# What to do with his coat?



## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

He will always have a wave to his coat but your drying technique can help tame/lay it down. I personally rarely use a brush or a comb and the dryer at the same time. I only do that at shows where I am working for high level show coat look and only on small sections of coat. At home the brush and comb only come out at the end, after all the drying is done. So, what I am getting at is that it is usually more about technique with the dryer nozzle than any other grooming tool.

I also start each of my girls in a different spot. I start with their “problem“ spots and go from there. I always blow the with the coat in those areas and only blow against the grain at the very end, when I check for dryness at the base of the hair shaft. A tip I always keep in mind is when you think you are done, you have about 20 more minutes of drying on a well coated dog.

I hope something in my ramblings helps.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

If he were 6 months old, I'd say give it a little more time.

13 months old - it's either the coat, or it's not.

In and around dog shows, have definitely seen dogs whose coats are not just wavy, but I'd go so far as call them curly. Those coats are a ton of work for the handlers and owners. Have definitely seen that.

Your dog has ripples along the topline - which I suspect means he's one of those with a wavy coat. Doesn't mean you can't get it a smidge smoother, but..... basically, the dog will still have a ripple, but you can minimize the flips with how you groom/dry him. How often you groom/dry him, etc. As well, looking at your dog's neck and ruff, I see where a lot of us would thin it out a little bit.... which would also help.

The ones where they aren't completely dry when let off the table, you see they have "angel wings" around the butt and sides. Generally... 

If it's not actually the coat - I'd ask how often you bathe him and dry him. Most dogs won't have the coats trained to lie smooth in just one bath/dry session. It's bathing and grooming the dogs every week or every other week.

What your drying technique is - kinda matters too.

Have seen some folks give advice to only blow the way the coat flows, and this is faulty advice when dealing with a dog who has a thick undercoat. If you are only blowing the way the coat flows, you are not getting the undercoat dry. Dog seems dry, but when you let him off the table - he shakes moisture out of that undercoat and it flips the top coat.

When I dry my guys - I blow the coat upwards and keep blowing until I don't see or feel moisture blowing out.... and then I blow the coat back the way it should flow. I repeat this over and over until I'm pretty satisfied that the undercoat is completely dry.

I do use a pin brush when drying - and this is more about lifting the coat so I can get at the undercoat. I do not use the pin brush to get the coat to lie smooth/flat.

When I'm done drying (coat is completely dry), I normally spritz with a H2O spray (hydrating mist) or I smooth conditioner over the top coat and finish with a slicker.


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## Jennyoarmstrong (Jul 18, 2020)

LJack said:


> He will always have a wave to his coat but your drying technique can help tame/lay it down. I personally rarely use a brush or a comb and the dryer at the same time. I only do that at shows where I am working for high level show coat look and only on small sections of coat. At home the brush and comb only come out at the end, after all the drying is done. So, what I am getting at is that it is usually more about technique with the dryer nozzle than any other grooming tool.
> 
> I also start each of my girls in a different spot. I start with their “problem“ spots and go from there. I always blow the with the coat in those areas and only blow against the grain at the very end, when I check for dryness at the base of the hair shaft. A tip I always keep in mind is when you think you are done, you have about 20 more minutes of drying on a well coated dog.
> 
> I hope something in my ramblings helps.


Thank you for the tip! I will try without any brushing next time until the end and se if that helps.


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## Jennyoarmstrong (Jul 18, 2020)

Megora said:


> If he were 6 months old, I'd say give it a little more time.
> 
> 13 months old - it's either the coat, or it's not.
> 
> ...



Great ideas in here, thank you! He is bathed about every 2 weeks. I also have a Newfie so I'm used to a lot of coat and a lot of drying time  I will try the pinbrush as well, I always forget I have that one as the slicker and comb are my usual go to. I'll also try a hydrating mist or conditioning spray next time.

If I were to thin out his neck/ruff, would I use the thinning shears for that?


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Why are you concerned with straightening out his coat? Form follows function, the standard doesn't penalize waves in a coat. 

Coat and Color: ......... Much more important than color in any assessment of the coat, is the texture. It must be firm, resilient, dense, and water-repellent with a good undercoat and lying close to the body. It may be either straight or wavy! *Often coats with a slight wave have a more correct texture.* Soft, limp, silky coats absorb water and lack the protective qualities of a correct coat. Excessive body coat and furnishings are not in keeping with the function of the breed as a hunting dog and should be faulted. On land, excessive coat can get caught on brush and will tend to pick up all manner of debris that can take hours to brush out of the coat*. *_*In the water, excessive coat, especially soft coat, will absorb a considerable amount of water, making it more work for the dog to swim. The dog will tire much more easily as a result of dragging all that extra weight around.* _
Here's the link to see all the photos:
GRCA Study Guide


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## Jennyoarmstrong (Jul 18, 2020)

nolefan said:


> Why are you concerned with straightening out his coat? Form follows function, the standard doesn't penalize waves in a coat.
> 
> Coat and Color: ......... Much more important than color in any assessment of the coat, is the texture. It must be firm, resilient, dense, and water-repellent with a good undercoat and lying close to the body. It may be either straight or wavy! *Often coats with a slight wave have a more correct texture.* Soft, limp, silky coats absorb water and lack the protective qualities of a correct coat. Excessive body coat and furnishings are not in keeping with the function of the breed as a hunting dog and should be faulted. On land, excessive coat can get caught on brush and will tend to pick up all manner of debris that can take hours to brush out of the coat*. *_*In the water, excessive coat, especially soft coat, will absorb a considerable amount of water, making it more work for the dog to swim. The dog will tire much more easily as a result of dragging all that extra weight around.* _
> Here's the link to see all the photos:
> GRCA Study Guide


Not really concerned about it, just curious if this is his coat or will it get longer/straighter as he grows another year. I've seen other Goldens with a straighter coat and am realizing now that there are several different types of coat. He won't be shown so I won't be putting too much effort into it. Just enjoying playing around with it to see if I should be doing something different. I appreciate the description above and absolutely agree that form follows function and a correct coat is most important.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

nolefan said:


> Why are you concerned with straightening out his coat? Form follows function, the standard doesn't penalize waves in a coat.
> 
> Coat and Color: ......... Much more important than color in any assessment of the coat, is the texture. It must be firm, resilient, dense, and water-repellent with a good undercoat and lying close to the body. It may be either straight or wavy! *Often coats with a slight wave have a more correct texture.* Soft, limp, silky coats absorb water and lack the protective qualities of a correct coat. Excessive body coat and furnishings are not in keeping with the function of the breed as a hunting dog and should be faulted. On land, excessive coat can get caught on brush and will tend to pick up all manner of debris that can take hours to brush out of the coat*. *_*In the water, excessive coat, especially soft coat, will absorb a considerable amount of water, making it more work for the dog to swim. The dog will tire much more easily as a result of dragging all that extra weight around.* _
> Here's the link to see all the photos:
> GRCA Study Guide


Whoever wrote that was not talking about the very typical show coat on an intact dog. A correct coat is not "soft" no matter how much coat a dog has. Likewise, it is not silky or limp. If you get your hands on a dog who has a correct coat, you might think "soft" and "silky" - but I'd invite you to then get hand on a spaniel that actually has a silky coat. There is a difference.

Flippies and waves on a dog coat do not mean it is more correct than coats that lie smooth. Have seen dogs whose coats are all curls, and you can tell by looking at the coat that it is pure cotton (ie soaks like a sponge).

BTW - the below pics are the same dog, same year, wearing the same coat.

This was a dog who had taken to water at 10 weeks old and all his life, swam like a fish. Coat did not weigh him down any more than my long hair does. 

We have ten million burrs around our house + the dogs frequently were taken out to swimmy spots that involved running through burr bushes (including nasty hard shell burrs) to get to the water. Those burrs stuck to EVERYTHING. I'd be wearing jeans and really had to stop and yank with tweezers to get them off.

With the dogs I kept olive oil or some other kind of oil to make the coat slippery + slicker. That's how I quickly removed burrs.

I guarantee I had an easier time than most people out there with neutered/spayed hunting dogs with fuzzy cottony coats. 

There was one golden in particular that was spayed at 5 months old and I remember feeling her coat and looking at the owner wondering if she was OK with a lifetime of grooming her dog to keep matts out. Her coat was uber soft and fuzzy from being spayed early. If your dog has soft frizzles on his/her ears, that's what this dog's coat felt like -- but all over.


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