Differences in Coats

[NicoleLJ]

Well Sheena and Luca got their weekly bath last night, usually we do it on Saturdays but both Derek and I have been sick. Anyway I noticed something very interesting while I took pictures of the dogs being wetted down. When Sheena is getting sprayed her coat soaks the water up no problem. With Luca it beads and it takes long to soak in to get him all wet for soaping. They are both of hte same breed, GSD's. They do have different techtures to their coats though. Sheena's is really super soft and silky. Luca's is more coarse. have you ever noticed a difference in coats of the same breed of dog swhen grooming them?

Also when brushing Sheena, She and Luca are dropping coat right now, the fur that comes off Sheena is really soft and fluffy. Luca's is more coarse and rough. We put this furt outside. The birds love it right now for their nests. I just find it interesting.
Nicole & SHeena PSD, luca pSDIT

[GSDNewbie]

your not going to like my answer im afraid lol

gsd coats are a double coat breed and are supposed to repel water for the most part and is a major fault if soft and wooly like you are describing here is the standard:

a double coat of medium length. The outer coat should be as dense as possible, hair straight, harsh and lying close to the body. A slightly wavy outer coat, often of wiry texture, is permissible. The head, including the inner ear and foreface, and the legs and paws are covered with short hair, and the neck with longer and thicker hair. The rear of the forelegs and hind legs has somewhat longer hair extending to the pastern and hock, respectively. Faults in coat include soft, silky, too long outer coat, woolly, curly, and open coat.

[NicoleLJ]

I don't dislike your answer. Many white GSD have this very soft coat. I guess it goes with the color. Shrug. I love Sheena's coat. And when it rains and such it does repel it just not when you have the shower nozel right above it. She does have a double coat. She has the long top coat that is silky and the under coat that is soft. I prefer the soft silky coat to teh harsh coat anyway. LOL. I just found it interesting is all when bathing them.
Nicole & Sheena PSD, lUca pSDIT

[GSDNewbie]

i would be interested in knowing where your black came from and how he ended up in rescue as he is nice looking and pretty correct in what i have seen to gsd standards. and yes the white do seem to carry the softer coat fault on a whole I wasnt going to say that lol

[NicoleLJ]

The rescue people knew the sire and supposedly he is registerd. The dam they didn't know who but the previous owner of Luca said she wasn't registered that he had known of. He got Luca for 50 bucks. He then stuck him in a large run with 4 adult female GSD. He had to fight with them for his food. The stud owner had heard about the pup being in this run and when he went to see he saw Luca he contacted the rescue. Luca was skin and bone. You could see his ribs, hips , sholders everything. So the rescue took him. I saw him about 5days after the rescue took him. And we got him a week after that. Thats all I know about his history.

I do agree though he is gorgeous and such a sweet heart. No breeding for him though. So in another 5 months he is getting neutered.
Nicole & Sheena PSD, Luca PSDIT

[GSDNewbie]

a shame what happened to him good for the breeder for checking up and careing!!!!! I agree even though he is close to standard there is no reason to breed him and he should of course be nuetered, how old is he and why are you waiting 5 months? wont that be when you are planning to have a litter and breeding your female? in my opinion he should be neutered before she comes in heat and you plan to breed her, just a suggestion?

[NicoleLJ]

He is only 7 months old. I was told by several breeders and my vet to wait till he is at least a year old before neutering him. So that is what I am doing. He will be neutered in late September and Sheena will go into heat in late October. So no problem there. Sheena also goes into heat this MAy. On the 21 first.
Nicole & Sheena PSD, Luca PSDIT

[GSDNewbie]

there is a current thread where we are discussing neuter age i would like to hear why they are telling you a year on it if you dont mind? it must be different in Canada here they do not allow you to determine when a rescued dog is to be neutered you are given the dog already done when you adopt and pay for the operation or they give you a time limit and you bring them proof

[NicoleLJ]

No it depends on the rescue. Plus he was only 4 months old. This rescue was fairly new so they didn't have a spay/neuter policy yet. They only were thinking about finding homes for these poor dogs.
Nicole & Sheena PSD, luca PSDIT

[BabyElephant]

Getting back on topic - Poppy's fur is extremely soft - her breeder was extremely impressed with her fur when we took her back to see her in January. It took a lot to get her fur in to this condition following the skin infection and then massive fur loss that followed but I think we are there now

Most labs do not have soft fur but she does have a double coat and it does repel water extremely well.

Like you Nicole I think it's interesting that the same breed can have different fur textures.