Coat Color

Widow's Peak (Discovered in the Afghan Hound and Saluki)

Alternative Names: Sable, Domino, Grizzle

Widow's Peak (Discovered in the Afghan Hound and Saluki) Photo

The Widow's peak (Discovered in the Afghan Hound and Saluki) is also known as the Grizzle variant. It is responsible for a blended effect of light and dark hair, with the lower part of the body appearing lighter than the top. Other names for this variant include Eg and Domino, and it is found in the MC1R gene (known as the E locus), and is a rare trait.

More Info

Did you know?

Grizzle is one of the rarer coat color variants found in dogs, and is most commonly found in dogs with Middle Eastern ancestry.

How it works

One or two copies of the Grizzle variant may result in the Grizzle coat color.

Prevalence

1 in 1,300 dogs

has one or more copy of this genetic variant in our testing.

Technical Details

Gene MC1R
Also Called Extension (E) Locus
Variant G>T
Chromosome 5
Coordinate 63,695,017

All coordinates reference CanFam3.1

References & Credit

Credit to our scientific colleagues:

Dreger, D. L., & Schmutz, S. M. (2010). A new mutation in MC1R explains a coat color phenotype in 2 “old” breeds: Saluki and Afghan Hound. Journal of Heredity, 101(5), 644–649. View the article