Unusual Coat - Spots Where Length And Color Is Different

[tornadosgirl]

Deano (aka http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?z=Yyvg-L&d=Dean+Smith&x=0&y=0 Dean Smith) came home about 3 months ago. He will be 3 in September. About two weeks ago, my DH and I started noticing that his coat (especially near his hind end) was coming in "oddly" it is different shades of black or dark brown and some spots are different lengths. We are not sure if he just has an odd coat or if it could be something medical. He is acting, eating, drinking, peeing, etc the same as always. I brush him regularly and that doesn't seem to change anything (he doesn't lose more hair in these spots or anything after being brushed)

 

Here is a photo. Does anyone have any ideas about what this is? He lis listed as black.

 

[greysmom]

Could be two things.

 

1 - He has a sunburned undercoat, which is now showing up after his Spring shed. If it's this, the sunburned part will also shed out eventually. Black hounds have brown sunburning quite often if they're recently from a southern state.

 

2 - It's an unusual coat variation that is normal for him. There is another hound here on GT (Zombrie's Minerva), who is a black hound with a brindle patch on one shoulder. It's definitely not something you see everyday. I don't know if Minerva has a different texture or hair type on her brindle patch. Maybe she will see this and chime in.

[tbhounds]

He's just shedding out. The brownish color is sunbleached. The lighter black is the undercoat that will be shed. You can really see this with the blacks. He'll have a prettier coat this time next year.

[cleptogrey]

i agree w/ both, but i will add that my "black" female had the prettiest summer coat. she went from black to gray tipping and brown tones. i used to call her "seal color" since it really reminded me of that rich warm mahogony black/brown of a seal coat(i'm showing my age).

[philospher77]

I have no clue about this dog, but I will say that my pied rattie has "different" textured hair in her black spots as opposed to the white background. The white hairs are coarser, while the black ones are sleeker and tighter to the skin. Which makes them look shorter, although I am not sure if they actually are.