What's up with her coat?

[Sandra Griffith]

My 5 month old Australian Labradoodle puppy Aylah has a strange hair thing going on along her back.  At first I thought that it might be from her harness, then perhaps the dreaded coat change, then I looked up what kemp is thinking it might be that, asked the vet, etc.  I thought that all of you wonderful people who are so knowledgable in every thing doodle might help me out.  The coat that she came home with started gradually thinning out.  I then noticed new hair growth that is a beautiful reddish/ apricot colour (no white hairs) coming in.  It is now about 3/4" long.  Some of the original longer coat is still evident in patches.  She only has this along her back.  Her tail hair looked like this hair pretty much from the time we brought her home.  I looked up descriptions of "kemp", having heard it mentioned here, but the descriptions that I found said that it is thicker, coarse white hairs mixed in with the other hair and this is not what I'm seeing.  The hair is thicker than her original hair but not really coarse.  She has been described by the breeder as having a curly fleece coat.  I have not had any of the problems with matting that are so frequently described here and she seems a bit young to be going through the "dreaded coat change" that so many have described here.  I do brush her every day (with the highly recommended Les Pooches dog brush).  She is not even slightly bald and the area has spread which is why I have ruled out friction with the harness.  I know that there is nothing medically wrong, but as she is my first doodle I was just wondering what was going on.  I have attached pictures (it was hard to get good ones) of her back- the whitish hairs that you see are the original ones that she came home with that are still there (not the new hair that I am talking about).

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Looks like her adult coat is coming in. Ned began the 'dreaded' coat change at about 6 months - his began with mats :( in his ears then traveled to other body areas - shoulders sides, legs, tail area, and lastly his back. His back has coarser, redder hairs than before. He is still pretty soft but you can really feel the difference between those redder hairs and the lighter ones. We used to think that Ned's coat was curly fleece but it is sooooooo thick and doesn't 'move' much when he runs so I think he is more of a wool or a combination of wool and fleece.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think what your seeing is the new coat, too. The color is lovely and you'll see what you'll get all over only with time.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Yup, new coat coming in! My doodle was really strange at this age as her blonder hairs grew out and then fell out over her red ones. She looked like she had had her hair frosted at a salon! It's all very red now--so just wait to see what a pretty pup you shall have!

[Sandra Griffith]

Thank you for your replies. I kept hearing that the coat change didn't usually start until they were around 8 months old so, although it looked like her adult coat, I thought that she is a little young (she just turned 5 months old yesterday). She gets brushed at least once a day (being a groomer I admit that I can become a bit obsessive about this) and perhaps this has kept her from developing any matts.

[Debbie and Thomas]

Yup...this is adult hair coming. It is going to be a beautiful apricot curly coat. You lucky dog!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am sure your expert knowledge of how to brush and comb helps, but she may not be a doodle that mats. Won't you be lucky if that is true!

[Sandra Griffith]

That would be great!

[DeeDee and Sheila]

Wow, looks like you are going to get a deep shade of red! Cool! I think that is what Patty has been going for. I can't wait to see and to see how big Ayla gets. Does she hold still for you to brush her?

[Sandra Griffith]

Aylah does hold still when I brush her but she didn't at first! I started brushing her every single day, whether she needed it or not to get her used to it. The first time I went to brush her I heard a little hint of a rumble. Nothing since and now she lies down fairly well when she gets her daily brushing.