Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:59 pm
Having seen several Dun coloured Dexters in pictures and in the flesh, it seems to me that they always seem to have a longer coat, almost as if they do not fully lose their winter coats. Is this the case?
I wonder how much of your observation, which I would broadly agree with, is because the Dun is much less uniform, much less of a "self colour" than most blacks or reds appear to be. In some cases I suspect that not only does the dun colour vary with the season, but that dun hairs may have some variation in shade along their length, making the coat look longer and shaggier. Not all reds and blacks are as uniform as they look - if you look carefully at some blacks you can see stripes as you would in a brindle. The late Morna Arkle used to say that there were five colours of black in Dexters. Some blacks show red or dun tips on hair, sometimes wrongly assumed to be a sign of copper deficiency. I have wondered if the red shading occurs in blacks carrying red, and dun in black carrying dun, but then what happens if they carry both red and dun, as do offspring of one red and one dun parent?
In reds I think most of us prefer a rich uniform red, but they are not all like that, some have darker areas especially around the head and neck.
Many of you will have realised by now that I don't have an answer to Jem's question.
Duncan