Mismark Case Study: Doberman Pinscher

Doberman pinschers in the breed's most commonly seen color: black and rust. Image from Flickr.com under a Creative Commons license.

Dobermans, to most people, come in one color: black and rust. However, standards for registries such as the AKC allow four: black, liver (red), blue, and fawn (Isabella), all with rust/tan markings. Anything else is considered a mismark. The mismarks include:

• Too much white
• Anything more than a small spot on the chest
• Not enough tan
• If any of the normal tan/rust markings are not present
• Solid colors
• Such as the unusual, but possible solid red
• Albino (white)
• Appears as cream with white points

A Doberman with too much white

Though the reason why some of these colors are not allowed makes sense, the majority still seem odd to exclude. To begin, let's look at too much white. By the nature of normal canine development in the uterus, even dogs that are genetically solid in color will sometimes end up with white on the chest and/or toes. This can potentially be a fairly large amount of white. Dobermans with a white spot up to half of an inch square are considered acceptable, but as soon as a dog has a spot larger than that or has white on the toes it is unacceptable.

This Doberman is missing some tan

Next comes not enough tan. Normally, tan pointed dogs will have tan in the following places: above the eyes, on the muzzle to the cheeks and throat, the chest, under the tail and all four legs. It is not uncommon for a dog with tan points to end up, for whatever reason, with one or more of these missing. The missing tan as a mismark isn't exactly explicitly mentioned in the standard, however since all of the previously mentioned locations for the tan are outlined in the standard, it can easily be assumed that too little tan isn't allowed. Not to mention the fact that you can't really find a Doberman in the show ring that is missing any of the required tan/rust.

Solid colors in the breed are really quite unusual. However, that doesn't mean they don't exist. The occasional solid red Doberman is born, and the origin of the color goes back to the use of such breeds as the German pinscher in the Doberman's creation. German pinschers are known for coming in two forms of solid red: stag red and clear red. Stag red is caused by the sable gene while clear red is caused by the recessive red gene. While Dobermans are fixed for the tan point gene and thus cannot be sable, it is very possible for some Dobermans to carry the recessive red gene. Clearly, some do because some solid reds have been born. Since the gene is recessive, it cannot really be bred out unless genetic testing is done, and, honestly, why do that? Eliminating all dog carrying recessive red from the gene pool would only decrease genetic diversity and potentially cause problems.

This Doberman is white

Probably the most controversial color in the breed is white. White is caused by a form of albinism that turns the black-based hairs (black, blue, liver, or fawn) to cream and the red hairs to white. The major reasons behind the controversy are the health issues that are so common in these white dogs. Not only are they prone to skin issues due to the albino gene, but heavy inbreeding involved in producing white dogs has lead to even more health issues. To me, it's not the color that is inherently wrong, but the breeding practices involved in the perpetuation of the color. The recessive white gene originates from a single bitch, and as such extremely heavy inbreeding was required to create more than the occasional white dog. This is why white Dobermans have so many health problems: any health issues that already occurred in the lines were compounded when the inbreeding happened. To me, the white gene could have better connotations today if people stopped breeding specifically for white, which could lead to the occasional white popping up, but those occasional dogs would likely have far better health than the whites produced today.

This fawn Doberman has dilution alopecia

Doberman pinscher standards in some other countries also list blue and fawn as colors that are not allowed, and there is a fairly good reason for this. In the breed, a condition known as color dilution alopecia or blue dilution alopecia is exceedingly common in, as the name implies, dogs expressing the blue dilution gene. As a result, some registries banned the showing of blue (dilute black) and fawn (dilute liver) dogs.

All in all, the Doberman pinscher was originally meant to be a working breed. In a working breed, capability to do the job is far more important than looks. As such, why does it matter if a dog has two inches of white on its chest? A dog needs to be sound more-so than anything else to be able to do the sort of jobs that Dobermans were first bred for. Also, now most Dobermans are not used as working dogs. Most end up being pets, which means that temperament and health should be the first concerns of every Doberman breeder. However, if these breeders also want to maintain the idea of the Doberman as a working breed, why should color, of all things, matter?