# Can you educate me on guard hairs?



## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Naira is such a happy dog I love her smile. Don't know about guard hairs, but coarse hair is the start of coat change. Pia is 7 1/2 months old and she has curly coarse hair on her hips and spine.


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## Naira (Jan 9, 2015)

Thanks for replying Twyla! I was reading on it as well, but I always like to get a PF opinion. 

I'm excited for coat change...as a puppy, her coat is already better than my last dog's ever was! Looking forward to that thick, perfect ball of a top knot one day. 

I saw a toy poodle in the dog park...well the woman actually said it was a mini but I don't think so. I thought of your beautiful poodles and also tiny poodles. 

It's black and its on her back lol


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

She is a solid cream and yes those are guard hairs!


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Some people think a miniature is the smallest of poodles.

As for the coat change Beatrice is throes of it, and Pia has just started. 

Conditioner is my friend. 

It's fun watching them change, I love Beatrice's top knot and that she has a poofy tail. 


Naira looks like a fluffy huge kid's toy, the kind that you win at the carnival, I just want to squeeze her.


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## itzmeigh (Apr 28, 2014)

Hazel has hairs like that on her shoulder blades too. I'll post a picture below (since the new app puts all the pictures at the end). 

You asked the other day how much Hazel weighs now and I meant to try to weigh her again and then I forgot. She's getting too big to hold on the scale. I just gave it a go and it says 34.2 pounds and she's about 20.5 inches tall. She's 10 months old (40 weeks) now. I sorta doubt she will get any bigger. She's been this size for several months. 

I'm not sure she's in coat change yet. Or, if she is I don't think it will be a very hard transition.


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## Naira (Jan 9, 2015)

Poodle coats are so interesting!!!!!


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## Michelle (Nov 16, 2009)

Yuki is already 13 months and I haven't noticed any coat change yet. His neck and back are coarser than his tk, legs and tail...so maybe its happening slowly. But I haven't noticed any matting like most people do. And Atticus didn't really go through coat change. Or maybe since I always kept him short I just never noticed it.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Ugh, I hate guard hairs - Timi's are white, and they grow faster than the regular hairs so they really stand out on the clipped part of her back.
And yup that sure s a toy stuck to her back lol!


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## DreamAgility (Sep 2, 2013)

Shes a cream. The stripe will fade!! My girl had it.She'll probably clear to white with apricot points. And yes, those are guard hairs. Creams have soft coats so hers might stay nice an soft with most guard hairs on the hind legs, back, and neck, with the occasional hair creeping into the topknot. Gaur hairs grow about 2x faster than other hair, so you'l have to be constantly tidying them up.You can see in the pictures the change of texture an colors. Creams are so weird.


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## Naira (Jan 9, 2015)

I trust you guys. I just wanted to give better pictures of the stripe.

































Here is an old pic of her where you can see the Markings on her legs and tail better. 









I had a cream that was lighter than her that didn't become white. To be honest, she looks darker to me now than when I brought her home...but maybe it's because her hair is cut closer. 

It'll be interesting to see where all those apricot markings go. Hers are in a pattern and not random. There were partis in her litter as well. Poodle colors confuse me lol but she's the darkest cream I've ever had. She looks lighter in pictures..m

Your girl is breathtakingly beautiful by the way


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

That stripe is normal and so is the "marking like" placement of the darker cream/apricot hairs.


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