The coat of a dog is the pelage that covers its body.
A dog coat may be a double coat , made up of a soft undercoat and a coarse topcoat, or a single coat , without an undercoat. The terms fur and hair are often used interchangeably when describing dog coats, but in general, a double coat , such as that of the Newfoundland, is called a fur coat , while a single coat , such as the poodle's coat, may be called a hair coat .
Colours, patterns, textures
There is a greater variety of coat colours and patterns found in domestic (tame) dogs than in the wild wolf, even though dogs and wolves are of the same species. Coat colours in dogs were not likely initially selected for by humans but "were probably inadvertent outcomes of some other process...early selection for tameness. Research has found that tameness brings associated inherited changes, especially in coat colours and patterns.
Domestic dogs often display the remnants of counter-shading, a common natural camouflage pattern. The general theory of counter-shading is that when the animal is lit from above, it will appear lighter on its lower half and darker on its upper half, so that when observed from either above or below, it will blend in with the natural background. This type of natural camouflage is most apparent in birds and fish.
Colour inheritance
See also: biological inheritanceA Stanford University School of Medicine study published in Science in October, 2007 found the genetics that explain coat colours in other mammals such as in horse coats and in cat coats, did not apply to dogs. The project took samples from 38 different breeds to find the gene (a beta defensin gene) responsible for dog coat colour. One version produces yellow dogs, and a mutation produces black. All dog coat colours are modifications of black or yellow. For example, the white in white miniature schnauzers is a cream colour, not albinism (a genotype of e/e at MC1R.)
Modern dog breeds exhibit a diverse array of fur coats, including dogs without fur, such as the Mexican Hairless Dog. Dog coats vary in texture, colour, and markings, and a specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe each characteristic.
Genomic research upon more than 1000 dogs from 80 domestic breeds found that coat type (growth patterns of moustache and eyebrows, hair length and curl arise upon mutations in only three genes, RSPO2, FGF5, and KRT71. As the authors of this research note, "Because most breeds likely originated within the past 200 years, our results demonstrate how a remarkable diversity of phenotypes can quickly be generated from simple genetic underpinnings."
Colour names
Patterns
Patterns, like colours, might be called by different terms for different breeds.
Texture
Texture, like colour and pattern, might be called by different terms for different breeds, even when referring to the same quality of coat. Some terms used to describe dog coat texture are smooth, rough, curly, straight, broken, and silky.
Coat textures vary tremendously. Densely furred breeds such as most sled dogs and Spitz types can have up to 600 hairs per inch, while fine-haired breeds such as the Yorkshire Terrier can have as few as 100, and the "hairless" breeds such as the Mexican Hairless and the Peruvian Inca Orchid have none on parts of their bodies. The texture of the coat often depends on the distribution and the length of the two parts of a dog's coat, its thick, warm undercoat (or down ) and its rougher, somewhat weather-resistant outer coat ( topcoat , also referred to as guard hairs ). Breeds with soft coats often have more or longer undercoat hairs than guard hairs; rough-textured coats often have more or longer guard hairs. Textures include:
- Double-coated : Having a thick, warm, short undercoat (or down ) that is usually dense enough to resist penetration by water and a stronger, rougher weather-resistant outer coat ( topcoat ), also referred to as guard hairs . Most other coat types are also double-coated.
- Single-coated : Lacking an undercoat.
- Smooth-coated : "Smooth" to the eye and touch.
- Wire-haired : Also called broken-coated . The harsh outer guard hairs are prominent, providing excellent weather protection for hunting dogs such as the Border Terrier or Wirehaired Pointing Griffon.
- Long-haired : Hair longer than an inch or so.
- Short-haired : Hair around an inch or so long.
- Corded coat : for example, see Puli
Show coats
The nature and quality of a purebred dog's coat is important to the dog fancy in the judging of the dog at conformation shows. The exact requirements are detailed in each breed's breed standard and do not generalise in any way, and the terminology may be very different even when referring to similar features. See individual breed articles for specific information.
Shedding
Every hair in the dog coat grows from a hair follicle, which has a cycle of growing, then dying and being replaced by another follicle. When the follicle dies, the hair is shed (moults). The length of time of the growing and shedding cycle varies by breed, age, and by whether the dog is an inside or outside dog.
Many dogs shed their undercoat each spring and regrow it again as colder weather comes in; this is also referred to as blowing the coat . Many domesticated breeds shed their coat twice a year. In some climates, the topcoat and undercoat might shed continuously in greater and smaller quantities all year.
Hypoallergenic coats
Main article: Hypoallergenic dog breedSome dog breeds have been promoted as hypoallergenic (which means less allergic , not free of allergens) because they shed very little. However, no canine is known to be completely nonallergenic. Often the problem is with the dog's saliva or dander, not the fur. Although poodles and terriers (and mixes of poodles and terriers) are commonly represented as being hypoallergenic, the reaction that an individual person has to an individual dog may vary greatly. In treating dog related allergies, it has been found that "Factors related to individual dogs seem to influence the allergenicity more than breed..."
See also
- Dog grooming
- Cat coat genetics
- Equine coat color genetics
- Farm-Fox Experiment
- List of dog breeds
- Merle (coat colour in dogs)
- Hypoallergenic
References
- ^ The Domestic Dog By James Serpell, page 37, Cambridge University Press 1995, 2002, ISBN o521415292
- ^ Trut, Lyudmila N (1999), ""Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment"", American Scientist 87 (2): 160-169 , http://www.floridalupine.org/publications/PDF/trut-fox-study.pdf . (A Russian study of pedomorphosis in a 40-year breeding program to domesticate red foxes.)
- ^ UNCOVERING THE GENETIC BASIS FOR TAMENESS – A RESEARCH STRATEGY F.W. Albert Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, 2008 (PDF file)
- ^ Klappenbach, Laura (2008). "What is Counter Shading?" (in English). About.com . http://animals.about.com/od/zoology12/f/countershading.htm . Retrieved 2008-10-22 .
- ^ Cunliffe, Juliette (2004). "Coat Types, Colours and Markings". The Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds . Paragon Publishing. pp. 20–3. ISBN 0752582763.
- ^ Candille SI, Kaelin CB, Cattanach BM, et al. (Nov 2007). "A -defen
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