# What color has the best coat?



## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

I want a poodle who will have a great, crisp coat for scissoring to be used in grooming competitions. What color do you think is best? Some people are partial to whites, but I've heard if you keep staring at it you feel blinded. The blacks also have a way of blinding you, but in a different way. Your eyes can get lost in that depth of color! I heard reds don't have great coats? Is this true? I've heard silvers have an awful coat change, where the hair mats so easily and takes forever to get the right texture (up to 3 years!). I heard blacks are easier to keep mat free.

Of course, all of these things I've heard are rumors. I'd like to get some opinions on the above statements. Leroy is a cream who is starting to get nice texture, but he has a lot of catching up to do on his legs. I don't know if I'd use him to compete because he is so big (27") and lacks chest. May use him for creative grooming.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Swizzle is silver. He still has not had his coat change and he is a 16 months old. At this point his coat is very soft. He looks great when done up but it takes some product to make his hair hold. I comb him every day. I have not had too much of a problem with matts.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 28, 2011)

IMHO, silvers and blacks have the best coat textures, followed by white/cream. I've never liked the texture of reds, apricots, or browns..but that could very well be because I have not met any well-bred poodles in those colors. Silvers especially seem to have thick, dense coats that are wonderful to scissor, although I've noticed that a good many I met seemed to have one floppy spot in their tk...could be a coincidence though. 

CT Girl, I would wonder if Swizzles hair isn't going to stay the way it is...most toys and minis I have met were done with coat change by 16 months, and Trev was finished at about 9 or 10 months.


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

For scissoring, I would go with blacks every time, though you get different texture within them too. My family's three black poos have three different textures : one very tightly curled, coarse and oily (not ideal, but dang would he cord like crazy if we let him), one very loosely curled (like a wavy PWD, completely useless for scissoring), and one with goldilocks texture (Albi! Perfect coat was a priority!). Thick but not coarse, shiny hair shaft, good tight curl, lots of spring. You can find it in other colors (white, cream), but I've seen it in black most often. Although I can tell you from experience, black will blind you just as much as white. It's very hard to get good even lighting on inky black for grooming! You'd think bright light is best, but the light blinds you to seeing the black, its like looking at an eclipse.

Silvers are fantastic for scissoring, because they're often so, so dense, as in tons of hairs per square inch. But that's also what makes their coat change a nightmare. The one silver spoo I do currently takes ages just to get dry, and he gets a #5 buzz every month!

I have zero experience with silver beige/cafe and wonder if it's more similar to silver or to brown in terms of density. Browns and apricots go either way in my experience.

My fantasy poodle was always dark red mini with perfect coat like my black, but woe is me, I don't think they exist. I've never found one, but in my limited experience they tend to be loose curls, and never as thick. If they do have good tight curl, it's also a bit on the wiry wide for my liking. I have one red standard I do that has hair like a doodle, it's loosely curled and very fine and mats like crazy. Most of the red minis and toys I see have the same thing, sparse and loose curl, but I do have one young red toy client with a pretty nice coat. It's not as thick as I'd like, but it has better spring than most of them and didn't turn out wiry. It took his tail a year to get some poof to it. Close, but no cigar.

Whatever you do, it helps a lot to see and get your hands in the parents' or relatives' coats. I knew exactly the coat Albi would develop, and how it will age, because I was able to meet and touch a half-sibling at 2 years old, her mother at 6, and her granddam at 10. She'll loose a little volume and get some grey hairs as she gets old, but for now, she's got a great coat to work with.


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## afkar (Dec 9, 2011)

I have a chocolate & two silvers. The chocolate has a lovely tight coat that is very easy to clip & looks good no matter what. My older silver got his coat change & has a thick coat with plenty of body. The "pup" of the family is still settling into her adult coat but it looks to be going to be also easy to manage. Neither of the silvers did matt particularly even when changing.I certainly have never noticed any topknot flop or split if that helps.


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## Randi6567 (May 22, 2011)

My black and white parti has the thickest best coat ever to scissor it's amazing and another black and white parti that comes into my job same thing scissors perfect


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## all that jazz (Feb 6, 2011)

I find this post very interesting. Admittedly in my naiveté I never even considered coat texture when getting my puppies. Instinctively, I knew I did not prefer a very, very tight flat curl but had no idea as puppies what they would have in the future. I never thought to critique the parents on coat texture. 
For my own edification could someone post pictures of poodles with the various coat textures? I would find that very interesting and enlightening. Thank you.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Perhaps a late coat change is in Swizzle's line. I know the groomer (who breeds toys) says that silvers seems to go through their coat change later and said one of my breeder's dogs not finish his coat change until he was almost three. My breeder just breeds silvers. Swizzle has a ton of hair. My groomer says that Swizzle has not gone through his coat change yet. He has been getting some more knots recently - it may have begun. I'll see what my groomer thinks next time I see her.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

There is a huge variation in coat quality depending on the breeding lines, not the color. A well bred poodle should have a crisp, wirey coat no matter what color it is, but it is easiest to find in black. I have met browns with great coats, too (Carismatic Millie has a terrific coat and she is brown). It would be important to see the parents coats, but then you are probably talking purchasing a puppy rather than getting a rescue.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I have to say that I definitely feel blinded when I try to scissor my white!

I love scissoring my mom's black poodle best. He is dark so mistakes are less evident.  His coat is my favorite.

My brown has wirey hair. From what I've heard browns are known for pretty coarse coats. I know the standard does not fault a too coarse coat, but it can be annoying!!!!!


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## Bella's Momma (Jul 26, 2009)

I know nothing about grooming, but I thought it worth mentioning that our silver-beige (who was very much 'chocolate' brown for her first 2 years) is super snuggly soft (which is a 'good coat' to me. LOL.) and I never did notice her having a coat change. I kept waiting for this ominous time when she would shed and would mat and her beautiful soft coat would get scratchy, but I haven't seen it yet and she turns 3 next month...and is almost completely 'silver beige,' though admittedly I have no idea how much lighter she may get. Is it her getting lighter that would indicate an adult coat and her solid brown years were only a 'puppy' coat? She still has some dark brown areas (which frankly look strange to me and I wish they'd match already ) on her elbows and feet. She gets lighter with each groom, and not by shedding.


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## 3dogs (Nov 3, 2010)

I think the best bet would be to go with an adult that already has the desired coat you are looking for. I did that with my Rescue Spoo Leif & even though he was shaved down & about a 4blade when I got him he has a great coat to scissor. When clean everyone just wants to hold him & pet him because of his great coat. Now is it the "correct" poodle coat I have no idea but it is great to scissor & I don't get "snow blind" My friend has a black spoo & breeders have said her dog has the "correct" Poodle coat but it is very different from my dogs. It is a looser curl & when she uses a slicker brush lots of coat comes out, while my dog hardly get's any coat out period. My OT/Mini has a different coat than my spoo but still very easy to keep up with. She has been slowly going through her coat change, 1st her TK which has a great texture to it, then her neck has finally curled (before very loose curl), & I see the body is now coming into a tighter & coarser texture. Louisa just turned 14 months. I expect to have complete coat change in the next 6 months.


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