When do labs grow their undercoat in? Axel is 7 months old and doesn't have an undercoat yet or has very minimal anyway. I have only used the furminator once and it took out a TINY amount of soft little fur. So I haven't used it since. Axel only has the typical coarse hairs. Is this normal?
Pups often have less undercoat it may get thicker as he gets older. All my labs have had different under costs just wait a bit
One of mine has an undercoat and the other has hardly anything and they are related, Uncle and Nephew!
Charlie's coat is strange, I think. It is soft, silky to touch (absolutely fantastic to snuggle up to him, it's like having a warm lump of cashmere in bed!). His top coat is thinish under his arms and tummy etc. Thick on his back, sides and legs. But he absolutely has a proper undercoat. I can see it clearly as it's a different colour to his top coat and I take out a couple of handfuls every day with the furminator. Betsy's coat seems super, super thick, her top coat has a gleam in sunlight, but she doesn't shine like Charlie. I can't quite tell about her undercoat yet. She is also mostly cashmere soft, but the hair along her back feels coarser than Charlie's already.
Hmm ok maybe will take more time then. Lately he has gotten a wave on his back so I thought maybe that meant his undercoat was coming in but I am not sure. He isn't shedding too much right now either. But where he goes to day care it is also half groomers and the groomer said that his top coat is pretty coarse for a lab so then I got all concerned. Although, after he's been in the lake he's much softer again
A Labrador's top coat isn't supposed to be soft - it's supposed to feel quite coarse, particularly along the back. Charlie is super soft, and while I know that's not quite 'proper' I don't care, because it makes him delicious to cuddle!
Same with Shadow. He's super soft and complete unlike a Lab should be. He does have a nice thick undercoat, though. Although the majority of it seems to be less on his body and more on my floors... Willow's coat is far more Lab-like. A proper coarse line along her back. She's still nice and soft around her neck, but it isn't quite as cuddly as Shadow's.
Both my black labs have super soft fur all over, one my older boy, has slighter longer fur on his back, but still very.very soft. The 7 month old lab Bramble has short but incredibly silky fur all over. Benson my chocolate has thick coarse fur on his back, with a lovely ( I think so...) wave running down his back. The downside to labs with thick undercoats is that when they moult, they REALLY moult!
Thanks for all the input Axel does have an obvious line where the coarse fur runs down his back. He has a good shine to his coat as well. Here is a pic. The wave starts at his neck and goes all the way down to the base of his tail. I don't mind it either way but just assumed it was a sign of his coat changing. But by the sounds of it, some labs have a wave and some don't
Neither of my two have a strong wave. It seems to vary over the course of the year, too. At the moment, Willow has pretty much none, Shadow has a little bit on his shoulders.
