Working line or show line. Sable, black, bi-colour, or the blue and liver coats that start arguments in comment sections. Eight weeks old and asleep in your shoe, or one year old and testing every boundary you have. “German Shepherd” covers an enormous amount of variation, and most of the confusion online comes from people describing one type as if it were the whole breed.This is the breed reference: the lines and where they came from, what each coat colour actually is genetically, what the AKC standard does and does not allow, and what to expect at each stage of the first year. Where a colour or a line carries a real health implication, we say so and cite it — colour claims here are checked against the official AKC breed standard, not repeated from other blogs.Good places to start: every German Shepherd colour and coat pattern, and which ones the AKC accepts, the eight German Shepherd lines and types, and the DDR (East German) working line. For health, see the conditions the breed is prone to.
The Complete Guide to German Shepherds
