Originally Posted by MaryAndDobes

There are a lot of people that swear that there are behavioral differences between the colours.

I was reading an article last night on this very topic, only not relating to Dobermans per se. The topic was about coat colour being tied to specific behavioural traits. There have been studies done on certain animals linking the two. One was on rats, and to make a long story short, the finding was that agouti rats are more prone to biting / being spooky and/or upset with being handled. They apparently will, as a rule, bite more quickly and more intensely.

The article talked about melanocyte stimulating hormone and how it affects colour/pigment as well as its presence in the brain where it affects serotonin which ties into mood, anxiety and aggression.

Apparently, the agouti rats also were found to have larger adrenal glands which may also affect colour and behaviour.

Another example was silver foxes. When they were bred specifically for the trait of tameness, white spots started appearing on their coats to a greater and greater degree. (This wasn't mentioned in the article but I think it was silver foxes that also lost their prick ears over time as they were bred for tameness.) They went on to duplicate the results of that study in rats.

There has also been some study into cocker spaniels and coat colour on which are more aggressive, more docile, more dominant, etc in particular contexts.

The article mentions other studies on minks, gerbils and cows that suggest links between coat colour and behaviour.

The article also points out that environment and socialization plays a big part.