Is this a double or single coat?

[Laurelin]

Everyone has told me from pictures Hank looks like he has a single coat:

Dry hair

Wet hair

Wet:

Vs Dry:

[/url]

But looking at the pics of the hair I pull off him...

[/url]

There are long thicker hairs that are mostly white and shorter, softer hairs that are black/grey? They are very downy feeling. And yeah, it's weird. Most of his hair is actually black but he looks mostly white?

 

[*blackrose]

He has....a short, double coat? Looks like the hair that I'd brush off a Labrador, Corgi, or Cattle Dog.. not like a Jack russel, Pointer, or Dalmation.

But then again, I think all dogs tend to have hair like that if they aren't smooth coated? I have no idea. Haha

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah I'm thinking it's some bizarrely short double coat. I've just usually seen double coats not lay as flat as his does and have a little more 'plush' to them?

The papillons definitely don't have double coat. All their hair is the same thickness and length.

 

[Applebear]

Looks single coat to me, but I'm no expert...as I'm very use to double coats. But I just took out my deshedder [like the furminator] and tried it on Rip and got the same soft fluff with the stiff, straight hairs like your pics above. I'm *pretty* sure Rip is a single coat.

I can share pics if you want of the fluffy stuff I brushed out, if you want.

Again, no expert...lol I'm use to Chows with the obviously undercoat and Rip is first I've had with a really short, sleek coat. I just thought of it as single because it's really nothing like the double coats I've had.

 

[BostonBanker]

His coat looks pretty similar to Meg's, right down to the brushed out fluff and the way it sticks out a bit on the back of the hind legs.

I call it a double coat. I could be wrong. She's got more undercoat than Gusto for sure.

 

[Annabell]

From my understanding, dogs with short, thin hair have single coats (think boxers, GSPs, Weims, etc.). Also dogs with longer coats, but the hair is still thin and all of it is one length have single coats as well (think paps, LHWs, etc.). A double coat is called that because they have two different layers: the downy undercoat and the coarser top layer. A double coated dog can be anything from a husky to a lab to an ACD. Any dog that you can brush that much hair off of definitely does not have a single coat.

I would say that Hank has a double coat (albeit a short one). It looks like he has a dark undercoat and the top layer is white, giving him a lighter appearance. Dogs tend to shed their undercoat more than their overcoat, so that is why when you brush him most of the hair is dark.

Again, I'm no groomer, but this is my understanding of dog fur (and please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[FG167]

Looks double coat to me, very much like Limit's

 

[amberdyan]

Hugo's fur is like that and I call him double coated. He has the stiff black/brown hairs on top, and then soft downy black fur underneath. He doesn't have much undercoat, but it comes out on the furminator just like Hanks does.

 

[Applebear]

Curious, makes me wonder what Rip's is now...his coat is shorter than Hanks, but I know he has at least one breed in him with a double coat so who knows.

 

[MicksMom]

...
[/url]

But looking at the pics of the hair I pull off him...

[/url]

Looks like what I've brushed out of Labs and the Siberian/GSD mix we had.

...
There are long thicker hairs that are mostly white and shorter, softer hairs that are black/grey? They are very downy feeling. And yeah, it's weird. Most of his hair is actually black but he looks mostly white?

And the bolded part describes the undercoat I've brushed out of the dogs I just mentioned (although the Labs undercoat was more of a cream color, and the Sibe/GSD's white). So, yeah, I'd say Hank has a double coat.

 

[Julee]

Double coat.

 

[stardogs]

Kes, Aeri, and Snipe all have a similar coat and I've always considered it double as well. The soft fluff is the undercoat imo.

 

[milos_mommy]

It looks like a double coat to me!

 

[RD]

I'm with the people who say he has a double coat. It's not a thick double coat, but it's a double coat.

 

[pinkspore]

I'd definitely call that a double coat. A lot of people think Brisbane has a double coat because he's a bit fluffy, but his hair is all one length and it's very easy to part it and see his skin. There's no soft fluff when I brush him.