Can I ask that you have a look in the photo gallery please at the pic I have uploaded of Red ( he is hiding in the front seat of the car ) - he has a coat like a bear - I was told liver WCs tend to have hairier coats but I have never ever seen a coat like it on a dog - he is now just over 7months and is perfectly healthy in every way - but the coat just has me puzzled??? any comments and or explanation would be appreciated. Thanks:)

Yikes! that is quite hairy. Saw one a couple of weeks ago that had an even longer coat though! My liver cocker has less coat than our other dogs. I use a stripping comb to keep it tidy but I suspect that wouldn't be much use in red's case? Scree's coat was a lot longer and fluffier when he was younger and it improved considerably when I changed his food. 

Um, I have one like that!! I hate her coat.

The best way is to hand strip it, either with a stripping comb or out on a pair of marigolds and pull out small amounts of hair using your thumb and fore finger. It takes ages...... but well worth it.

Just looked at the picture - wow! 

Sorry I can't help with how to deal with it but I do know three liver boys (related) with fairly wild coats, maybe not quite as hairy as Red but still hairier than usual so you're not alone!

Crumbs, that's a hairy dog!  The only time I've seen anything like that was on a Collie cross after she was spayed.  She had to make periodic trips to the doggy beauty salon for a trim up.

Hi

My cocker is chocolate with scruffy coat - but good news -  my springer was exactly the same - I was shocked to be asked at training class if he was a cross - my husband was taken aback as he has an excellent pedigree.  My springer now has the best silky coat ever - I think it will just fall - but it will take time.  I can't post him on here as he's a springer and don't want to offend anyone but I can email you a pick if you want me to  -  so don't worry it will come out - I have just looked back at pics on works pc and he was still quite `shaggy' at a year - but at 2 years it's all gone.  Wished I'd documented in more detail - don't they look so skinny when wet - different dog  I do remember that !! 

I loved it and quite missed it - he even lost his curly crown - he's a great pedigree it's just a wierd thing - my hand would disappear in the fluff.

Enjoy - it will soon be gone.

Dimmy 

It doesn't always just fall out as they get older. I have found that f you start to hand strip when they are pups, it i easier to remove when they are older.

Also, since mine have been living outdoors, their coats have got woolier!!

Just on the subject to pooch salons. Does anyone know of a good place to take their dog to, plus know what to ask for - I'm very comfortable asking for a short back and sides for my barnet, but how do you describe how you want your dog to look after a trim.....?

I'm thinking of getting Jack trimmed as he is picking up so many seeds and burrs in his feathering and doing it now will give it time to grow back before winter sets in.....

Thanks everyone - I have tried various stripping methods ( for Red not me LOL) by  hand the hair is firmly staying put. I am using a stripping mane and tail comb that I use on my horses and that is bringing it out - very slowly but painlessly. I have been put in touch with a groomer who specialieses in " working haircuts" and will not touch his coat till October, then again in April - but like Dimmy, I will miss it.  However was asked if he was a Cockapoo -

The trouble is that if you start clipping it tends to make matters worse. Something to do with disturbing the balance of the undercoat I think.

One of my cockers has really thick feathering that really attract any sticky seed around. A week ago they were at their worst but after a week of battering around in sticky buds and brambles together with combing all the rubbish out, it has thinned considerably. He had quite a long coat till he was around 18 months old but now it's about perfect.

This makes me feel lucky really, Ollie must "self strip" judging by the number of black hairs he leaves everywhere

He looks FAB!! 

 I bet it will fall out like baby fur when he is a bit older, having one that never grows any feathers or a top not I am very envious of you having a baby bear....  

Seriously I would just keep using a comb and seeing what natures intends if you cut strip clip now you will have flat hair end which always appear fluffier so just "bear" with it. 

Hi Red

I was amused to hear of your wonderful cocker being called a cockapoo - as I said my springer was the same - I was always warned against clipping as it isn't the best for the coat and more natural hair loss would be better.  Coco often meets another cocker who is fully clipped and I hate it - I prefer the natural look - but i understand if you are working them it's easier - cockapoo my eye !!!! 

I'm going to look out my early springer picks if I can find them on my old PC to reassure you - I'll post a further reply if I find them.

I too think he's just great - take lots of picks coz I reckon all too soon it will go.

Dimmy

Thanks Dimmy!! and Sharon, personally I love the hair bear look and now wont have him clipped, will keep stripping as suggested also Dimmy I would love to see your pics.:)

Hi Red

I am at work at present with the dogs following bee stings this morning to keep an eye on them!!! So I don't have my best fluffy pics for you of my springer from 3 months when at his shaggiest,  to put your mind at rest.  But i have uploaded a couple of six months shots, then 8 months and then now really just to show it has just fallen out.  Nothing but grooming and not excessively to be honest.  Even his very hairy crown has gone completely.  I hope I don't offend anyone with springer picks.

So enjoy, don't worry - my cocker has a scruffy coat to be honest and we call him hair bear so i don't think he will ever be sleek but just as beautiful eh.

Dimmy:)

So sorry to hear about the bee stings :-( thats horrible. Thanks for the pics, off to nosey. :-)

Offend anyone, doubt it very much!

Hi Red

You'll see he's not as shaggy at 7 months as yours is but  you can see from my not so good photos that he has lost it and now he's so silky.  Not a scruff bag like my Coco.

Dimmy

Following the posting to review our photos and remove anything not needed to improve bandwith I will remove my springer pics.

Dimmy

My black bitch turned almost over night into a raggy mat from a silky sheen and as she has to be pinned down for grooming,  the idea of hand stripping her  was too stressful to consider. So I buzzed her with clippers, I have always tidied Ellie (lemon roan in picture)up myself  but she will let me unlike Molly! Anyway I also know a liver cocker Conker and he is a woolly bear and we put it down to castration at 6 months! Especially when Molly produced an Afgan coat after we had her spayed but I am suprised to find it happening naturally! Anyway WCs are meant to work hard not look pretty!

Wowzers, never seen one with that much coat before!

Is he castrated? I'm guessing not as he's still quite young, but that can cause woolyness?

Sometimes thyroid problems can cause a lot (or a lack) of coat, but if he's otherwise healthy I wouldn't expect that to be the case.

Lucy did get quite fluffy around the same age, and didn't fully 'smooth out' until she was about 2, so he may lose some of it yet!

(and I'd find it very hard not to be rude to anyone who called my cocker a cockerpoo! It's bad enough when I get told, not asked, TOLD, that she's a sprocker!!)