Researchers have discovered which particular genes contribute to a dog’s coat type:
By analyzing more than 1,000 dogs from 80 domestic breeds, the researchers found that RSPO2 is the gene associated with whether or not a dog has a moustache and large eyebrows (known together as “furnishings”); FGF5 is linked to whether a dog’s fur is long or short; and KRT71 determines if the hair is curly or wavy.
The article goes on to explain the 7 coat types:
- Short-haired (eg basset hounds).
- Wire-haired dogs (eg Australian terriers).
- Dogs with wiry and curly hair (eg airedale terriers).
- Long-haired (eg golden retrievers).
- Long-haired with ‘furnishings’ (eg the bearded collie).
- Curly haired (eg Irish water spaniels.
- Curly haired with furnishings (eg the bichon frise).
[Via : Why Obama's Dog Has Curly Hair.]
Harriette.
The next thing they could study is the difference between dogs that shed and those that don’t.
For years we had a black and white short-haired Fox Terrier. It was a colour combination that guaranteed dog hair would always be visible.
The thing was, we could bathe her, brush her, get all the loose hair off, but when she stood up and shook a cloud of dog hair would fly through the air!
What dog hair problems, or solutions, do you have?
Update: thanks to a flood of spam targeting this Post, I’ve turned off comments.
Seems to me there are more than seven coat types. Short hair, like a Bassett, I understand. But what about the longer coat of an English Labrador or Australian Cattle Dog or the sledding dogs? Or are they all bunched together as shorthairs? I just know there’s a big difference between my hound’s coat and my cattle dog/husky mix’s coat.