# Coat Color of a Siberian Husky



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

I have studied picture after picture online of examples of all the various coat colors in siberian huskies and I cannot figure out which one my dog is...
She has plenty of brown in her coat but is difficult to see in the pictures. You can see some of it in pic of her sitting at the base of her tail.
opinions?


----------



## N2Th3Stars (May 22, 2010)

Looks like a standard Grey to me.. i'm no husky coat-color expert, though 

Google "Colors of the Siberian Husky" and a huskycolors site should show up.


----------



## Shiba_Inu_87 (May 17, 2010)

Your gorgeous Husky looks like she is a mix of standard grey and greyish brown, but it looks I agree with N2Th3Stars that her coat looks pretty standard grey to me. 

Are you concerned about something being wrong with her coat?


----------



## princesstiffany (Mar 26, 2009)

she looks to have the standard grey/white coat to me...i too have researched the heck out of sibes coat colors!


----------



## pamperedpups (Dec 7, 2006)

Maybe a trip to the groomer could help identify her color after she is bathed and all that extra undercoat is blown out.


----------



## JustTess (Mar 19, 2008)

She's beautiful and she looks like a grey and white.

Sometimes it seems very hard to determine the color especially when it changes like their noses! Ilya has 3 colors... red, white, and black guard hairs. It will get darker brownish color in the winter and light red in the summer. I guess he likes to match his nose. He's considered a red husky.


----------



## JustTess (Mar 19, 2008)

Okay, I changed my mind. I think Ilya is a chocolate copper. Here's a link for husky colors

http://www.huskycolors.com/thunder.html


----------



## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

Personally, I think she's a standard grey. Grey and black dogs often get a red cast to their coats when they're sun damaged.


----------



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

Shiba_Inu_87 said:


> Your gorgeous Husky looks like she is a mix of standard grey and greyish brown, but it looks I agree with N2Th3Stars that her coat looks pretty standard grey to me.
> 
> Are you concerned about something being wrong with her coat?


Not concerned that something is wrong at all. I just can't seem to pick the color she is out of the tons of colors that possible. Well I can narrow it down (she is not black ) She has alot of brown...does that color appear in a grey coat?


----------



## spanielorbust (Jan 3, 2009)

The page linked above gives a wonderful list of color names and terms standardly used by husky breeders.

From that link I found an overview list that you might want to check out as well - http://www.huskycolors.com/colors.html#cat2

and this is another good link - http://nicholescritters.homestead.com/malcolorgenetics.html

Huskies are interesting because they have genes that affect coat color that many other breeds do not. 'Domino' can turn what might look like a grey pointed black and tan (Rottweillers are the easiest example of tan point, but those tan points can be completely whitened out by modifiers in other breeds, and often are in Huskies) to a much different look on the coat by allowing a light cast that shows more on the undersides, and adding a light mask to the face.

This page shows the affect of Domino on a coat (a recessive trait) - http://nicholescritters.homestead.com/malcolorgeneticsDomino.html

You can see in this litter the one pup that is domino stands out.










. . . and a domino adult.










Indeed, your pretty girl is affected by Domino as well which gives her beautiful white facial mask and lighter coloring dispersed through her coat - most pronounced on her undersides.

If you compare her to the huskies on these pages - http://nicholescritters.homestead.com/malcolorgeneticsAgouti.html - http://nicholescritters.homestead.com/malcolorgeneticsChinLike.html you will also see more like her. 


Here is a Husky with similar patterning to yours, but the tan has retained its coloring. There is one on the page with the lighter coloring of your girl. The color is described as 'Agouti Domino (gray) Sable'. The phaomelanin pigment can be intensely tan or extremely light, blending into the white. Terms like Copper, Light Copper, Grey and Silver describe how light the phaomelanin is.










'Urijaro' is the term used for this affect in other breeds, but that might be an allele on its own, or the same one just named differently.

SOB


----------



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

spanielorbust said:


> The page linked above gives a wonderful list of color names and terms standardly used by husky breeders.
> 
> From that link I found an overview list that you might want to check out as well - http://www.huskycolors.com/colors.html#cat2
> 
> ...


This awesome information. Thank you so much! That explains so much as we kept thinking she was agouti because of the tan/brown throughout her coat. She almost has stripes running down her back. A Domino Agouti desciption (and the variations of colors it has) fits her to a tee. She does had a lot of tan/brown in her coat but it hard to capture it in pictures. Thank you again for the awesome links and genetic information.


----------



## princesstiffany (Mar 26, 2009)

i honestly don't think your husky is an agouti, even with the description of the coat coloring, i would still call your husky a grey and white, at least based on the pictures.


----------



## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

Those are Alaskan Malamutes...not Sibes


----------



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

true they are not sibes but do the colors and genetics not still apply? Are they very different for the two breeds?
In regards to her being a grey sibe she has so much brown in her it is hard to believe she is has a grey coat. Because of the brown/tan I let her out in the backyard when the sun was going down to try and capture the brown/tan in her coat hoping the sun might help. I took them maybe 10 min ago. Here are a few of the results:


----------



## JustTess (Mar 19, 2008)

Claris, Is the hair banded or monochrome (one color)

I can see the brown tanish tones in your latest picture. It looks like the guard hairs are dark brown or black.


----------



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

Her tan areas have hair that is a light tan and the very end is a dark color (either dark brown or tan). Is this banded? I'm unsure. Does banding mean is has multiple bands or just the tip?


----------



## JustTess (Mar 19, 2008)

I'm not quite sure . I was told Ilya has banded strands, but some of his strands have 3 colors - white, tan, then black. I think the tan looks like a 'band' through the strand.

Colors can be so confusing. In the winter, I practically change my mind and think he's a bright copper like a shinny penny.


----------



## spanielorbust (Jan 3, 2009)

Charis said:


> true they are not sibes but do the colors and genetics not still apply? Are they very different for the two breeds?


The genetics of coat color and type are canine-wide although in many breeds whole color genes have been selected away from so they cannot be found. The wolf type canine ancestors had all of them (but for some mutations that later cropped up). The color terminology is usually determined by the breed (even though the genetics are the same). The a'w'/a'w' agouti type, in fact, is one that has been selected against in many, many breeds, so is not found.

As an example a "red" boston terrier has the same genetics as a "chocolate" labrador retriever. The b/b recessive gene pairing that causes the colors are the same . . . . and canine geneticists call the color "brown".

I'm sure there are terminology differences between Siberian Huskies and Alaskand Huskies that would have breeders arguing for days . . . but the genetics behind the coat colors are identical. 

Your girl is very obviously a'w'/a'w' on the Agouti locus (wolf patterned) and as well affected by Domino. I don't know what any individual Siberian breeder would want to call this . . . . those into coat color genetics would call it Agouti Domino. They wouldn't bother trying to describe the shade of copper/tan or gray in the coat - that seems to be specific to those that breed, understandably because they describe differences that the eye sees.

I have found a link that suggests Siberian breeders call this color "Wolf Grey" - http://hubpages.com/hub/Colors-of-Siberian-Huskies

I find it interesting that although the three greys on that page are called "medium dark grey" "wold grey" and "silver", they are all obviously a'w'/a'w' on the agouti locus and in fact all domino as well. The differences in color are controlled by other modifying gene or genes that lighten the tan in the coat.

Those in the breed, then, make no attempt to use color terminology that describe the genetics behind the coat, whereas the Alaskan Husky site I linked does. The same genes apply to both breeds.



Charis said:


> Her tan areas have hair that is a light tan and the very end is a dark color (either dark brown or tan). Is this banded?


Yes, dark tips on a light shaft are 'banded'.



Charis said:


> I'm unsure. Does banding mean is has multiple bands or just the tip?


It can be either. 

In fact in breeds that have 'clear' sables (often described as fawn, and another agouti locus controlled color) the hair shaft on the fullgrown dogs looks monochromatic, as the black 'tip' grows completely out . . . . the dog genetically still remains an a'y'/a'y' sable although anyone not knowing the dog as a pup couldn't know for sure.

Another link that describes Agouti (this one is specifically about Siberian Huskies) is here:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/samans/jutut/agouti.html

_"The explanation of the effects of the agouti allele to the PHENOTYPE is as follows: "Agouti color; majority of the hairs have black tips, then yellow or whitish band below after which *there may be another dark band although often the color gets coninuously paler toward the skin*. All these coat colors (referring to those colors controlled by the agouti series, IKa) tend to be lighter on the extremities and underside of the dog than on the back; they are all darker at birth than when adult." (C.C.Little ?) 

"Yellow bands on agouti marked hairs vary in color from rich red to palest straw-color and this is true also of the tan markings on a bi-colored ( a t ) and saddle marked ( a s ) dogs." (Iljin) 

"Below a y (sable/tan) is a w (agouti/wild) which allows almost *complete dark pigmentation at birth*. This pigment is progressively lost as the individual grows older. In the adult an agouti-like coat of banded hairs is found." (Burns)" _​
Domino adds the light mask on the face and the lighter pigment that is more pronounced on the undersides.

SOB


----------



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

Thanks! All of the coat colors and variations that are possible make figuring her color out difficult. Thank you for the links and the genetic explanations.


----------

