MAIN BREED GROUPS by Christine Wharton

DIFFERENT BREED VARIETIES:
There are more and more pedigree breeds being developed all the time, in addition to the "pets" that eventuate from mixing different colours and breeds together. There are 7 main breed groups, but there is a range of colours/ breeds within each of these groups as well. The following summary is based on the current standard range of breeds available in Australia.
COARSECOATS come in any colour/combo' and should have a coarser texture than other breeds. They include the traditional Abysinnian which has a spikey coat that stands out from its body due to the eight/ ten rosettes it has in two rows of four across it's body and rump - many/most also have a couple on their shoulder as well. The rex has a short dense crimped coat that stands away from its body. The Sheba Mini Yak is a longer-haired breed with many rosettes and facial features a bit like an Abyssinian (and some think it should be grouped in with the other longhairs, instead of with the other coarsecoats, but that's another issue.)
ENGLISH SELF coloured smooth-coated shorthairs are one of the most popular varieties because they are easy to keep, and the breed has been well developed and improved in most cases. They are available in a range of solid colours including pink eyed/ dark eyed white, cream, buff, saffron, pink eyed/ dark eyed gold, red, black, chocolate, beige, lilac and slate.
CRESTED animals are shorthairs which have a crest (a deep rosette) on the top of their head - as soon as it has a crest, it's a "(whatever other breed it might be, colourwise) crested" and you can get them in all the self coloured shorthairs as well as a range of agouti/ marked breeds. "American cresteds" have a crest in an alternative colour to the rest of the body (traditionally, a white crest on any other self coloured body).
LONGHAIRS come in any colour/ combo' and have hair that keeps growing. They all make impressive show animals when they have grown a decent length of coat, but require more attention because the hair can be chewed/ ruined from wear and tear in the cage unless it is "wrapped" up most of the time. The two basic varieties are the Peruvian and Sheltie.
The Peruvian is presented with a fringe ("frontal"), a part along its back and two rosettes on its rump, with soft, silky hair that flows every which way so it looks like the shape of a dinner plate when it has its coat brushed out fully. The Alpaca is similar to the Peruvian but has a wavy coat. The sheltie has no fringe and no rosettes - it's soft, silky coat flows back and out to give more of a fan-shaped effect; the coronet is like a sheltie with a crest and has a part along it's back when presented at shows and the texel (a relatively new-comer) is like a sheltie with a crimped coat. The English Merino is similar to the coronet but with a soft springy crimped coat.
MARKED varieties are bred for their particular markings. (N.B. special consideration should be given when breeding Dalmatians/ roans as they can produce deformed offspring if they get a double dose of these genes - it's safer to breed these varieties to their non-marked counterparts from the breeding programme if you are not prepared to take this risk.)
Brindles have black & red hairs evenly intermingled all over their body. Dalmatians have a white body and blaze up their nose, with self/agouti coloured head, feet and spots on their body. Dutch animals have white blazes, bodies and feet with self/ ticked rumps and cheek patches. Himalayans are white with black/ chocolate "points" on their ears, feet and nose (smut). Roans have a self/ ticked coloured head and feet and that same colour intermixed with white hairs to produce a "roaned" body. Sables are a bit like Himalayans but have darker ccoloured head and feet on a sepia brown coat which fades down the chest and flanks to a beige belly. Tortoiseshells have alternating patches of black and red down each side of their body to give a patchwork effect; torti' and whites have patches of black, red and white to give an even more colourful patchwork. (Tri-colours and bi-colours are similar to Torti's and torti & whites, except they come in any other colour combo' than black, red & white.) There are also some rare varieties like harlequins and magpies which have patches of brindling.
SATINS have coats with hollow hair shafts that reflects light to give extra briliance to the coat. This is a recent genetic feature and can be bred into every other breed, effectively doubling the number of individual breeds. Like crested varieties, if it has a satinised coat, they are called a "(whatever other breed it is) satin".
TICKED varieties have two-tone hair shafts with a base colour and "ticking" colour on the tip of each hair. They have a "solid" belly stripe in the ticking colour (although each hair shaft still has two colours, the proportions are reversed, giving the visual impression of it being solid.) They come in a range of colours including golden agouti (black base colour, dark gold/ mahogany ticking), lemon agouti (black base colour, lemon ticking), silver agouti (black base colour, silver ticking), chocolate agouti (chocolate base colour, orange ticking), cream agouti (chocolate base colour, lemon ticking), cinnamon agouti (cinnamon base colour, silver ticking) and a variety of Argente`s with either lilac/ beige base colour and gold/ white/ lemon ticking.

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