Dogs bring joy, warmth, and companionship into our lives, but many dog breeds add color! They have a variety of coat colors and patterns determined by particular genes. These genes code for pigments like eumelanin and phaeomelanin.
Coat colors can vary from blue merles to patched harlequin patterns, brown, red, creamy, and gold. Tricolor is one of the most recognizable coat types. Tricolored dogs have three colors on their coats. These colors come in various shades.
Some breeds, like the Dalmatian, have distinctive white and black spots. Some other dogs are colored in specific body parts, such as the Saint Bernard— it has a rust-colored back, dark brown head, a white facial stripe, and white paws.
Have a look at these 7 most colorful breeds for dog lovers.
Most Colorful Dog Breeds
1. Australian Shepherd
Breed Profile
Height: 18 to 23 inches
Weight: 40 to 65 lbs.
Breed Group: Herding
Temperament: Friendly
Grooming Needs: High
Australian Shepherds are the cutest and the goofiest dogs around. These herding dogs have a thick double coat that provides insulation against harsh weather. Their coarse undercoat is covered with a long and wavy outer coat.
Australian Shepherds come in four primary colors: red, red merle, black, and blue merle. Hazel-colored eyes complement their black and merle coats. Apart from this, there are plenty of uncommon coat colorings, such as:
Diluted Color: Diluted color is the watered-down version of any actual color. Dilute-colored Aussies have a recessive gene mutation that causes their coats to lighten.
Yellow: Yellow Aussies can be as light as pale yellow or as dark as golden yellow. They inherit the recessive yellow color gene from both parents.
Double Merle: Double merle dogs have no pigmentation in their skin, nose, or eyelids. Some white Aussies also look like double merle, but white dogs have black noses and dark eyes.Double merle Aussies suffer from various genetic defects such as deafness and blindness. However, not every double merle is blind and deaf.
Red Merle with Marbled Eyes: Red merles can be single, bi, or tri colored. Their eyes have a marbled look with either flecks of brown with blue eyes or vice versa.
No matter what color they are, you will fall head over paws in love with Australian Shepherds due to their sweet temperament.
2. Border Collie
Breed Profile
Height: 18 to 22 inches
Weight: 30 to 55 lbs.
Breed Group: Herding
Temperament: Friendly
Grooming Needs: High
Border Collies typically have a black and white coat. But they can have some unique coat colorings as well. They have dilute-colored coats such as blue, slate merle, lilac, lilac merle, and gold red. Dilute color is due to the presence of a recessive gene that is present in other breeds as well.
Do you know? Lilac Border Collies are the red Border Collies with dilute color gene expressed.
Some Border Collies can have rare coat colors such as sable, sable merle, seal, brindle, red brindle, and minimal white. These high-energy dogs were originally bred as herding dogs to protect livestock on the farms in Great Britain. Border Collies are agile dogs that need two hours of exercise every day.
3. Dachshund
Breed Profile
Height: 5 to 9 inches
Weight: 11 to 32 lbs.
Breed Group: Hound
Temperament: Friendly
Grooming Needs: High or low (depending on the coat type)
Originally bred as hunting dogs, Dachshunds are known for their sausage or wiener like appearance. They are also called “sausage dogs” or “badger dogs.” These short-legged pooches have an energetic and brave personality. Dachshunds have three coat types: long coat, short coat, and wired coat.
The American Kennel Club has recognized 15 Dachshund colors, out of which only 12 are considered “standard.” They can also have sable, brindle, piebald, or dapple markings. Double brindle and double dapple markings are also possible.
Just like humans and other animals, the coat color in Dachshunds is also determined by their genetic code. The classic black and tan dachshunds have black bodies with tan markings on eyebrows, muzzle, chest, and feet. Other rare coat colors include red, blue, and Isabella.
Do you know? Isabella Dachshunds’ coloration is the result of inheritance of same recessive gene copies that code for lilac color in Border Collies.
4. Cocker Spaniel
Breed Profile
Height: 13.5 to 15.5 inches
Weight: 20 to 30 lbs.
Breed Group: Sporting
Temperament: Friendly
Grooming Needs: High
Cocker Spaniels are a type of spaniel that is used to flush birds for hunters. They are named “cocker” after woodcock, a game bird that they used to hunt. These medium-sized dogs have a flat and silky coat that is neither profuse nor curly. The coat requires grooming at least a couple of hours weekly.
Cocker spaniels come in four solid colors, including black, golden, buff, and red. However, the color does not have to be 100% to count as solid. Small white markings, such as a streak or star on the chest, are acceptable.
Important: Do not exercise your cocker spaniel at places with burrs and thickets as they can tangle the coat.
Sometimes, solid colored cocker spaniels carry a recessive gene, which creates a parti-colored cocker spaniel. If a dog has two dominant solid color genes, they will produce only solid-colored puppies, even if they mate with a parti-colored spaniel.
5. English Setter
Breed Profile
Height: 23 to 27 inches
Weight: 45 to 80 lbs.
Breed Group: Sporting
Temperament: Gentle and friendly
Grooming Needs: High
English Setters are beautiful dogs with a rich history dating back to the 19th century. According to PetMD, they were bred for bird hunting and retrieving. They have luxurious, long, and silky fur that comes in various colors. Some colors are more common than others.
English Setters come in a variety of colors, including white with “ticking” or speckles of black, orange, blue, or lemon. Unfortunately, Lemon and Chestnut pups were culled in the early days of breeding as they were considered inferior. As a result, these colors are hard to find.
Another possible color of the English Setters is chestnut belton. Belton is a village where the breed’s founder, Edward Laverack, used to hunt. A “Belton” setter is a dog with ticking and no patches. When two colors combine with white, the result is tricolor dogs. Possible tricolor combinations include:
Chestnut/orange tri-
Blue/orange tri-
Lemon/orange tri-
6. Merle Pomeranian
Breed Profile
Height: 6 to 7 inches
Weight: 3 to 7 lbs.
Breed Group: Toy
Temperament: Friendly
Grooming Needs: High
The Pomeranians are renowned for their profuse, fluffy double coats. Merle Pomeranians have beautiful coloring, due to which they are considered a rare breed. Merle is not a color in itself, rather, it is a splashed pattern having numerous variations.
Merle pattern can appear on any base coat color. For instance, blue merle, red merle, white merle, and chocolate merle Pomeranians. If a Pom’s coat is slightly solid and the rest of the coat has this pattern, they are called parti-merles.
The Pomeranian Headquarters explain that merle is a dominant gene, so one of the merle Pom’s parent must also be merle. The coat colors of these beautiful dogs are complemented by gorgeous light blue, brown, or shiny dark sapphire eyes. Paw pads and noses have a black and pink speckled pattern.
7. Cardigan Welsh Corgi
Breed Profile
Height: 10.5 to 12.5 inches
Weight: 25 to 38 lbs.
Breed Group: Herding
Temperament: Friendly and affectionate
Grooming Needs: Moderate
Another beauty of the canine kingdom, Cardigan Welsh Corgis, have short legs and compact bodies. According to WebMD, they have a bushy tail, a thick bib of hair in front, and a medium-length double coat. The coat can have several colors, including red, black, blue merle, brown, or tricolor.
Color patterns can include sable or brindle. White flashings can be seen on different body parts, including the neck, chest, muzzle, and tip of the tail. The top of the head also has a blaze of white, but it does not surround the eyes. Merle dogs have blue eyes or one dark and one light blue eye.
Cardigan Welsh Corgis have black noses—all other nose colors are rejected by the American Kennel Club. However, butterfly noses in blue merle Corgis can be tolerated.
Conclusion
Many breeds in the dog world have beautiful colors and patterns that make them stand out. Their beautiful and luxurious coat colors can steal your heart. If you want to adopt a colorful dog breed that will fill your home with joy, first learn about their grooming needs!
