AKC Gazette Articles

August 2002

            Recently, The Saluki Club of America sent a revision of registrable colors to AKC to update puppy registration forms.  To familiarize Saluki breeders with those colors and patterns currently seen among AKC Salukis, SCOA  has put together a demonstration and an on line brochure.  The demonstration will debut at the National in June and repeat at Western Regional in Lompoc, July 2002.  This column is an introduction to the brochure.

            We tend to describe dog colors by their appearance, or phenotype.  This can lead to confusion since one person’s red is another person’s fawn, and what color is champagne, anyway?  Some confusion occurs with “what has always been known” and “what actually is.”  Or, put more scientifically, appearance vs. genetic makeup (genotype).

            For the sake of clarity, it is important to know the difference between Irish marked and parti color, and to realize black fringed and sable are genetically identical.  The color choices offered by the Saluki standard are: White; cream; fawn; golden; red; white, black and tan; and black and tan.  Additional choices offered on the registration form are: Silver, chocolate, black, chocolate and tan, and black and silver.

            Pattern choices: parti-color; sable; grizzle markings; Irish marked; Irish marked grizzle; parti-color grizzle; Irish marked sable; sable,  parti-color.  You can choose one color, and no more than one marking. Combinations of patterns are offered as markings choices.  Starting with solid (or in the case of black/tan, black/silver, or chocolate/tan -  predominantly bi-colored), you can add small patches of white on feet, chest and/or head.  When the white shows up on at least half the neck, on the chest,  and comes up high on the legs, you have Irish Marked.  Add white to the body, and you have a parti color, which can go from large areas of color to the extreme of an all white body with only a few patches of color.

            “Sable” refers to a darker overlay on  lighter colored undercoat.  These may be born a solid dark color and lighten into their pattern, with the overlay being as extreme as a sooty mask on the muzzle, a dorsal stripe, dark ear fringes and a widow’s peak face mask.  They can also have only what was once called “black fringes.”

            Sometimes, sables are confused with “Grizzles” due to the appearance of a widow’s peak on the face.  The difference lies in the actual hair shaft.  A Sable would typically have a solid colored hair shaft with dark tip, while a grizzle hair shaft would be banded.  Grizzle patterning in Salukis is similar to the domino pattern in Afghans, and the pattern commonly seen on wolves. Black, grey/silver (or in liver pigmented specimens, chocolate) overlay  a lighter colored body base color. Typical base colors are red, fawn, golden, cream, and silver/white.  Many grizzles are born with the distinctive widow’s peak pattern.

            The black and tan pattern is commonly seen in domesticated canines.  The solid body color, and accents of a lighter color over the eyes, on the cheeks, chest, and legs, can be black and tan, silver, or cream; chocolate and tan or silver, even red and cream.  Add white accents, and you are once again among a rainbow of choices.