Toughening Up A Coat

[Fit for a King]

I have an imported girl who came from winter into the end of our summer and started to shed undercoat....that has slowed but the top coat is far softer than I'd like....anyone recommend a good shampoo or other for toughening up the coat without loosing the health of the hair (if you get what I mean)....? she is also switching from puppy to adult coat which isn't helping matters.....

[Vehs]

it might help if you put the breed of dog you have in the first post,

is it Shepherds? I would be inclined to blow out any remaining loose undercoat and do regular brushing to help remove the remaining puppy coat. Once the baby fur is out you can assess if the guard hairs are very soft and then make use of a salt spray

Don't forget to keep including fish oils in her diet.

[Dogsfevr]

I say dont panic & allow her to do her coat change /When you import you have to expect major coat changes,drops etc etc & it can take 12 months for things to settle

[malsam]

try to use a better brush, avoid too much bathing which will just soften the coat more.

[Rysup]

The breed will make a big difference here......

[~*Shell*~]

Sounds like she hasn't been here very long. Make use of a forced air dryer, blow out everything you can + brush brush brush to get rid of as much undercoat as you can. That way you'll be able to make a good assessment of the feel of the guard coat. It may just be that with so much undercoat you can't feel it properly. It'll also take some time for the coat to adjust to our temperature and climate - her coat could be completely different in 6 months time!

Once you know what her coat feels like you can use a salt spray (make sure she has some oil in her diet though!) to "toughen it up" a little. Avoid bathing too often, it'll soften the coat! I've heard that a run on the beach and a swim also help - though I'm not sure what will happen if you let her get too much salt in her coat - I've seen a couple of wire haired dogs that have quite badly damaged coats (wire hair that beaks if you bend it) from swimming in the ocean everyday and not having the salt washed out though this was teamed with a not great diet so i'm not sure how much was the salt and how much was the chum food...