Canine Coat and Nose Color Testing

Presence of black-and-tan and sable colors.

The Belgian Shepherds, which are longhaired, occur in two colors varieties with separate names. The Tervuren are sable colored dogs and the Groenendael are black. In addition there are two other hair coat varieties, both of which are usually sable: the Malinois is shorthaired and the Laekenois is wirehaired.Tervuren are typically either a^y a^y or a^ya. Therefore if two dogs that are both a^ya are mated together, some black pups could occur. Sable in Tervuren is used to denote a predominance of reddish hairs with occasional solid black hairs interspered. The number of black hairs can vary tremendously, probably under the control of another gene which has not been determined yet. The shade of red can also vary from cream to deep red. This is under the control of yet another gene which we are still searching for. Note that another allele at also occasionally occurs in Tervuren, and this allele, when homozygous causes black-and-tan which is a disallowed color in most countries. DNA testing to detect the presence of the a or a^t alleles in dogs that are sable allows breeders to better predict the colors of pups from particular matings. (note that Groenendael can be black from the genotype "aa", which is recessive to sable or from another gene with a dominant genotype). All Tervuren have a melanistic mask and are therefore E^m E^m.