Golden Doodle Coat Changes

[Jacob Christiansen]

Hello to the Doodle Kisses community!

I have a Golden Doodle named Cricket. She is almost a year old - 11.5 months. 

I grew up with Labradoodles, and have another dog (Calvin) who is a labradoodle. But Cricket is my first Golden Doodle. She's a blast, has a great personality, and we love her. But I'm interested in what you all think will happen with her coat in the next year. 

She currently has a coarser, dense, and moderate shedding coat on her back. It gets softer and lighter on her legs. But behind her ears and at her joints she has a very different coat - definitely wavy, almost curly, and very soft. She's almost a year now, so I wouldn't think that is her adult coat. But I can't explain why those parts of her coat are so different. 

I'm looking for other doodle owners who had/have a Golden that looks/looked like Cricket at about a year. Did your doodle grow out a wavy or curly coat between a year and a year and a half? Does a Golden Doodle every grow out a different coat than they had at a year?

Cricket is about 45 pounds, and an F1 doodle - and the "straight" coat is pretty rare in that generation. 

As a long time doodle owner I know that in a mixed breed you can't guarantee any certain kind of coat. I'm not terribly worried about shedding or whatever. I'm not naive about what I was getting into buying a Golden Doodle. I love Cricket regardless of her coat. 

[Jacob Christiansen]

Here are a few more pictures, especially of the other coat behind her ears and at her joints. 

[Jacob Christiansen]

And here's a few pictures of her from right when we got her. 10 weeks I think? 

[JACKS MOM LORIE ANN]

I LOVE HER NAME AND BOTH ARE DOLLS!
:)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Straight coats are very common in F1s, usually more common than in any other generation. I think your Cricket resembles a lot of F1s here, including my F1 Labradoodle. I would have known she's a shedder by looking at her, lol, also like my guy. That's not going to change. 

By a year old, most of them do have their adult coats. There be some changes after that, but not radical changes, like going from straight to curly between 12 and 18 months. 

Cricket is very cute, enjoy her. 

[Jacob Christiansen]

So what do you think about the distinct fur behind the ears and at the joints. I've read/talked to vets/pet store folk that tell me that is where a new adult coat typically begins. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, I've lived with dogs for 59 years, and I've never heard that before, lol. I'll be interested to hear if anyone else here has had that experience. 

It's hard to tell from your pictures, but the fur on the legs (what you're calling "joints") looks like what is called "feathers" to me, which is part of the "furnishings". Lots of doodles have areas on their bodies where the fur is curlier or woollier than other areas, and that's what this looks like to me. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Has Cricket needed any trimming?  If so where and what did you cut? I think she is going to be one of those scruffy doodles who have lots of different coat characteristics.  Cutie pie!

[Jacob Christiansen]

Cricket has had her hair cut twice now. We had her body all trimmed down, but left her face and head to grow a little. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

Cricket's adorable. Annabelle has a curly coat. But she had the courser coat on her back for well over a year. It was also a lot darker than the rest of the coat on her body. It was like a course, dark stripe down her back. She is almost 3 now and there is still a small part that is darker, but at least it's all soft like the rest of her. She had fine wispy hair when we brought her home at ten weeks, but at about the 6 month mark started to get more and more curl. Her hair was so fine and straight, I thought the breeder was lying when she said Annabelle would be curly. But she was right. She never did shed though.

[Jacob Christiansen]

That's what Cricket has too - a dark streak of course hair down the top of her back. Do you have some pictures of Annabelle as she grew up I could see so I can compare them?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

The courser, darker stripe seems to be a phase they go through.  I have no idea why.

[Ginny Nightingale]

The coat looks like a combination coat to me--where they have curly areas, straight areas and wavy areas!  My F1 Labradoodle is like that and sheds a bit--but the transition of puppy to adult is just beginning in my opinion and she could get a lot wavier.  You really don't see the final version until a year from now--and even then, they can change! My other multigen labradoodle is getting curlier and curlier at almost 9 years of age.