# Coat question



## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Am I the only one that seems to have a FrankenDog, coat-wise? He has very different coat on different parts of his body .... his head and body have hair that curls into tight ringlets, his ears are more silky and wavy, and the hair on his legs wants to form into straight mini cords as soon as I put the brush away. 

This being my first poodle, I have no idea if this is normal. Doesn't matter, as I'm not showing in breed, nor breeding, but I'm curious.


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## Lilah+Jasper (May 13, 2010)

Lilah's coat is odd - not in sections though. She has an awful cotton coat with coarse dark apricot hair peppered throughout. I can't decide if it is just taking forever for her coat change to end or what I see is what I get 

I'm curious to see what others have to say on this...


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

My standard just turned 8 months and now has curly neck, chest, shoulders and back. The curls are creeping down her sides. Her legs still have straight soft silky hair. Her tail is starting to get thicker. Her top knot is starting to feel coarse and super thick, standing up really well. I think this is coat change beginning. Her parents were both black, but had fabulous thick coarse coats. I always thought the light colored spoos had soft fluffy hair like my last white spoo, but I guess some of them get the coarse curls, too? 

Can light colored poodles also get the thick curly coarse coats? I did not realize that. I thought that was a dark colored thing. My spoo has far, far more hair than my last girl did. My last spoo couldn't grow a good topknot without it falling over. Bonnie's topknot sticks straight up! It's neat.

I hope her hair all turns out the same on her whole body, but right now it is half curly and half straight! It must be the beginning of coat change even though she seems young for it at 8 months and has not yet had a matt.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Here's some pics to show what I mean. You can see the straight hair on her left shoulder area still and her legs and ears. A couple of these I posted elsewhere, but they are recent and illustrate what I mean. Her ears are still straightish hair. I hope that changes!
Her tail is starting to get kinky, just barely. Do you guys have pictures?:


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## 3dogs (Nov 3, 2010)

I think it might be more genetic related than just color. But for me as a groomer I usually see the apricots as having the worst coats as far as curl wise. Blacks, whites, creams, blues, silvers I all do have decent coats & good curl. I have found the Mini's I groom have better coats on the whole than the toys BUT I do a large # of toys so there are bound to be some with wispy coats.


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## vtomblin (Jul 18, 2010)

Phoenix has harsh thick afro hair(white). If it air dries it goes into nice perfect ringlets. Sookie (cream) is a year now and her coat coming in is much harsher than the puppy coat and really dense but softer than Phoenix's. Sookie is much nicer to dry thought. Her hair dries in strings that are kinky. So different hair. It is coming in the first inch really kinky. When Phoenix was in show coat it was like drying a sheep. The hair seemed to close up around where you were brushing. genetics!


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Oh, genetics, cool! Maybe my cream will end up with that hair, too. I have some months to wait until I know. Right now it is just her head, neck and shoulders that are getting coarsish (is that a word?). Her head is so fun to feel. It's all scrunchy.


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## AgilityIG (Feb 8, 2009)

JE-UK said:


> Am I the only one that seems to have a FrankenDog, coat-wise? He has very different coat on different parts of his body .... his head and body have hair that curls into tight ringlets, his ears are more silky and wavy, and the hair on his legs wants to form into straight mini cords as soon as I put the brush away.
> 
> This being my first poodle, I have no idea if this is normal. Doesn't matter, as I'm not showing in breed, nor breeding, but I'm curious.


Vinnie is kind of a Frankendog too :lol:. His TK hair is really easy to get nice and straight and is softer (but stands up really well). Over his shoulders/neck/upper back it's really course. Over his body seems to be in between the two. The hair on his tail is pretty straight, but I keep it rather long (I don't dry it - I let it air dry - it stays tied up in a hair clip while I am blowing the rest of his coat out).


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

outwest said:


> *Can light colored poodles also get the thick curly coarse coats? I did not realize that. I thought that was a dark colored thing.* My spoo has far, far more hair than my last girl did. My last spoo couldn't grow a good topknot without it falling over. Bonnie's topknot sticks straight up! It's neat.
> 
> I hope her hair all turns out the same on her whole body, but right now it is half curly and half straight! It must be the beginning of coat change even though she seems young for it at 8 months and has not yet had a matt.


Seeing as all colors of poodles are part of the same breed and fall under the same standard, all are supposed to have curly, coarse coats. That being said, the whites do sometimes have softer coats. Blacks are known for having better coats. However, a poodle with correct coat is a poodle with correct coat. Tiger has very coarse adult hair (where it exists  ) But - none of my poodles have coat like Millie. She is a walking brillo-pad. They tend to be softer right when you clip off those coarse guard hairs. 

Coat change happens around a year of age (give or take) and can last a while. They do start to get some adult coat quite a bit before that.


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## LittleGracie (Oct 22, 2010)

Gracie is now 14 & 1/2 months and is my home side kick, I don't show her and keep her in a puppy groom. I was interested to hear that poodles have coarse hair I don't feel this coarse coat that everyone is talking about, I also have a cocker spaniel poodle and he has coarse hair once it starts to get longer, is that from his poodle side?

Gracie my spoo has super curls and cords all over, the only place she's got anything remotely straight is in her armpits lol. 
Is her coat going to change? When does a dog's coat change stop?


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

All coat types in dogs have a degree of difference in texture on certain parts of the body, so it makes sense that poodles do too. It's just a bit less pronounced on curly coats.

The coat along the spine always has the most coarseness, which makes sense, as this is where dogs get rained on and should have the thickest, most water resistant protection. In double coated dogs, you'll see they grow under coat much thicker in spots like the shoulders and thighs. The tummy generally has thinner more delicate hair.

Ideally poodles shouldn't have too much variation, but you do see it on most of them. Most have more coarse guard hair along the spine, tighter ringlets near the knees, etc. It's totally normal.

Puppy coat is ever changing though. One day you have curls and in a week you'll have weird straight spots.


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## Anntig (Jun 9, 2010)

LittleGracie said:


> Gracie my spoo has super curls and cords all over, the only place she's got anything remotely straight is in her armpits lol.
> Is her coat going to change? When does a dog's coat change stop?


Coats can take up to four years to fully change but the bulk of the change occurs between 9-24 months on a standard earlier on a mini or toy.
it usually starts at the shoulder and gradually works it's way down the body the legs are the last part to change.
As a general rule the hair on the lighter colours is finer but there are more of them, it's the same for humans blondes usually have more hairs on their heads than brunettes but because their hair is much finer it often looks thinner.

Edit: oh and outwest your girl is stunning I love that colour


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## lauren&sophie (Jul 1, 2011)

Sophie has straight and curly hair in all different places. She is almost 6 months and I brought her to get groomed today because her face was so out grown. The groomed told me that since she was cut previously before 6 months that her coat is damaged/ruined for life- in those exact words. As this is my first poodle I never heard of this.. Anyone else heard of this ?


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

lauren&sophie said:


> Sophie has straight and curly hair in all different places. She is almost 6 months and I brought her to get groomed today because her face was so out grown. The groomed told me that since she was cut previously before 6 months that her coat is damaged/ruined for life- in those exact words. As this is my first poodle I never heard of this.. Anyone else heard of this ?


Totally false!


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## lauren&sophie (Jul 1, 2011)

Oh thank god!! The groomer herself has 2 beautiful standards and Sophie turned out awesome so I figured it was true since she seemed to known lot about standards. She said that her curls will always be frizzy because of it. Sophie looked so much like a labradoodle her hair on her face was SO long and she never had poodle feet. She now looks much more like a poodle and I love it!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

lauren&sophie said:


> Oh thank god!! The groomer herself has 2 beautiful standards and Sophie turned out awesome so I figured it was true since she seemed to known lot about standards. She said that her curls will always be frizzy because of it. Sophie looked so much like a labradoodle her hair on her face was SO long and she never had poodle feet. She now looks much more like a poodle and I love it!


Genetics determines the ultimate hair texture. Puppies will have wavier softer hair and adults will have curlier, coarser hair. Cutting hair at any age has NOTHING to do with the ultimate hair texture. 

The texture may seem to change, if you cut a puppy's hair, because the adult hair might be coming in. However, cutting the hair did nothing to the dog's actual hair, ya know?


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## lauren&sophie (Jul 1, 2011)

That makes much more sense. I wonder where this women heard this! She shows and grooms some champion poodles so I would think she would have known and I was so worried. I'm glad I have my poodle forum family to turn to for questions!!!


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