I recall a few years ago, someone suggested that Field Style dogs sometimes (often) had a single coat. I just wondered what a single coat would look like on a Lab. Two of our Labs were Field Dogs and one was 1/2 Field and 1/2 Bench. All had what I think of as a double coat. Heavier Guard hair and softer shorter hair underneath. The two Field dogs had harsher guard coats. Tilly, the 1/2 & 1/2 had the thickest coat, but her guard hair was softer and a bit shorter. Cooper's guard hair is longer, stiffer and coarser. She does not seem to get as wet in the rain as Tilly did. Ginger, our first Lab had a coat that was kind of in between, but all definitely had double coats. Has anyone seen a Field style Lab with a Single coat? What was it like? I think it was also suggested that Field dogs might have slimmer tails, but Cooper has the biggest heaviest tail of any of our dogs. Think baseball bat. She can take a full pint glass off a table with one swat.
I think my field labs have less coat than show labs I have met (though you wouldn't think so to look at my floors when they are shedding), but it is still a double coat in that there's undercoat beneath the oily guard hairs. I've never seen a lab with NO undercoat at all, and I've seen a lot of field bred labs
Cooper's Guard coat is probably longer than Tilly's was, but I think you are right that her coat is not as thick. Cooper seems to get cold easier, or at least she prefers curling up in warm places, more than Tilly did. She can shed enough to make multiple dust bunnies, but at least the fur doesn't wrap around the beater bar like our doggie daycare Sammy's does.
