The Airedale Terrier is a wire-haired breed with furnishings. The “King of the Terriers” is born with darker pattern that will develop into a saddle pattern over time.
Black & Tan
Airedale Terriers have a classic saddle pattern. Like all dogs with a saddle, Airedale puppies are born almost black with only small tan markings, before their tan starts expanding.
Over time, the tan areas get bigger and shrink the black coat into a saddle shape on the back, somewhere between the neck and the tail of the dog. Some saddle dogs keep a little more black down their shoulders or thighs than others, which is considered undesirable.
The saddle can be jet black or have some or many red hairs sprinkled in.
It’s very normal for dogs with a saddle pattern to have a tan undercoat or a tan hair base inside the black saddle area. Saddle fading can also be very prominent in wire-haired dogs.
The head, ears, shoulders, legs, thighs, elbows, and the underside of the body should be tan. Dogs can have dark shadings on the sides of the skull, around the neck, or on their ears.
The Royal Kennel Club lists “black & gold” as a color option to register Airedale puppies[3]. I guess, the only difference is that the “gold” color is slightly more red and slightly less yellow.
White markings are not desirable, but some Airedales have a small white patch on the chest.
BASE PATTERN
saddle
MERLE
–
OTHER
–
EUMELANIN
black
INTENSITY
tan
WHITE
solid
Grizzle & Tan
Some Airedales have a saddle that looks hoary and grayish instead of solid black.
The uniform blend of gray, black, white, and red hairs is called grizzle in terrier breeds. Nowadays, the terrier grizzle coat seems to have become rare in Airedales.
Some grizzle-and-tan Airedale Terriers may have gotten their faded saddles from progressive graying. This trait causes less and less pigment in growing hairs, turning them gray or silver.
Grizzle puppies are born with full black pigment. The color of the black coat fades over time, leaving a gray saddle. Dogs with a grizzle pattern can have tan hairs growing inside their saddle. And they also can have small white markings on the chest or toes.
Both saddle fading and grizzling happen in a lot of terrier breeds without true graying being present. A faded dull saddle color is also sometimes attributed to neutering or coat care.
BASE PATTERN
saddle
MERLE
–
OTHER
“terrier grizzling”
maybe progressive graying
EUMELANIN
black
INTENSITY
tan
WHITE
solid
Faulty Colors
The Airedale Terrier is expected to have a black saddle pattern.This automatically rules out any other base color and any other pattern.
- Any pattern other than saddle (solid black, solid red)
- Any base color other than black (chocolate saddle, blue saddle)
- Merle
- Brindle
- White markings
Base Patterns
The base pattern describes the placement of phaeomelanin and eumelanin in the coat. There is an epistatic hierarchy between the A locus < K locus < E locus.
- The A locus controls the basic distribution of both pigment types.
- Next, the K locus can add black to the A locus pattern.
- Finally, the E locus regulates the general ability to produce black pigment.
A Locus
| asa | saddle |
All Airedale Terriers express a saddle, they are fixed for the saddle allele (called asa or BS).
K Locus
| ky | wild-type |
But Airedale Terriers are fixed for the wild-type (ky/ky).
E Locus
| E | wild-type |
Again, Airedale Terriers are fixed for the wild-type (E/E).
Airedale Terrier Base Patterns
The Airedale Terrier breed is fixed for a saddle pattern.
| A LOCUS | K LOCUS | E LOCUS | PATTERN |
|---|---|---|---|
| asa/asa | ky/ky | E/E | saddle |
Airedale Terrier Puppy Color Change
Adult Airedales have a saddle pattern. An interesting thing about saddle tan is that puppies look way darker than adults. Their tan extends over time, which can resemble a tan point pattern for a while.
That’s because pigment cells need ASIP to make phaeomelanin (tan pigment). But ASIP production is delayed in all patterned puppies. The dark puppy overlay only starts to clear after some days.
Over time, the ventral tan markings keep extending until the black coat is limited to a dorsal saddle shape. It can take up to 2 years for a saddle pattern to be fully extended. Younger Airedale puppies at different stages might still have some dark shading on their face, legs, or ears.
Base Colors
The base color is determined by the B locus and D locus. dogs.
B Locus
| B | black |
Airedales are fixed for black pigment (B/B). They always have a black saddle.
D Locus
| D | dense |
Airedales are fixed for normal pigment (D/D) without color dilution.
Airedale Terrier Base Colors
The genotypes of accepted base colors in the Airedale Terrier breed:
| B LOCUS | D LOCUS | PATTERN |
|---|---|---|
| B/B | D/D | black |
Red Intensity
The color intensity of phaeomelanin causes a gradient of possible colors between high intensity red and orange colors to medium intensity yellow and tan colors to low intensity cream colors.
The shades seen in Airedales are described as “tan” or “gold” with “the color of autumn leaves“. The breed mostly has tan colors between orangey beige and golden yellow.
Graying
The dark pigment can be affected by more or less intense progressive graying. This trait can only affect dog breeds with furnishings and is known to occur in Airedale Terriers.
However, faded reddish saddles can happen without graying.
In bearded dogs, the red intensity can also be affected by more or less intense red color fading. This seems to be related to progressive graying and may cause some red puppies to go blonde over time.
White Markings
Several different traits can remove pigment from the coat and replace it with white.
The minimal chest white in some Airedales is typically caused by residual white.
This is essentially a “hiccup” during development that prevents some pigment cells from migrating properly. Small white markings will often fill in over the coming weeks and may fully disappear over time. Breeders should be aware that there is some genetic aspect to this, and breeding from dogs that both showed a lot of white in their puppy coat may sometimes give more white in the next generation.
“A small white blaze on the chest is a characteristic of certain strains of the breed.”
“Faults: White feet“
AKC Breed Standard[1]
CKC Breed Standard[4]
“A few white hairs between forelegs acceptable.”
FCI Breed Standard[2]
Airedale Terrier Eye Colors
Eye color depends on the color, amount, and distribution of melanin in the iris.
All Airedales have black eumelanin and have brown eyes.
“Should be dark […]”
“Faults: […] Yellow eyes“
AKC Breed Standard[1]
“Eyes should be dark, small, not prominent, full of terrier expression, keenness and intelligence.”
CKC Breed Standard[4]
“Dark in colour, […]. Light or bold eye undesirable.”
FCI Breed Standard[2]
RKC Breed Standard[3]
Airedale Terrier Nose Colors
Airedales are fixed for black eumelanin and always have a black nose.
Their black eumelanin also causes black eye rims, lips, paw pads, nails, etc.
“Should be black […]”
AKC Breed Standard[1]
“Nose should be black and not too small.”
CKC Breed Standard[4]
“Nose: Black.”
FCI Breed Standard[2]
“Lips tight, nose black.”
RKC Breed Standard[3]
Airedale Terrier Coat Type
Airedale Terriers are meant to be furnished with a hard, dense, and wiry coat. All Airedale Terriers are also fixed for curly coat and often show some crinkle or slight wave.
However, many truly wire-haired dogs tend to appear slightly curly even without having a curly variant anyway. And short hair typically doesn’t grow long enough to cause a curly phenotype. These dogs only still show some curls in areas with a longer hair, like the beard or leg furnishings.
Quite a number of modern show Airedales is genetically long-haired[5]. This turns them less wiry and causes a more pillow-like woolie leg hair and curly hair growth (like in Poodles). Some breed fanciers actually seem to prefer these “faulty” longer, softer coats and deem them aesthetically more pleasing.
The Airedale coat should never be long enough to look “shaggy” or produce loose curls on the back. However, breeding for a nice show coat has led to some dogs having a long beard and too soft, too fluffy, and too abundant leg furnishings. This is not the low-maintenance coat of a utility dog!
Also, dogs with long shaggy curls have very different grooming needs, as they need regular clipping (like a Doodle). Trimming won’t get you far, if the dog isn’t ruly wire-haired.
“Should be hard, dense and wiry, lying straight and close, covering the dog well over the body and legs. Some of the hardest are crinkling or just slightly waved. At the base of the hard very stiff hair should be a shorter growth of softer hair termed the undercoat.”
“Faults: […] soft coat“
AKC Breed Standard[1]
“The dense coat is composed of a harsh, wiry outer coat and softer undercoat. It may be crinkled or slightly wavy.“
CKC Breed Profile[4]
“Hard, dense and wiry, not so long as to appear ragged. Lying straight and close, covering body and legs; outer coat hard, wiry and stiff, undercoat shorter and softer. Hardest coats are crinkling or just slightly waved; curly or soft coat highly undesirable.”
FCI Breed Standard[2]
RKC Breed Standard[3]
The coat type can significantly affect how we perceive coat colors.
The basic hair morphology is determined by hair length and the presence of furnishings or curls. Other factors, like hair thickness or the amount of undercoat, can vary within each coat type.
This causes a spectrum of coat types with different degrees of shedding and different coat textures, e.g. thick hair with a stiff and coarse feel, as opposed to fine hair with a silky or cotton-like quality.
Furnished dogs always tend to be low shedders, regardless of their testing results.
Related Breeds
The Airedale is related to other British terrier breeds.
Learn More
Links
[1] AKC Breed Standard: Airedale Terrier
[2] FCI Breed Standard: Airedale Terrier
[3] KC Breed Standard: Airedale Terrier
[4] CKC Breed Standard: Airedale Terrier
[5] Dreger et al. (2019). True Colors: Commercially-acquired morphological genotypes reveal hidden allele variation among dog breeds, informing both trait ancestry and breed potential. PLoS ONE 14(10): e0223995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223995
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Hi! I’m Steffi. I am a biologist and a big time dog nerd. You are curious about coat color genetics? You’ve come to the right place! Read more.
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