Though the word “pencilled” appears in only one AKC breed standard, it’s a word we’ve come across in discussions about other breeds. That standard belongs to the Dandie Dinmont Terrier in the section on coat. It reads, “The coat is termed pily or pencilled, the effect of the natural intermingling of the two types of hair.” The two types of hair are a hardish coat and a soft linty coat (a mixture of about ⅔ hardish hair with about ⅓ soft hair, if we’re being precise), and it’s that blend that gives the Dandie it’s crisp coat texture. Another good description of “pencilled” is a type of coat lying in “pencils” caused by harder hair coming through softer undercoat.

The term “pencilled” probably came from camel hair brushes used by an artist and drawn to a point when ready to use.  We came across the word in older books on canine terminology, as well, and in those instances, “pencilled” referred to a coat that should look like a sketched drawing, but that appears as a solid color coat, and in those cases, it’s objectionable. If you look at the close up of the Dandie’s coat above, you’ll agree that it looks sketched, not painted as a solid color.

Pencilled, by the way, shouldn’t be confused with the term, pencilling which refers to the black lines on the toes of certain breeds like the Gordon Setter or English Toy Terrier

Image: Dandie Dinmont Terrier by ©Radomír Režný/Dreamstime.com