Question about Lab Coats

[Abulafia]

Hi All—

Our girl (4.5 months today) has a very thick, hard lab coat, with a distinct and pronounced wave from lower neck to her tail. This is standard in her line. I have attached a few photos below, each more unflattering than the previous (and yes, she looks huge in the one at her water bucket, but this was taken two days after the one with the flowers).

Anyway: she has a very hard, thick coat, with a very strong wave down the back.

I know that not all Labs have the wave, and that it doesn't make her any better or worse than any others. People comment on it a lot—usually along the lines of "does she have poodle in her? She doesn't look all Lab" (yeah, whatever), but to me she just has a pretty typical Lab coat. Maybe a little on the thick side. But typical.

However, I have a friend who has a Lab (rescue) who has a very soft coat. It's not really long-haired, but it's certainly longer than my puppy's, and it's very soft. Not all the way to fluffy—but soft.

By way of asking (and hoping not to offend anyone): are soft-coated Labs common? I'd thought that my friend's dog was a mix, but when I first asked him—years ago—"So, what else is he?"—I got the "He's *all* Lab!" comment, and never asked again (though I didn't mean it as an insult—the dog is beautiful, smart, and kind.

Thoughts? I'm really just curious, nothing more. My friend's dog strikes me as having something other than Lab, but I just can't place it. Flat-coated retriever? I wonder if he has some of that in him... I only know what I don't think it is. The dog looks very lab-y in face and body; it's just the coat that seems inconsistent (but I admit that I may be wrong about most Labs having hard coats).

[TuMicks]

Looks fully "Labbish" to me. Some wave is OK according to the breed standard.

[CraftHer]

Mocha had the wave when he was a puppy. His hair straightened out as he grew up. His hair was also very soft. His coat is still smooth, but it's not the puppy soft it was when he was little. Although his ears are still puppy soft.

So, in the picture with the flower, is that the split second before she snatched the flower? That's what Mocha would have done

[POPTOP]

I've had labs with and without waves. Totally acceptable. I think you'll find it straightens out some as she gets older.

The black labs we have had, had more of a hard outer coat and soft undercoat. The yellows have had more of a soft coat. Don't know if that is always the way. You will find that your puppy's coat will change with age.

One real cutie!

[Labradorks]

The breed, as a whole, runs the gamut.

Whether or not they meet the standard is another conversation.

But the big question is how the standard is interpreted by the public, breeders and judges.

Coats come with and without undercoat. Short. Long. Soft. Wiry. Wavy. Straight. Curly.

Sizes are all over the board. Short. Tall. 40 lbs. 120 lbs. Long legs. Short legs. You name it.

[Annette47]

Mulder and his daughter Chloe both had fairly wavy, dense coats. They were/are both black. Your pup’s coat looks a lot like theirs. Chloe’s two puppies, Cookie and Sassy (4.5 months) both have very nice coats but they are completely different. Cookie’s is like a yellow version of her mom’s ... very wavy down the back. Sassy’s is a very dense double coat but perfectly straight with no wave at all. They are different shades of yellow too.

Both of their coats feel slightly harsh, especially along the spine where their adult coat has completely come in, but Sassy’s overall does feel a little bit softer than Cookie’s - I think she has a denser undercoat. When they were newborn’s, Cookies was fluffy like a cotton ball and Sassy’s was smooth like a thick velvet.

One thing that can affect it is how often they are bathed .... bathing the coat frequently with soap can strip it of the oils that add to the harsher weatherproofing leaving a softer feeling coat.

[dxboon]

A proper Labrador coat is thick/dense with a hard top coat and soft undercoat. Your dog has a correct coat; your friend's dog's coat is not correct based on your written description. Below from the standard:

Coat—
The coat is a distinctive feature of the Labrador Retriever. It should be short, straight, and very dense, giving a fairly hard feeling to the hand. The Labrador should have a soft, weather-resistant undercoat that provides protection from water, cold and all types of ground cover. A slight wave down the back is permissible. Woolly coats, soft silky coats, and sparse slick coats are not typical of the breed, and should be severely penalized.

Labs are a head, coat, tail breed; therefore coat is a very important factor in this breed. If I have to shampoo my dogs, I make sure to use a hard coat shampoo, so as to preserve proper coat texture.

To answer your question as to whether "soft -coated Labs" are common -- yes, they are. Pretty much every fault that Labradors can have is common, because Labs are the most overbred, poorly-bred breed out there. There are hundreds of thousands of Labs registered each year. That means most Labradors are bred by people who do not have the standard in mind and who are not breeding for any purpose other than to produce pets.

[Snowshoe]

She sounds like she has a proper coat. Oban's outer coat is straight and in Canada, though a wave is permitted, all things being equal a wavy coat should not place as high as straight coat. Oban doesn't have a good coat. He's double coated but his under coat is sparse and it was weird. His under coat was not soft and fluffy but all hard, almost bristly and compacted. It was almost like a scratchy pad you'd scrub your pots with. Now, since his illness, it is softer. Maybe due to the TCM.

Our field trainer's Lab girl was three months younger than Oban and she had a very strange coat. Strange to me anyway. She is single coated but it's all soft and almost like sheared beaver. Very, very peculiar. I've seen and petted lots of single coated Labs but their coats were all more like any other short coated, single coated dog, like a Boxer or Dalmation. Hard coats, not soft, and a bit longer in the hair.

[Abulafia]

Mocha had the wave when he was a puppy. His hair straightened out as he grew up. His hair was also very soft. His coat is still smooth, but it's not the puppy soft it was when he was little. Although his ears are still puppy soft.

So, in the picture with the flower, is that the split second before she snatched the flower? That's what Mocha would have done

Yes, I wonder if her wave will straighten a bit. It is a really thick hard wave now; I see such a strong wave in some of the adults in her line, but most of them seem to have a softer wave. Her coast is smooth and hard / slick (does that make sense?), shiny like a seal's. But it's not "soft" in the "fluffy" sense.

My husband takes her to work with him every day (he's a contractor—so she goes to job sites with him), so that photo is from work. He assures me she didn't devour the flower!

[ZoeysMommy]

Zoey had a wave as a puppy, now its really only noticable when she is wet. She has a very thick undercoat with a softish top coat, she isnt as coarse as some coats ive felt