Feb 62 min read

Different German Shepherd Colors

When you dig into it. It’s amazing how many different colors of German Shepherds are out there. My personal favorite is the dark red and black, generally seen in the Showline’s. But there are many other amazing unique colors to don’t often see.

Common Colors

Black/Tan to Red Saddleback: This is the typical color you think of when you hear German Shepherd. The classic black saddleback with colors ranging from cream to tan to red. Black and tan is the original show line color of German Shepherd.

Black: Just like it sounds, these dogs are solid black and are commonly a part of the working dog lines.

Bicolor: This color is mostly black with tan markings on face and legs. Some have more tan than others but this is a beautiful color.

Sable: The original working line German Shepherd color is sable. This is a wolf like coloring with a tan-like undercoat and black tipped top hairs. There are also red and silver sables out there.

White: Pure white German Shepherds are pretty to look at. As some age their color may begin to turn a yellow-ish shade. Probably from lack of grooming. In my experience, white shepherds can be more anxious than the other colors.

Less Common Colors

Liver: There’s liver and tan instead of the black and tan, and then there is straight liver which looks like a chocolate color shepherd.

Blue/Grey/Silver: Each of these is technically a unique color but all look very similar.

Isabella: The rarest of colors, this color is not quite blue but not quite liver

Panda: Not recognized as an official color, this color ranges from black and white to also have some tan. These were thought to be mixes. However genetic testing proved that they are indeed purebred.

This is a fairly complete list of different colors, though I’m sure the list of colors will continue to grow. The more unique the color, the more expensive the dog is likely to be. Just be sure that the breeder is also focused on the health of the dogs (hips/elbows/DM) in addition to the beautiful colors.