Part 2 in our German Shepherd Basics is coat. 

Now, genetically, goat is inherited in a simple recessive mode, just like color.  For a more detailed explanation you can see any basic mendellian genetic resource.   We all learned about Mendell and his peas in high school biology class and if you paid attention then, this will be familiar.

A little history.  If you've been in the breed a minute you will remember that the SV used to classify the long stock coat as a faulty coat type.   About 20 years ago this changed and the SV and FCI added the long stock coat as a variety of the German Shepherd Dog. 

I don't know what the actual motivation for this action was, but common sense dictates that the SV and WUSV leadership was concerned about the decreasing population and decreasing popularity of the entire GSD breed, mainly due to the increasingly extreme structure of the show lines and the increasingly extreme behavior of the working lines.    My opinion is they wanted to bolster breed popularity and entries on the show side and instead of fixing the problem of extreme structure they added the LSC as a variety. 

Why a variety?    This was,  best guess because nobody really knows, a compromise to deflect anger from the fanciers who did not want the LSC fault removed.    But, this has always been a very unpopular decision and the domino effects on both varieties has been overwhelmingly negative. 

Why negative?  

Simple, when the SV/WUSV decided to add the LSC as a variety they also banned the breeding of any LSC dog to any stock coat dog.   This created an entire "breed" of GSD out of only 25% of the overall breed population, a breed population already lacking genetic diversity and suffering from a rapid decline in population.  

This is the same reason that isolating the white GSD into it's own breed has been a problem, genetically, for the White Swiss Shepherd, a very small gene pool.  

So, doing the literal stupidest thing possible, the SV/WUSV and FCI banned any breeding between long stock coats and stock coat GSDs and this has had several very deleterious effects on the breed. 

1st of all, the new LSC variety has a much smaller gene pool to start with than the breed as a whole, so not only are the LSC GSDs being pred FOR a cosmetic trait (abundant coat) but their gene pool is smaller.   On the plus side, any LSC german shepherd registered under this system is automatically included in the LSC variety stud book.   So, since LSC is a simple recessive we  can expect around 25% of GSD puppies born to be LSC and get moved into the LSC variety stud book,  adding some new blood.

However, that leads me to undesired effect 2.    Breeders now are using DNA testing to ensure litters do NOT have the possibility of LSC puppies.   Why?   Well in the working lines there is simply no value to a LSC working line dog, it cannot be included in breed on the working side, and there is no "value" in breeding working line GSDs with long hair (nobody wants those, so they have no financial value in Europe).   Even if a LSC was to win the bundesseiger with a 300 and be a million times IGP3 THAT dog could not be bred to any stock coat dog, ever.   So, no value.    This had led many breeders of working lines to use DNA testing to ensure their programs do NOT even carry the LSC gene.   Keeping in mind that when we "remove" one gene we are absolutely removing other genes not yet identified, and knowing that the working lines are already suffering from decreasing genetic diversity and decreasing population, that working line breeders are now eradicating the long stock coat gene from that sub group of the breed is absolutely bad, just plain bad.  

For show dogs it's a little different because the long stock coats are pretty and many people have become interested in breeding long coats just for the show side.   So, while the LSC classes are very small and not as prestigious (read financially profitable) as the stock coat side where a VA dog can quickly and easily be sold for six figures or more into Asia they are at least growing in popularity and they provide SOME value when a LSC puppy is born from SC show line parents.   So I have not heard of breeders using DNA to remove the LSC gene, especially since dogs who are homozygous for stock coat can sometimes have short coats that are less pretty.    So, the majority of the LSC variety is made up of the show lines and there is a small trickle of new blood in from those long coat puppies born to stock coat parents. 

But that still means the long stock coat variety is built from barely 25% of the German Shepherd population and that locks that variety into a much smaller gene pool and an amplification of all the population and genetic diversity problems we are seeing breed wide. 

A very unwise decision in my, and many other breed expert and fancier, opinions.   One I hope to see undone some day by removing the ban on cross breeding the two varieties. 

Now, in the USA we have the AKC which always snubs it's nose at the FCI, so we have almost no control on what we can do here.   So in this case we are fortunate because we can freely breed based on what is best for our programs, the dogs, and the breed, without restriction based on coat type.  

Now, some Terms

We're Using Our Handy Punnet Square

Now, let's make some breedings!

In all cases there are only 2 possible coats, the stock coat and the long stock coat.  

 There are other very rare coat traits that are sometimes seen, either because of the introduction of other breeds somewhere along the way, or because of historic traits that have traveled hidden in the genes from the early days of the breed when there were a wide variety of coat types and even different breeds involved in the formation of the breed.    It's unlikely but possible that traits from way back still exist in the breed and randomly combine to be expressed in a modern dog, just like it's possible, more likely too,  that a breed was introduced to the GSD since the breed book closed.   Either way, these super rare coat faults, such as the long hair (long straight hair, devoid of undercoat, that forms a part down the back sort of like a bearded collie) or the curly coat are not include on most genetic panels, because they are not faults being seen commonly, and if (as in the case of curly coat) a breeder is worried about the fault having cropped up in their lines they may be able to find a specialty test for it and remove it.   I have never seen a test for long hair in the GSD, and I have only ever seen 1 example of this type of coat, I suspect these genes have been lost to the breed. 

I'm often asked how I "feel" about long stock coat GSDs.   I myself have no problem with them, I think they should have simply had the fault removed from the standard instead of making them a variety.   I, personally, don't enjoy all the extra coat care they require so  I don't have many LSC.  But I also enjoy a really good dog, so when a RGD who is a long stock coat comes my way, I keep them. 

We have had three here over my time.   Percy (aka Fluffy), Quinton (aka Crusher), and Margo v Vierra and we ADORED all of them and we did not adore all the brushing and mat busting.   But I would have nother RGD who was a long coat in a hot minute!  

Practically speaking the LSC does require an owner who enjoys line brushing and maintaining a big dog with a ton of coat.   The softer nature of the LSC coat means it WILL mat, unlike a stock coat who's coat will never mat.    The softer hair also gets wet easier and isn't as water repellent as a well  cared for stock coat, so puddles and damp grass will leave your LSC with a really wet undercarriage, legs, and face and when they swim?   Yeah, that's a blow dry job. 

So if you have always wanted a rough collie level of coat on your GSD, you enjoy brushing and combing out a luxurious coat every couple days, and you have the patience to teach your dog to enjoy that time, then a LSC German Shepherd is a beautiful dog and a great companion!