Dumb Hair Question

[Tommy Coyote]

Are smooth coat and rough coat completely different genetically? You know what i mean. You either get a smooth or a rough?

 

The reason I'm asking is that my puppy seems to be the missing link. His hair feels like a smooth coat - the guard hairs are really stiff. He looks like a smooth coat but his coat just keeps getting longer. The hair on his back is fairly long and wavy. His collar is longer, too.

 

What do I call him?

 

He's so cute. He has airplane ears and freckles on his nose and sometimes his tongue sticks out.

[Sue R]

I sometimes wonder how complicated it all is. Dan has very long and silky guard hairs but very little undercoat at all. Celt has medium-long guard hairs and some undercoat. Megan has wavy, medium-long guard hairs and more undercoat than either of the boys.

 

I've seen short-haired dogs that were very slick (seemed to have little undercoat) and some that had very thick and dense short coats (lots of undercoat?).

 

I know there's an answer in the genetics but my way of dealing with it is that, "It is what it is."

[Tommy Coyote]

Maybe I could call him a ruffy smoothy coat.

 

Whatever it is his coat is wonderful. He gets out and plays in the water gets mud all over him and all over his face. And just as soon as he dries off his whole coat is clean and shiny again. Talk about a no care coat.

 

Tommy almost looked like a smooth coat for the first couple of years. She ended up being kind of a short rough coat. Her hair is probably two inches long and pretty curly. She is really curly down her back. Didn't someone say that it's the Scottish dogs that are curly on their backs like that? She is all Scottish dogs. And her coat is pretty care free, too.

 

Zeke is a true rough coat and his coat is completely no maintenance, too.

[5Bordercollies]

Zorro has probably the longest hair of all my dogs, but his coat is pretty self cleaning. Meg has her father's coat just shorter at the moment. but she's still young, just under a year, so it might grow longer. I actually hope not. Heaven knows she doesn't need it where we live. Xena's coat is usually best described as a mess. I haven't shaved her down this year, but of all my dogs she is the one who mats the easiest. All of them have thick undercoats so loads of brushing. Rusty didn't used to have such a full undercoat, but after her spay surgery earlier this year she seems to have gained some serious undercoat. Interesting Tommy what you mentioned about the Scottish dogs and their curly backs. Rusty's mom is from Scottish descend and she has this very curly hair on her back. It's so beautiful. Zorro just a long flowing coat, beautiful, but can be quite high maintenance.

But yeah I think Sue R nailed it, I'm too stupid for all this generics to try and figure out what kind of coats they really have. It is what it is. So what if he's a ruffy smooth coat? Or a full coat? Or a smooth?

[GentleLake]

I thought there was only rough and smooth, though not all rough and smooths are exactly the same. Roughs in general have a lot of variation, from pretty short through almost Rough Collie-like.

 

Am I wrong?

[Sue R]

No, I think you are right that there essentially are only rough and smooth. But, there seem to be many "varieties" of rough (varying length; straight, curly, wavey; sparse to abundant undercoat; different textures like silky and soft or more brittle and stiff) and several of smooth (texture, like silky or stiffer; abundance or lack of undercoat). I don't know what is attributable to genetics and what may be attributable to environment, but it sure provides for variety!

[Liz P]

There is rough, smooth or wire coated. It seems there are many modifier genes that control exact length, density and texture.

 

I do believe that both males in his litter were rough coats. Sometimes the new guard hairs in adolescent dogs can make them look like they are smoothies. Could be wrong though. Ask Pam.

 

Rowan is definitely a smooth coat, but she has a denser, longer coat than most smoothies (more like a GSD).

[Gloria Atwater]

In general, border collies come in Rough or Smooth coats. But, that said, there is SO much variation within each that it defies any specific definitions.

For example, my boy, Nick, is definitely a smooth coat, but the ruff around his neck is at least an inch and a half long and he has actual skirts on his butt. Someone once referred to him as a "rough smooth coat." In contrast, a friend of mine has a smooth bitch of different breeding who is SO bare-skinned, it sometimes seems as if she barely has fur.

My old dog, Jesse, was a rough coat, but only in his senior years did he really develop pantaloons in the hind end, while my first wee border collie bitch only weighed about 30 pounds but she had so much coat that she looked twice her size and her tail was so long and full she literally stood on the end of it.

Also, stiff, wavy, un-fluffy guard hairs can happen to both smooth and rough coats. Nick's sister, Gael, has a hard outer coat and is smooth, while a friend has a rough bitch whose outter coat is just as hard and un-fluffy.

All of which is to say that your dog may be a rough or smooth coat, but his variation of it will be his very own.

~ Gloria

[WildFlower]

I have 2 smooth coats and 1 rough coat. The two smoothies are so different. Devon has longer hairs and has practically no under coat. He still has a slight ruff around his face, longer hairs on the backs of his legs, and a nice looking tail. Teak on the other hand, has short length hairs and some serious under coat. She sheds worse than my rough coated girl. She has a tiny bit of ruff around her face, no pants on the backs of her legs, and an ugly tail that looks like a pipe cleaner.

[Tommy Coyote]

Pam thought Joey would be a rough coat. I just don't know. He sure looks like a smooth coat to me but that might really change as he gets older. His hair is definitely still growing. The hair on the back of his legs is just now beginning to come in.

 

It's pouring down rain here this morning. My dogs all look like mud puppies. I need to find some kind of special blanket to put over my bed in bad weather. I was looking at an Orvis catelog and they have a really nice cover but man it's expensive.

[Gloria Atwater]

Do you have a Costco near you? They often sell dog blankets that you can throw on your bed. That's what I have over our quilts and bedding - mainly for the cats, but for dogs, too.

~ Gloria

P.S.
They're called Kirkland Signature Pet Throws. They're about $25 bucks, I think, if you do shop Costco.

[Gloria Atwater]

Also, thrift stores are great places to find throws or old blankets to toss over your bedding for pets.

[mum24dog]

Tommy almost looked like a smooth coat for the first couple of years. She ended up being kind of a short rough coat. Her hair is probably two inches long and pretty curly. She is really curly down her back. Didn't someone say that it's the Scottish dogs that are curly on their backs like that? She is all Scottish dogs. And her coat is pretty care free, too.

 

Curly coats can crop up all over the place and often coats get longer and thicker with age.

 

Generally we call dogs short, medium or long coated, with long being qualified as heavy sometimes if particularly dense.

 

Calling a BC rough can cause misunderstanding because Rough Collies are Lassie collies and calling a BC smooth causes confusion because a Smooth Collie is the short coated variety of the Rough Collie.

 

Most commonly medium coated dogs would be those with longish hair that lies flat like a short coat, but sometimes a fine coated dog with a free hanging coat might be described as medium coated to distinguish it from the woolly bear type.

 

We know what we mean; terms mean whatever the group using them think they mean. Kye is strictly medium coated but I call him short coated because of his general appearance. It's only obvious how long his coat is when you ruffle it up and I wouldn't advise a stranger to try that!

[Tommy Coyote]

I read never to buy bedding from a thrift store. They can have bedbugs. I don't know if that's true but it sounds plausible.

 

No, I don't belong to Costco. I never need to buy anything in bulk. But i bet I could find someplace else that sells that brand.

 

I know a rescuer that actually put a tarp over her bed - one of those brown waxy feeling ones. The cats kept peeing on the bed.

[Jescano]

No, I don't belong to Costco. I never need to buy anything in bulk. But i bet I could find someplace else that sells that brand.

Kirkland is costco's brand.

[gcv-border]

I read never to buy bedding from a thrift store. They can have bedbugs. I don't know if that's true but it sounds plausible.

Check the policy of the thrift store. People are more savvy about bedbugs than previously. In my area, there is a thrift store that sells Orvis dog beds for 1/3 of retail. They are beds that have been returned to Orvis for various reasons, and instead of returning them to stock and reselling them (not possible anyway for the personalized beds), Orvis will donate/sell them to this organization (and maybe others, IDK). At least that is the story that was related to me.

 

All the beds have a tag on them that indicates that they were "sterilized". I don't know how they accomplish that for stuffed beds, but it gives me a level of comfort. I noticed that any used bedding for humans (coverlets, quilts, etc.) also bear the same "sterilized" tag.

 

Jovi

[Maralynn]

I buy cheap fleece blankets at Menards on Black Friday. They're usually less that $2/each and I pick up 6 or so each year and I put a couple on top of my bed and use them wherever I need a dog blanket. Easy to wash as much as needed and cheap enough to throw away if needed (which I rarely do - for cheap blankets they hold up pretty decent)