# New to goldens, question about their coat



## Cjm (Oct 26, 2018)

Our male has a semi wavy coat. Our female has a very straight coat. The big differences I notice is that snow balls collect easily on his legs / belly. And if i brush him 'forever' to make his hair look 'nice', he will stand up, shake and he's back to looking like a hot, hairy mess. I still love him though!


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

At almost 8-months, Archie’s coat is morphing into a thousand cowlicks. I hope as it gets longer it will straighten out!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Brittany.ty said:


> I know all goldens have a lot of hair but is super thick, wavy hair going to be harder to manage than a straight coated golden?? Will keeping it nicely trimmed and brushed out help? I think I prefer the straight/wavy look compared to curly, but I’m wondering if it only gets curly once it’s pretty long?


This is basically impossible to answer. 

1. Goldens should not have curly coats.  <= And yes, there are people who bend spoons in the effort of defining some curls as "waves". 

2. Flippies and ripples which a lot of dogs have is either hereditary.... or it's grooming fail. Is it more difficult to maintain? Nope. Just looks like bedhair instead of sleek and shiny. 

Most of us with dogs who have very straight and no-fuss coats will see them get ring around the rump if we take them swimming or bathe them close to bedtime and they go to bed with wet coats. 

Dogs who are still puttering around or running around outside while drying off, the coat may sometimes dry without those flips. Sometimes they have flips in different areas (on the shoulders!). 

3. Older dogs and spayed/neutered dogs have more complex coats that are a pain in the next to groom with the same quickness and ease you might with a young dog. Some of that is change of texture as they get up in age. Some of that is change of texture with altered levels of hormones or whatever. Who knows. The reason why some of these dogs who are bred to have TOO MUCH coat end up getting the 1" clip when they are old is not because of waves, but because of the texture and thickness of the undercoats (like a sponge soaking in all that water/moisture and growing bacteria/yeast). 


^^^ So basically, if the parents have coats like the below, yeah - cottony, thick, matt-crazy, expect them to be a pain to maintain.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

You really might be better off to discuss the grooming requirements of the parents with the breeder to get an understanding of what the puppy will most likely require. Goldens shouldn't have thick long coats. If there is a lot of thick undercoat, it's a matting and shedding nightmare. And it will often get worse when a dog is spayed or neutered. The parents are intact dogs and they will still have hormones keeping undercoat in check - neutering will often increase cottony undercoat growth in many long haired dogs. Goldens shouldn't require crazy amounts of work to keep them looking nice. In addition to the grooming, a Golden with a lot of coat will make daily vacuuming of hard surfaces a guaranteed necessity. With moderate coated Goldens, if you only have one, you should be able to get away with every other day vacuuming if you are good with a quick daily brushing.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

JulieCA said:


> View attachment 886201
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> At almost 8-months, Archie’s coat is morphing into a thousand cowlicks. I hope as it gets longer it will straighten out!


OH NO!! I LOVE Archie's texture and cowlicks - you can already tell he has wonderful correct coat. He'll dry off in a heartbeat after a swim  Nothing soft or sopping up the water to weigh him down. Lovely!!!


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