Coat and Color
WOLVES: Wolves’ coats are thick and well blended with coarse outer guard hairs that are banded in color, straight and long. Under the guard hairs is the undercoat, which should be extremely thick and wooly in appearance, making it difficult to find any skin. The coat tends to be the thickest around the neck, shoulders, and v-cape. The coat should be long and thick, but not wavy, feathery or flowing. Arctic and tundra wolves tend to have longer coats than other subspecies. All color changes should be gradual and well blended regardless of color. Wolves come in a variety of colors, ranging from white, shades of brown, shades of grey, and various degrees of solid black. While Arctic wolves will always turn white, that does not mean all white wolves have Arctic wolf ancestry.
DOGS: While some dogs with an agouti or sable coloration can have banded and wolf-like coats, the overall texture, length and blending is much softer, shorter and contrasting. Dogs typically lack color banding and blending in their coats, as well as long guard hairs. Many also lack a significant v-cape. Markings on dogs can range from uneven splashes to open face masks, white legs and sharp markings.