Liver dogs (Red Aussies, Liver Flatcoats, Chocolate Labs, ect.) have red noses. But PINK noses can suffer harsh sunburns so they are frowned upon.


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

elrohwen said:


> I've heard of this research being done on cats - something about ginger cats being friendlier?


My ginger cat (Sir Didymus) is definitely the most timid of our bunch. The black cat is the most outgoing. The blue tabby is friendly but more aloof (esp. since we got the dog). However, Sir Didymus was found running in traffic, emaciated, ear mites, fleas, intestinal parasites, and anemic from all the internal and external parasites. He was probably 4 months old but weighed about 2 lbs (which is about 2lbs underweight). He is extremely skiddish around men, less so around women but doesn't typically come out around strangers either way. He's way better than he used to be... but I guess much of that could be blamed on his rough start. He's super friendly with us.


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

Temple Grandin wrote something in one of her books about this. I can't remember the details, but I remember she cautioned people about white dogs. Something about the role of melanin (which causes color) in the brain. Frankly, I don't think I buy much of her advice on dogs, though she's got some good insight into how they perceive the world.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

I know coat color causes different behaviors from who see's them people have more fear or caution towards black and black face.. much less if any towards lights and especially white.. same as flat ears and upright pointed ears.. Unless you are a dark pointed ear owner and are familar with looking past their color and visual to notice what their expression actually is.. Even animals are more intent on the darker dogs unless they have one that lives with them.


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