IN THE DEN

That’s a really good question! It actually depends a lot on the natural throw of genetics, and honestly, there is no clear answer. An F1 cross between a wolf and a German shepherd will inherit an equal number of alleles from each parent, so will essentially be an even mix of both wolf and dog. This means that their coats will have wolfy attributes (such as a pronounced V-cape and banded hairs), and doggy attributes (such as single coats, or long ‘plush’ hairs). To make matters more complicated, some GSDs, especially those from working lines, have a sable coat instead of the typical black-and-tan ones most people think of when hearing the words “German shepherd.” To some people, these sable animals look a lot more wolfy to begin with because of that aspect. Here’s a couple of sable GSD with NO WOLF in them: 

German shepherds also come in pure black and pure white, as well as particular dilutes, like blue and liver, such as these: 

Wolves, too, come in an array of colors depending on region, subspecies, and genetics. They can also be anywhere from black to white, though rarely (if ever) exhibit genetic dilutes like dogs will. They do phase, though, as they get older, meaning that a wolf that is born black can eventually turn into a gray/blue/white color, like this: 

So….what DO wolf/shepherd mixes actually look like?

There are virtually no F1 wolfdogs in the USA today (largely because no captive wolves in the USA today are EVER used for breeding wolfdogs). But over in Russia, a military experiment was conducted using F1 wolf/GSD crosses for scent work and protection training. Here are what some of those animals looked like: