"out of coat"

WrylyBrindle

What does Out of Coat mean? Is a dog "In Coat" all winter with their fluff, and "out of coat" in the summer when they dont have all that undercoat? Are dog shows scheduled for when dogs will be In Coat- ie- Is it silly to have a show in the spring when all the dogs are blowing out their winter fluff? Or is Out of coat just between their winter and summer coats? I only know that for trapping purposes you want the winter coat...

Crispy

That's how I always interpreted it! I don't know what it actually means, if that's not the case.

white_bear

Out of coat = usually means the dog has no undercoat, you usually say a dog in not yet in full coat if the undercoat is 1/2 grown. My JAs are silly, they can be out of coat in the middle of winter and be in coat during summer months. Being in coat/out of coat is connected to the weather, heat cycles for females (usually they are in coat when in season to be more attractive to males) and supply of coat supplements. You can artificially bring a dog in coat with biotin and fish oil. Dog shows are not scheduled based on when dogs are in coat or not for the simple reason that there are many breeds that have no undercoat, hence no coat problems :-)

lindsayt

What she said

Calia

'Out of coat' is basically the period after they shed and before they grow in a new under coat. During that period, their coats can look pretty bad even to the point of having semi-bald stops.

PoetikDragon

@WrylyBrindle What you refer to as a "summer coat" is what it means to be out of coat, however, I have found that season has nothing to do with it. My females blow their coat before they come into heat. My male and my spayed American Akita blow their coat whenever they damn well feel like it (feels like every 4 months).

WrylyBrindle

none of mine blow coat to a shocking degree (tho Matsu is too young to say) but they def have thicker coats in winter. They do have undercoat in summer- not as much as winter, but they never get bald spots. I think their coats always look pretty nice, so perhaps there is level of nuance to it that escapes me. Lord knows we have plenty of difference between winter and summer.

PoetikDragon

We don't have seasons in California. Its basically Spriautumn year round. Even our coldest, rainiest winters would be considered autumn (or early spring) in other places. And the punishing heat of our late August doesn't compare to, say, Texas or any gulf state.

So perhaps because we lack seasons, being "in coat" is always the same regardless of the time of year, and "out of coat" is that much more noticeable. My dogs also do not blow coat to a shocking degree or get bald spots. There is still a significant difference to being in and out of coat though.

Losech

Conker is going to have a horrid blow this year. His undercoat was basically nonexistent when we went to Alaska, and it grew in so thick I can hardly dig my fingers down to his skin. I am not looking forwards to that all shedding out come spring...
It's a bit obnoxious since he overheats easily now, that was never an issue in other winters.

He's never gotten actual bald spots but the fur gets very thin in some places when he's blowing coat.

oddball

We don't have seasons in California. Its basically Spriautumn year round. Even our coldest, rainiest winters would be considered autumn (or early spring) in other places. And the punishing heat of our late August doesn't compare to, say, Texas or any gulf state.

I moved to Texas from Socal and I gotta say it gets hotter in Corona, Riverside, Palm Springs area than it does here in DFW but out there its at least dry heat. The humidity here can be rediculous at times. But the trade-off is that we have a winter season with some snow here and there.

curlytails

I think of being "out of coat" as... OMG, he has finally RUN OUT of coat to blow!

sunyata

@curlytails, my sentiments exactly! Although, the 'out of coat' season in my house lasts about 2 weeks... :-/

sjp051993

My dogs always go out of coat right before I enter them in a show. I don't notice it is bad with the Kai as I do the shiba. Kuma is driving me nuts because he is coming back into coat so slowly.

WrylyBrindle

So that now sounds like "out of coat" is a short period between coat cycles, seasonal of otherwise...between winter and summer coats, or summer and winter coats, or the 4 month coat as the case may be for some...

PoetikDragon

I still say out of coat and this "summer coat" is the same thing. Lacking a full coat is lacking a full coat, regardless what time of year it happens in.

WrylyBrindle

So would you say that a dog can be out of coat for 6 months?

mine have undercoat all year round, but they are def thicker/denser in the winter in the winter than in the summer.

I know- this is all splitting hairs, isnt it?

MapleTwinkie

I was gonna say, places that have more definable seasons will probably have dogs that adjust their coat blowing accordingly. The neighbours' Malamute does it on cue according to the seasons here (which is either very hot or very cold and in between!)

Trzcina

I should find pictures of my Lapphund out of coat vs. in coat... I know I have some, and with her coat type it's -very- obvious. She goes from fluffy (though still relatively short-coated for a show-type Finnish Lapphund) to basically naked, no undercoat at all and some very, very thin patches (especially on her flanks/belly) where she almost has bald spots (like @Calia mentioned).

Oddly, her tail always remains fluffy. I'm not sure if this is true of all dogs, but it's true of most Lapphunds I've met that were out of coat. They end up looking very silly with their scrawny out-of-coat bodies and (comparatively) tremendously fluffy tails :P

Despite being in Michigan, she sometimes blows coat in the middle of winter. That said, we've had some weird winters the last couple years so that may be why. Her summer coat -is- thinner and less fluffy than her in-coat winter coat, but I wouldn't consider it fully out of coat--it's not full coat, but it's not the "Oh you poor scraggly naked dog..." coat she gets when she's just gotten done blowing coat.

Edit: Comparative pictures of in and out of coat on my Finnish Lapphund:
In coat, practicing a recall!
In coat.
Can see her in-coat ruff here.
And one more in-coat.
Full body, out of coat
Closer shot, out of coat
Again out of coat, wind blowing her outer coat around.

WrylyBrindle

Matsu is now blowing coat like a small buffalo. It's July. Like others before me, I worry he'll have nothing left when its done, but really its just dark, soft wool, not the guard coat. Sage has dumped coat a few times over the years, but this seems more extreme. Im figuring out the way to use the rake- brushing him backward and with shorter strokes and a lifting motion seems to just 'scoop' up the chunks. He also seems now to enjoy being brushed, where before he had a really limited tolerance for sitting still and brushing was annoying for him NOW I think he says it feels good. I got a small mountain of fleece off him- all light black. My other dogs are all redder and their fleece is gold/cream, so this is a little different. There's a lot of coat to go... but I am excited for his new adult winter coat to come in this fall and see what he 'really' looks like.

Myabee09

Shelby hasn't blown her coat at all yet... Could that be the lack of winter down south?

WrylyBrindle

@MontanaKai said Orry is blowing coat too, so I think the northern pups in our litter are all dumping the old, getting ready for the new. Matsu never shed anything before now, i think he still has puppy fuzz (well, no longer!)

Losech

Conker's blown his twice this year. We had some odd temperature swings this spring...
Anywho, first one was a couple months ago, but it wasn't very much. Second time I just gave up brushing and am letting it turn into fluffies and fall out in hunks. He's still shedding right now.

Juneau also blew her coat and she had absolutely NO undercoat at all. I thought there was something wrong with her since I have never seen that happen to her before, but the summer coat grew in recently so I guess it was just a drastic shed.

TheWalrus

All my dogs are blowing coat now. My house looks like the furpocalypse has struck.

sjp051993

We just finished coat blowing here. Tora blew her coat hard this time. She is nothing but guard hairs. Guess she heard me mention possibly showing her soon. She put a stop to that. Kuma has a nice summer coat going right now. He has undercoat, but not as much as he carries in the winter.

violet_in_seville

Our two keep going in and out of coat blow for months now. They've also recently been decimating the local wildlife population stupid enough to wander into our yard, so a ton of baths (though our girl is too prissy to bathe in the blood of her slain enemies the way our boy does). It's still a furpocalypse though.

WrylyBrindle

Ha Ha! @violet_in_seville ah, that made me laugh!

I appreciate Reilly a lot right now- she's got very little undercoat and doesnt go thru this. She's my biggest dog but sheds the least. Although she never complains she does appreciate a jacket in the vermont mountain winter. The other three could stuff a mattress with all the fur they are dumping.

Juno says "You can comb my chest and shoulders, but dont touch my pants!"

Crispy

London and Ayla have begun coat-blow. TK hasn't blown his coat since the beginning of the summer and isn't showing any indication of starting (yet).

I'm very fortunate that all my dogs love being groomed... but the HAIR. I've never lived in a place with wall-to-wall rugs - my apartment is pretty much always a mess.