Long-Haired German Shepherds

By Ed Frawley  |  Last modified: March 23, 2022

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Every now and then, I am asked about long haired (coated) German Shepherds. The photo above is a picture of a very good-looking long haired Shepherd. This is considered a breed fault, though I find these animals very good-looking. One of my old competition dogs (Casper) was a long hair. People constantly asked me what kind of dog he was. Everyone commented on how good-looking he was.

The long hair gene is a recessive gene so you will find these dogs within certain bloodlines. If a long haired Shepherd is bred, he will produce long haired Shepherds. So you will not find many breeders that are happy to get a coated dog in a litter. They will try and breed this factor out of their kennel bloodline.

It is possible to have two normal coated dogs (phenotypically) that produce long haired puppies. This is because they each carry the recessive gene. It would be important not to breed these two dogs again. The fact is that both dogs could be bred to other animals that do not carry the gene and both could potentially produce litters without any long coats.

German Shepherds have 2 coats, an outer and undercoat. The true long hairs do not have the undercoat. So their outer coat seems very silky and smooth looking because it does not have the body of the undercoat to deal with.

When some puppies are 8 to 10 weeks old, they may look like they are going to be coated dogs because they are big fluff balls, actually very cute. But at about 14 to 16 weeks, all puppies blow their puppy coat and they will begin to develop the normal coat of their adult lives. This is where a lot of these fluffy dogs lose that look and begin to look like a normal German Shepherd. On the other hand, if a puppy blows his puppy coat and has tufts of hair in his ears or between his toes, you can be fairly certain the dog will end up being a coated dog. Unless you are a breeder, this should not be a concern to you. There is no correlation between a coat and a dog's working ability, although in Europe you will see a lot of police service dogs are coated dogs. The reason for this is that they are sold to the police for less money. The coat has no effect on their working ability.

It has been a number of years since I have had a long haired puppy in any litters. There is always the possibility that one can pop up when a new animal from outside the bloodline is selected for breeding.

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About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder and owner of Leerburg.com and has been producing professional dog training videos since 1982. Over the years, he has collaborated with some of the most respected dog trainers in the country. His body of work includes 194 full-length training DVDs and 95 comprehensive online courses. In addition to these, he has produced and published over 4,000 short training videos available free of charge on Leerburg.com and across the company's social media platforms.

Ed and his wife, Cindy—also a professional dog trainer—bred working-line German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for more than 35 years. Although they retired from breeding in 2009, they had produced over 300 litters by that time.

Ed also served as a K9 handler for the local sheriff's department for 10 years, working in partnership with the West Central Drug Task Force. During his time in law enforcement, he handled multiple narcotics and patrol dogs and conducted more than 1,000 K9 searches. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.

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