"Gray" and "Sable" GSDs - AKC Standard - Page 1

For someone who equates "gray" with agouti [aw] dogs - the wild type / wolf - look I am a bit confused.

In the AKC standard - to anyone's knowledge - what do they mean by "gray" dogs? Do they mean agouti dogs?


But in that respect every website one comes across says that sable is not typical sable for GSDs and that GSD "sable" is agouti. So is a "sable" GSD an agouti dog or something else?


I would much appericate any pictures of either "gray" or "sable" type GSDs - as to all's knowledge - and if possible pedigrees to have a look.

AKC Colors: http://www.akc.org/breeds/german_shepherd_dog/color_markings.cfm



and yes I am aware that 'gray' and 'sable' might be pet colors, but am curious as to what they are. And the gray can't be blue which is listed already....

Or is gray this so called "powder" blue i have heard about and blue is "steel" blue.

You've been confused by the tendacy of different breeds to label different colors with the same names.  It is confusing and annoying. 

In the GSD the name grey (or gray) and sable mean the same thing, in Europe it is typically called grey and in North America it is called sable, I believe in the UK it is called sable too. 

Now, to confuse you, in other breeds the name grey may be used to identify a dog with the blue dilute gene, and the name sable is used for a different kind of pattern in the agouti that is not present in the GSD.  Sable is even a name for a color present in some species that looks nothing like the sable of dogs. (Pattern and color are two separate things; in the GSD breed sable is a pattern, not a color)

I think the Neo mastiff is a perfect example of the different names used for the same color.  The neo comes in 4 colors, in North America they are known as: black, grey, mahogany and tawny.  The UK has different names for some of these colors I believe.   The grey neo is technically blue, the mahogany neo is technically liver or chocolate, the tawny neo is technically isabella. 

and on and on it goes for every breed of dog. 

To answer your direct questions in regards to the GSD breed, grey and sable are the same thing.  grey/sable is NOT a pet color, it is a fully accepted pattern and not a fault in any way. 

The "grey" color name in the GSD is NOT blue.  It is the agouti pattern.

There is no accepted GSD standard anywhere in the world that differentiates the powder blues and the steel blues, the variation of light to medium to dark is caused by a seperate kind of color dilution/intensifyer and is not tied to the blue dilute gene. 


Simply put, the naming of colors and patterns is confusing and takes a long time studying to get them all straight. 

check out arlet gsd ..has much knowledge on sables...also fred lanting sv judge..nice article on sables...a man who has helped me learn  a lot over the many yrs. with the hunds

As pointed out, look at the Arlett gsds. This is my sable male, very much a non grey sable.

   http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=343309

Yes, the normal 'sable' in this breed is indeed the product of wildtype a^w allele.  This has been confirmed by DNA analysis.  But that's not to say the other type of sable A^y, doesn't exist in the breed at a low frequency.  There have been photos posted on this forum of yellow pigmented dogs which could well be pure GSD, without the eumelanin overlay associated with wildtype, which might possibly be A^y.

Willis, in his first GSD book, also listed both alleles as present - A^y as golden sable and a^w as grey sable, though it now seems that the usual golden sable with overlay is also a^w.