"MUD"
Mud is a spotted marking that looks like one fell on their side/face leaving the effected area "dirty". Mud has condensed spotting, similar to Mottled, only the spots are not layered in color and will cover more expansive areas all at once rather than be confined to specific nooks.
Mud likes to spawn the larger spots in 1-3 places and all smaller spots will bubble off of the original spawn point. Surrounding spots can be quite clean and uniform, all following one distinct direction or array pattern; or they can be more traditionally messy and irregular hugging the main larger spots wherever they fall. It's up to the designer.
MODIFIERS THAT HEAVILY EFFECT THIS MARKING
(Some markings like "Blackened" are self-explanatory in their color change effect, and other modifiers will equally effect all markings in a certain way like "Greying". If a marking mentions a specific modifier, it may be effected heavily or have an altered palette. )
COLOR SHIFTS: n/a
MARKING VISIBILITY: n/a
Coverage & Shape
Mud must touch at least 1 hotspot, and cover that area significantly. Mud is a heavy spotted design, and sometimes the spots will extend outside the max (red) limits provided, this is okay. Mud can technically touch any part of the body, but it just prefers to stay within the red areas, and spawn from the hotspot zones.
NOT PASSING
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If Mud covers mostly / only areas outside of the red. (ex. just spotted around the ears, but not eyes/mouth, will not count as a minimal hotspot; just spotting along the paws/toes but not the upper chest/front legs would not count also)
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If Mud spotting is as small as a freckle
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If Mud resembles Mottled or Merle.
BORDERLINE
This marking can very quickly become Mottled or Merle-y if the spotting is not big and expansive enough. See "Average Minimal / Borderline" for an example of an almost mottled-like Mud. The larger spotting helps indicate that the marking is not Mottled, but the smaller spots can throw off design admins. Keep all spotting close to the "spawn" site.
PASSING TIPS
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Texture and watercolor fringe may be acceptable so long as it's subtle.
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You may use a spotting brush to achieve the Mud look, but it may not be a dapple or sooty specific brush!
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Mud spans across 1-3 major spawn sites for the spotting. Anymore than this and the suka will become too heavily covered in spots.
color friendly
This marking may be any natural color relative to the base, lighter/darker than the base, or black. It may not be white in color.
gradient friendly
This marking may take up to 3 smoothly blended colors as a gradient. The gradient may not have extreme contrast (such as: white to black, dark liver to bright cream, etc)