Today the Small Munsterlander can be found in two major color variations: Brown/White and Roan (Brown/White, Ticked). The basic color of the Small Munsterlander was originally white. Certain breeders bred for white but all dogs have more or less brown spots or large brown patches all over the dog. If the brown color extend over the whole back and partway out over the hips and onto the tail the Germans says that the dog is "gemantelt" (with cape). It is characteristic that the brown color is distributed in such a way that you can count of most of the heads being brown. Brown can normally also be found on the shoulders. The legs and outer third of the tail will normally be white on brown/white dogs while roan dogs are ticked and often so much that they appear brown patched to nearly full brown. It is also possible in addition to the above colors to find red or brown spots or even a dull red brown base color. The latter can appear with puppies and young dogs as well as mature dogs that spends a lot of time outdoors during the summer time. The red spots normally appear, according to Dr. Jungklaus (1921), especially:

1. Over both eyes and near the nose
2. On both sides of the head roughly halfway between the corner of the mouth and the base of the ears
3. Under the tail and near the anus.

Dr. Jungklaus believed that he could prove that the red spots came from the Dorsten dogs "Rino Hervest" and in particular "Hertha von Westerberg" and "Loni Hervest." Today these spots are normally colloquially called Jungklaus’ spots. We imported a dog several years ago and she had these spots. It is the dog that is featured in the Gun Dog article dragging a duck through the water.

According to Fimmen (1972) it is likely that the spots are the results of a certain combination of recessive genes and the fact that the repeatability of the red color is very small. Certain bloodlines appear though, known or unbeknown to the breeder, to develop more Jungklaus’ spots than others do.

As long as the red spots only appear as mentioned above and only in small spots or patches then it is perfectly acceptable. However, if the red spots or patches appear other places on either brown/white or roan dogs then it is considered a miss-color – the dog is then considered a tri-colored dog, which is not allowed by the standard.

As mentioned before the dogs were originally mostly brown/white. In 1925 Edmund Lons obtained a Brittany bitch from a sheet metal bender (in accordance to Luttke Meyer, 1933 it was a spotted German Longhaired) that he bred to his "Heiderauch Jungklaus" 394. The result was in accordance to Brand – Boehmer (1970) the first roan Small Munsterlanders, "Becass Lons" and "Bingo Lons." Woodland hunters were very interested in the roan colored dogs and they spread quickly which meant that the roan color variation is singularly dominant.

Since the end of the 1920s the roan colored dogs have gradually dominated the brown/white dogs which is really too bad. First of all the original Small Munsterlanders were white and furthermore it is really a pleasure while hunting to see the brown/white with their beautiful flaring white tails.

There are today many breeders that will exclusively breed brown/white and in the early spring of 1994 Jaegerbakkens Kennel imported a brown/white dog, Appi. He was bred in the summer of 1997 to April; also a brown/white dog and we hope to see more brown and white dogs. Ralph Rittenour bred his bitch Jaegerbakkens Klarno to Jaegerbakkens Gunner’s Cody and I have just seen a picture of Cassidy, a female puppy from that alliance and she is nearly white all over.

Brown/white or roan is – as before – a matter of taste; and now you know where my taste is.