Coat (dog)

The coat of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) refers to the hair that covers its body. A dog's coat may be a double coat, made up of a soft undercoat and a tougher topcoat, or a single coat, which lacks an undercoat. Double coats have a top coat, made of stiff hairs to help repel water and shield from dirt, and an undercoat to serve as insulation. The terms fur and hair are often used interchangeably when describing a dog's coat, however in general, a double coat, e.g., like that of the Newfoundland and most mountain dogs, is referred to as a fur coat, while a single coat, like that of the Poodle, is referred to as a hair coat.

There are a greater variety of coat colors, patterns, lengths and textures found in the domestic dog than in its wolf relations, even though dogs and wolves belong to the same species (Canis lupus). Different breeds use different names for longhaired and shorthaired types, there is no standard nomenclature for length, breed standards give acceptable lengths by measurement. Coat colors in dogs were not likely initially selected for by humans but were probably the inadvertent outcome of some other selection process (i.e. selection for tameness). Research has found that tameness brings associated physical changes, including coat coloring and patterning.

Domestic dogs often display the remnants of countershading, a common natural camouflage pattern. The basic principle of countershading is when the animal is lit from above, shadows will be cast on the ventral side of the body. These shadows could provide a predator or prey with visual cues relating to the movement of the animal. By being lighter colored on the ventral side of the body, an animal can counteract this, and thereby fool the predator or prey. An alternative explanation is that the dorsal and ventral sides of an animal experience different selection pressures (from the need to blend into different backgrounds when viewed from above and below) resulting in differing coloration.

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