About Shiloh Shepherds the library project

The Shiloh Shepherd Dog is powerfully built and well-balanced, with proud carriage and smooth, effortless gait. This gentle giant should appear longer than tall. The desired height can be no less then 28" for males and 26" for females.

Shiloh Shepherds come in a variety of colors, patterns and two varieties of coat length.

Plush Coat variety has a close fitting double coat of medium coarse guard hairs, with a softer undercoat. The head and muzzle, back of the ears and front of the legs and paws are covered with short smooth hairs. The neck has a distinct "mane" that extends to, and covers the chest, with slightly shorter hair covering the remaining torso, not to exceed 5" in length. The "feathering" inside of the ears and on the back of the forelegs should not exceed 3" in length. Show Grooming should include the trimming of all excess fur from between the toes, around the pads, and the removal of all "tufts" from among the "feathering" inside the ears.

Smooth Coat (double coat, medium length, lying close to the body, dense, straight, and harsh) and the plush coat, which is longer, with a soft undercoat, a distinctive "mane", body coat not over 5 inches (12.5 cm) long and feathering inside ears and behind the legs not over 3 inches (7.5 cm) long.

Shiloh Shepherd coat colors may be "shades of black with tan, golden tan, reddish tan, silver, and cream" or "various shades of richly pigmented golden, silver, red, dark brown, dark gray, or black sable". Solid black or solid white are also acceptable as long as nose, lips, and eye rims are solid black. White markings are discouraged except for small patches on toes or the center of the chest. Pale, washed-out colors are discouraged. Eyes are dark to light brown.

Duals develop into a two-toned pattern. When born, they are much darker then when they reach maturity. As a dual puppy grows, the lighter (ground) color spreads upward and outward up the legs, chest, underside and around the cheeks and ears. Dual colored dogs should have a pure black back. Duals as adults may vary from the saddle marked dog with very little black on the dog other than the saddle and muzzle,all the way to very dark dogs that appear nearly black. Duals also usually have silvering through their coat at the neck, across the withers and down the topline.

Note: pure black means that the entire hair from the tip to root is black with no other color under the black overlay. Any dog that has white hairs mixed with the black near the wither and/or croup is considered to be "salted" or to have "ticking". This is a sign of a faded pigment gene, but the dog is still considered to be dual colored.

Sables have a distinctly colored undercoat that possess only a black overlay. If you run your hand along the dog's back (standing the hair up as you go) from the tail to the wither and his or her black hairs have different colored roots, then your dog is a sable. There are many variations of the sable pattern. Sables may appear very light,with little black present, all the way to having so much black in their coats that they may appear solid black when seen from a distance. Sables are noted by multi-colored individual hairs, though they may be masked by dark or black guard hairs. Sables go through many lightening and darkening stages of coat development before reaching their maturity.

Solid black with only a small white marking on chest and/or toes. Some will occasionally have some brown hairs on the back of hocks and between the toes.

Solid white is pure white with no other colors (except possibly some "off-white/beige" highlights) is acceptable as long as the nose, eye rims, and lips are solid black.

Bi-colored dogs are are two-toned with black as the dominate color. Bi's can be quickly identified with having their black color forming a "v" low onto their forelegs either directly to or below the pastern (these black points must be clear and strong) and black on their hocks. The toes (not just the nails) also appear to have black lines painted on across the tips. A dog is not considered to be "bi-colored" unless he or she has these distinct black markings. The overall appearance of bi-colored dogs should be mostly black with lighter accent colors.

Note: a dark sable can have the appearance of a bi-pointed pattern.

Dogs with a Saddle Marked pattern are two-toned (duals) with a pure black back. The pattern appears literally shaped like a "saddle" with the black riding high on the hip and shoulder.

Dogs with a Blanket pattern are two-toned (duals) with a pure black back. The pattern appears like a "blanket" with the black riding low on the hip and shoulder, yet not dipping low and having the distinct markings such as with a bi-colored pattern.