I thought the only color dobermans were black, red, blue, fawn, and white, but today I saw a chocolate doberman. He looked similar to the color of a chocolate lab.
I have did some internet research but couldn't find much on chocolate dobermans?
I believe they refer to reds as brown or chocolate overseas in various areas from what I've heard. In the U.S., I refer to darker red toned "chocolate" looking Doberman as a red. Chocolate reminds me of a lab.
Reds are generally called brown in Europe. Anyone who calls their red (or brown) Dobe "chocolate" is most likely not very knowledgable about the breed. Unless, of course, they are talking about a sculpture made out of Hershey bars, in which case, I'd like to have one.
The Doberman color "red" (or if you are European, "brown") covers a huge range of colors as others have already pointed out. That would range from bright copper to vary dark brown with only a trace of red--but they are still genetically "red" or "brown".
I haven't seen one in years but Judy Doniere (a long time Dobe breeder and all breed judge) and I used to talk about the Dobes that we used to see occasionally in the 50's, 60's and 70's which were a very dark brown with very light eyes (yellow usually) and large light tan markings. The coat itself was very coarse, almost wire feeling to the touch. She and I had a theory about these dogs--they tended to be quite ugly and we saw fewer and fewer of them over the years--I haven't seen one in years--they really lacked merit as a specimen of a Dobe and we thought that people simply weren't inclined to use them for breeding stock (thank heavens) and eventually that particular coat color washed out of the gene pool.
Ugly though it was it technically still was "red".
Cato was a "liver" color with pale tan markings that looked very nice (poor conformation but what do you care with a rescue anyway?). Maybe this is the color that Dobebug was referring to - though his eyes were dark and the coat was regular - soft after a bath but otherwise unremarkable for a dobe.
Lana is more standard red coat, which doesn't tend to sun bleach (so far):
<G> Cato wouldn't qualify for the coat/color combo that I'm talking about Vivienne. Doesn't look to me like he had a yellow eye. And unless he also had that very coarse wire-y coat that was a requirement too.
Here in Spain the two main colours are known as Marron y Fuego (Brown and Fire) and ***** y Fuego (Black and Fire). Though Browns or as you guys call them Reds are shown here Blacks even the crappy ones are always placed above them. Reds are not in favour plain and simple and some breeders would rather euthanise any brown/red offspring than sell them. Same goes for any of the other colours I am sorry to say. And that dear friends would mean if the rest of the world followed suit that we would not be entertained by the likes of some of our more famous or should I say infamous characters on this site. Bah humbug!
Depending on who you listen to the odd mention of Chocolate is referred to especially when a Dobe here is darker brown, this even occurs in the show ring, who knew huh?
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