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First golden

2K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  Sweet Girl 
#1 ·
So this is our first golden for my husband and I and I was just curious about some things. Well really just one thing. He is over a year and a half and he still doesn’t have much feathering or the long silky coat. I know male dogs mature slower but I wasn’t sure if that he’s going in two years a reason to be concerned. So am I just being overly paranoid about him? Or is there something I’m missing ? Also here’s a look at our boy! ?
 

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#2 ·
Welcome to the forum, good looking boy.
Did you get him as a pup, if so did you get to see the parents?
Sometimes it takes a while for their coats to come in.

I adopted my current boy at age 2, he was 15-20 lbs underweight, turned into shelter as a stray so I don't know anything about his parents or background. His coat was thin and he didn't have the feathers. I started feeding him Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and stomach mainly because he was having stomach issues. An additional benefit of the food was that his coat and feathering came in because of it.
 
#3 ·
There is a range of desired attributes in goldens. Some, especially conformation show dogs, have a very full coat. Some, especially field lines, are bred to have a shorter coat. The best indicator is your pup’s parents. He has time to grow a bit more coat yet.
 
#4 ·
It really is based on a few things. Darker Golden's are more often from field lines, not always but more often. Field lines tend not to have that bigger/heavier coat that the show line have to help them in the field. You don't want a field dog with a ton of dense coat to tangle and knot up with debris. Also male Golden's don't get the heavy coat till around 2 maybe 2.5 years of age. The fact you're saying he's already close to 2 makes me think he's just not going to get that big dense coat.
 
#5 ·
Thank you All we did get him as a pup he’s always had a straight wavy coat which is fine. I just didn’t know if there were different coat standards in Golden’s. Here’s him as a pup. He wasn’t a real fluffy pup. His name is Remington. And I was trying to see what to expect.
 

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#7 · (Edited)
What did his parents look like?

One pretty big thing to point out is that you do NOT have just two styles of golden retrievers (conformation dogs with coat and field dogs with no coat). You have a very huge variety of dogs being bred in this very popular breed.

Majority of show lines have dogs bred to have coat. And this means that literally with show bred puppies, they will already have feathers coming off the backs of their legs and hocks and shaggy ears (show homes keep that trimmed) and very thick puppy coats.

Outside of that majority - you have a wide spread of dogs sometimes bred for specific looks, sometimes bred for both looks and ability, and bred for ability. And then you also have dogs bred just because they were "purebred" and intact.

Field bred dogs typically and across the board have always been bred and sold widely with full registration...

Show bred dogs as early as 2000-2005 (around that time) were being sold only with limited registration with sharp restrictions even beyond paperwork as to what puppy buyers could do with the dogs. You had many pups sold with puppy contracts requiring neuter/spaying.

Over the years, you have had strictly pet bred dogs who have primarily field dogs behind them, but also track back to commercial breeders (who might go back to show lines) who may sell full registration puppies. <= This means you have a variety of looks emerging from those types of pedigrees. This means dogs with a TON of hair. This also means dogs who are pretty darn close to having a very short and single coat.

It also means there's no real guarantees as far as how the pups will turn out. Best anyone can say is look at the parents. How much coat they have is a pretty good guide. But even there, it's hard to tell.
 
#10 ·
My girl has a very straight, flat coat, not huge undercoat. I am always surprised when I see photos of her at a year old - she definitely did not have her full feathering yet. But it all came in eventually!
 
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