DRAPP FARBUNG: A LOST COLOUR (or two) IN THE GREAT DANE

DRAPP FARBUNG: A LOST COLOUR (or two) IN THE GREAT DANE?

There are numerous comments in the early German studbooks about a color of Great Dane simply referred to as "drapp" or "drappfarben." Jill Evans has documented these comments numerous times in her series of articles in pedigrees and coat colours of the Great Dane (see GDR for the "Time Traveller" series). In these articles, she also notes the regular reference to "rot" as opposed to "gelb;" "gelb" being (presumably) the common golden-fawn we now know. This "rot" may have been a distinctive color (russet) rather than simply a darker shade of yellow, given the very specific references to both yellow and red (and reddish-yellow) in the stud books, particularly as detail of coloration increased in the descriptions of 20th century Danes recorded. Further, Jane Chopson has documented the presence of recessive "chocolate" (liver/brown/red) in the Great Dane. Yet, brown, in German "braun," (including "rehbraun," fawn-colour) is rarely mentioned in the breed's history, although red and yellow specifically are each used to describe typical colors found. The term "rebraun" (for fawn) is not used and when "braun" is used, it is separate from that of "gelb" or "rot" and describes some "brown and white" or "brown" offspring of harlequins, and the term is only found in Germany in the era between WWI and WWII.

The longest standing description of the breed's colors is from the 1860s and specifies "the recognized colours [in the Great Dane] are the various shades of Grey (commonly called Blue), Red, Black, or pure White.... with patches of the aforementioned colours.... the above ground colours also appear in Brindles, and are also the ground colours of the mottled specimens. The mottled specimens have irregular patches, or clouds, upon the above-named ground colours; in some instances the clouds or markings being of two or more tints. The whole-coloured reddish-yellow, with black muzzle and ears, is the colour least cared for, as it is indicative of the Mastiff cross." (Translation courtesy of Jill Evans.)

Note although fawn (reddish-yellow) is mentioned, it is not among the "recognised colours" and seems to have been (then) a recent introduction, judging from its exclusion from the list of the recognized colors, and from that last comment that cross-breeding of the Great Dane to Mastiffs resulted in the introduction of the color commonly called fawn. Yet "gelb,"(yellow), that is fawn, soon became a standard color registered, and dominates the breed today. The standard for fawn states the deep gold (the original rot-gelb or "reddish-yellow" presumably?), is always to be preferred, but lighter shades of fawn, to even buff, are commonly enough seen, (and allowed); indicating that not only masking,¹ but perhaps chinchilla dilute (ch) may have been picked up along with the fawn-yellow color at this late date.

But where did the recognised color of "red" go? If the "red" is not fawn (yellow), then is it might well be the "chocolate" still occasionally seen in the breed, that recessive (bb) "gundog red," called liver/red/chocolate or even brown now (depending on the breed). Like the "braun" offspring of some harl litters, these two color descriptions seemed to have eventually disappeared in the studbooks. It seems likely one (or both?) represent the "chocolate" (bb) recessive "red." This dilute may have become unpopular, obscured by the coming dominance of fawn, or simply become rare for some unknown reason(s),² as well as the obvious one that such a dilute has to be actively cultivated to prosper and to be seen in a breed (as we have done in Danes with our "blue" (dd) or Maltese dilute) with any regularity. But, as Jane Chopson and Jill Evans have both noted, the b allele is certainly not extinct in the breed, if rarely seen these days. As Jill Evans has pointed out, "before the [modern] Dane Standard was written to define the 5 <sic> permissible colours we still have, there was...an English champion, Ch. Orus of Lockerbie. His colour was brindle-harlequin...but it doesn't say what colour [the] stripes were! Ch. Orus was used for breeding, and so was his brindle sister, Pandora, who is behind some top English dogs." (Recall the original description of the breed allowed for various colors, plus brindles and patched Danes in all possible combinations.) Even more recently a Champion-sired "chocolate" striped Great Dane was shown in California (in the early 1970s).

So now we come to that elusive color "drapp." This is not a cognate, so "drab" is not the correct translation for "drapp," and there simply seems to be no clear idea now of what this word was to convey. But some (rather vague) descriptions do exist and convey the notion of a dilute of some kind. The coat is described as "cafe-au-lait" or "lilac." Considering the above recessive alleles that are documented in the breed, the Drapp-coloured dane was likely so-called "Isabella"³ (bbdd), (Weimaraner "mouse" or Doberman "fawn"), perhaps more properly referred to as dilute chocolate, blue-liver or double dilute. The other likely explanation for this "drapp" is a chinchilla dilute blue--cchcchdd, or an albionic version of Drapp (bbccdd)--another color that has also been referred to as Isabella. A lot would depend on whether the nose leather was still dark or more of a flesh tone; the latter lending credence to the idea that the Drapp-coloured Dane was blue-liver (bbdd) dilute.⁴

The rarity of the color at present also supports the idea of a blue-liver dilute, as both blues and fawns are hardly a rarity in Harlequin pedigrees, so presumably, if "drapp" was a distintive chinchilla blue dilute, (and not just the yellowish blue considered a fault of colour), it would turn up often enough that some educated breeder would recognise and (hopefully) report it. As that is not the case, the best guess for the Drapp-coloured dane is the blue-liver dilute. (There are very occasional reports of people claiming to own "lavender" harlequins.) But the loss of this color seems little to be mourned, considering the health problems so commonly associated with extreme dilute and albinonic animals. However it does make an interesting historical puzzle, and learning a bit more about the history of one's breed can never be a fault.

¹Clearly true (ebr) brindling, like masking (EM) would have to have had ay (fawn) present in the breed to be expressed and recognised, if it was true brindling that was described and not a merle (Mm) phenomenon, or some sort of recessive agouti wild-type (ag) allele. Tan-point (at) Danes have been registered, and black pups from "fawn" to "fawn" breedings have been documented, so it may well be that some other eumelanin-restricting alleles (e.g. e, ag, ab) have been "lost" to the breed as well.

²One obvious reason bb=red is not seen in the breed is the standard for the breed universally calls for a black nose (but on harlequins), which permits the dark slate (blue-black) of a blue (dd) Dane to remain as a viable colour, but certainly would discriminate against a red (bb) Dane, whose nose would necessarily be self (brown) coloured.

³ Jill Evans notes both the terms "Isabella" and "Drapp" are used in the old German Studbooks for the breed, but as Isabella in Europe generally describes what we think of an a Palomino colour, I image what was meant by this color term at the time is a chinchilla dilute fawn, with perhaps blue or chocolate points, (to give a pale gold-to-cream dog), rather than the sort of cafe-au-lait "mouse" color with beige-to-brown nose leather that "Drapp" is supposed to be. Confusingly this color I imagine as "Drapp" (genetically bbdd) is sometimes referred to as "Isabella" and "fawn." And, of course, I may have it backwards, and Drapp may be the chinchilla dilute, with Isabella the actual liver-blue dilute. Drapp and Isabella registered dogs came from blue x blue and blue x fawn (from blue) breedings (some of which recorded also black pups). Hans Friedrich-1923-describes drappfarben as having light nails and nose, and the coat between blue (blau) and fawn, that is yellow, (gelb) in color. This suggests drapp could well be blue-liver (bbdd) dilute, i.e. Doberman "fawn," with the Isabella an albionic variant of drapp (bbccdd), (or something simpler like a chinchilla-dilute, blue-faced fawn (aaccdd), both of which could give a pale gold to wheat coloured coat. Drapp is commonly described as a milk-coffee color coat, not gold at all, and the name "drapp" may have been coined in Danes just TO be able to distinguish between the two variants.

⁴Note I am making the assumption that some C Locus alleles can affect eumelanin, given the multiple comments about yellowish Blues. This exception to the rule that the C Locus doesn't affect but phaeomelanin may, of course, not actually exist. For the most up-to-date and extensive info on the sort of color-minimal dogs produced by these recessive dilutes, see Ione Smith, DVM's site on Albinism: http://www.geocities.com/~amazondoc/albinism/#albinoinheritance.

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