Fleece or wool?

[Christine & Macey]

This kind of feels like a silly question, but I keep hearing about fleece and wool coats.  As a new doodle owner, I'm not sure what type of coat my 12 week old, Macie, has.  How can you tell the difference?  At this point Macie's fur feels very soft and cottony.  Its wavy, too.  What do you think?  Thanks for the clarification!

Christine 

[Camilla and Darwin]

It looks like wavy fleece to me. My pup, Darwin, looked similar as a pup. 

[Christine & Macey]

I will!  Thanks, Jared.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Looks like a wavy fleece, Riley is a wavy fleece so you can take a look at his pictures on my page to get an idea. Of course coats change so much over the first year or so it is really hard to predict the final outcome.

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I agree with Camilla, Jared, and Nicky--I'd definitely say fleece. I don't see any evidence of the curliness associated with the wool coat.

Cosmo has a wavy fleece coat, but he and Nicky's Riley are both multi-generation Australian Labradoodles. This photo is Cosmo at 7 weeks. It was taken by our breeder.

Their coats may be longer and more abundant than Macie's will be, as she is an F1 Goldendoodle. Or maybe not. That's part of the fun of these dogs--it's kind of an adventure seeing how they change as they grow!

Macie already has some nice waves and a very doodley face. I think she's going to be a beautiful doodle!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

What a wonderful picture of Cosmo, like a baby brown bear, they grow up so fast XXX

[Christine & Macey]

So cute!  He really does look like a little bear!

[Ginny Nightingale]

She is beautiful!! That is definitely a fleece coat--and will not be wool--it would be much curlier already--but, that said, i agree with the others that this is a puppy coat and will change as she reaches one year to 15 months--very soft coats tend to mat at that age as they go thru the transition stages--keep her well groomed to avoid the necessity of shaving her down if she gets solidly matted. You will need to COMB down to the skin and now is the time to get her used to it. Get a steel comb with teeth that are closer on one end than the other and work it thru her coat ALL OVER. Cottony coats can be mat forming, so it is good to start this practice right away. The mats probably won't form when she is this little, but you are preparing her for lots of combing in the future.

My cottony doodle matted MUCH MUCH less after her adult coat came in, by the way.

[Ginny Nightingale]

By the way, here is a wool pup--she is about 6 months old here and very curly already.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Ginny, I agree re the combing.  I started grooming Riley every day and at ten months we hit the matts hard, this went on for only ten weeks and now it's so much easier to deal with.  I groom with a comb and Les Poochs brush every single day and use a spray on coat conditioner that makes the dirt drop out after he dries out (if he's been out in the rain/mud).  This means I can keep the coat long which is the look I love.  I got so much help and advice here, DK is the best.

Head to the Grooming Group, that's my advice : )

[Christine & Macey]

Thanks so much for all the tips!  I've been combing her everyday with a steel tooth comb.  I can see already that matts will form easily.  I haven't bought a Les Pooch yet, but will before her adult coat comes in.  

Nicki, what spray on conditioner are you referring to?  I bought The Stuff, but haven't started using it yet.

[Ginny Nightingale]

The Stuff is good--a lot of people use a product called Cowboy magic. 

Just be careful not to get The Stuff on the floor--it has silicon and will make the floor extremely slippery (I learned the hard way--ouch!) 

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

Nicky, what is the name of the coat conditioner you use? Riley's coat is gorgeous!

I'd like to see if it's available on this side of the pond!