In a coat described as smoke, which statement best describes the coloration?

• A. The last half of the hair is colored while the undercoat remains white
• B. The entire coat is uniformly colored
• C. Only the tips of the hair are colored
• D. The dog has no undercoat

Answer: (A)

Smoke coloration comes from a white undercoat showing through while the guard hairs carry color only partway down each strand. This creates a shaded, smoky look where the colored portion is toward the end of the hair and the root near the skin remains white. That’s why describing the last half of the hair as colored, with the undercoat still white, best fits the smoke pattern. If the coat were uniformly colored, the white undercoat wouldn’t show through and the smoky shading wouldn’t appear. If only the tips were colored, the pattern wouldn’t reflect the characteristic partial-length coloring across the hairs, and having no undercoat would eliminate the white base that creates the smoky effect.