Vom Slekira

Basics:
Each dog inherits 2 color genes - one from each parent.  One is the dominant (expressed) gene, and that is the color that the dog IS.  The other recessive (hidden) gene is a secondary color that is carried and can be expressed in that dog's future progeny.

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The following are not real gene codes, I've just used the letter "A" to help illustrate the basics. We will cover the actual coat genetic codes shortly;

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Homozygous dominant example (AA)

Heterozygous: (Aa)-- dog would be  "A" color but carry the "a" color

Homozygous Recessive: (aa) ie the dog needs both these copies to show a recessive (hidden color)

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Ok, now that we've covered that.... for GSDs the following is the dominance order for coat colors:  

Sable (aw), Black and Tan (as), Bicolor (at), and Black(a) with sable being the most dominant and black being the least dominant (recessive)

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The above chart is from  AltosLand kennel's website.

For more information, they have a wonderful breakdown of each genetic cross:  http://www.altostland.com/colors.html

 

 

VetGen has more information on color allele loci and tests to determine which dogs carry which alleles for both coat color and length.

http://www.vetgen.com/canine-coat-color.html

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