A Visitor asked the following question on 1/1/2007
Any of you experienced Collie breeders have any tips I would appreciate it.
I have a 21 month old male sable/white Collie. I also have a 6 month old female tri. I have had 5 Collies. My 21 month old male seems to be lacking the proper coat length and thickness compared to all the other Collie's I have had. Could he be just a late "bloomer"? I know it's kind of a tough question to answer. His sire and dam are quite furry, so are his grandparents on both sides. I have no idea about his siblings though.
He seems to not have hardly any undercoat at all. Even though we have had an unusually warm winter all of my other Collies have had huge amounts of coat even in July and August even though all have been dogs that live indoors. Even my 6 month old puppy has a GREAT deal of coat for her age. I know different lines mature differently but I was wondering if he IS just a late bloomer how long does it take some males to mature in this way? He is on a good food (Canidae) and he doesn't ever get table scraps and he is groomed about every 8-12 weeks. Any input from those that are experienced with this would be greatly appreciated.
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1/3/07
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Unfortunately coat is genetic, no matter what a dog food company will tell you. At 21 months, he might be a little bit of a "late bloomer" and might take another year to pick up more adult coat, but then again, he may not. The amount of undercoat is pretty much directly linked to genetics more then weather, light, food and what not. I have two dogs that are always in the house and they have tons of undercoat all the time and others of my dogs in the same conditions never have great undercoat. While you can help to improve it a little with good food, cool weather and wind, it can't compensate for a genetic lack of undercoat. Since your other dogs all have nice coat, chances are, he's just always going to lack it.
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Marla
LegendHold Collies
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