Coat Textures

[Britts]

Looking at puppies from the same litter, I've noticed some have a different coat length and look then the rest. Some puppies will have a smooth coat, whereas some look longer and fluffy.

Whats the difference? Is it the coats texture?

Also, I've seen some puppies, again from the same litters, that have dark rich coloring, and other who are pale. Will the pale ones darker with age, or stay light?

[ohiobrittany]

I know from watching a brittany breed seminar, you don't want a fluffy, fuzzy coat. In the field, that sort of coat will attract those tiny burrs worse than a shorter smoother coat. I am not sure if the pale coated puppies will darken up or not. I do know that a very pale "lemon" colour or washed out isn't really desireable. Maybe the longtime breeders can step up and fill us newbies in.

[carverbrittanys]

My experience is that even the light colored pups will darken up IF the parents are dark. I even know of one lemon colored pup, who at 1 year was the most brilliant deep mahogany that I have ever seen. He is just gorgeous. The lemon will darken, again IF the parents are dark. I suppose there is a chance that they won't darken, but in my experience, they do.

As far as different coat types. Even when 2 short coats are bred, they can produce a longer coated pup. Obviously there are some long coats in their genes somewhere, maybe way back.

[wyngold]

Puppies can have a variety of coat textures, lengths, and densities, none of which has conclusively shown what they would have as an adult, except in the case of a "curly" coat.
Puppies go through 2 juvenile coat changes. First between 10-14 weeks of age when they loose the soft puppy coat and grows in the next transitional coat. They change again at around 9-10 months of age into the coat they will most probably maintain as an adult so long as they have not been spayed or neutered or shaved down, or suffer form thyroid conditions.

The breed should have a "medium" length coat this is a coat of length between 1-1/4" to 2-1/4" in length, with longer furnishing on the backs of thighs and front legs. They should NEVER have a coat as short as a Pointer or a Rottweiler (which has a longer coat than a pointer). This is often difficult to see as so many dogs are "jacketed" and stripped/shaved for show ring presentation so one does not see the true coat of many dogs in the ring or at a field trial.

They should have a "Dense" coat meaning many hairs per sq. inch
to protect the skin. They were originally developed to be a marsh dog that worked in dense thickets, muddy and swampy conditions, and the mountainous alps, and the wheat fields and the coat provided warmth, insulation, protection under various conditions. A dense coat allowed for the hair to be torn out and kept the skin from being cut and poked hard in stubble. And provided warmth to a dog working under damp and cold temperate conditions.

The term "Epagneul" from the breed name Epagneul Breton is derived from the "French" word for wavy coat...it was NOT as most think a term to describe the term Spaniel as was erroneously translated in the early years, even though their origins do come from spaniel dogs. So a wave or "kink" often seen on a damp coat is characteristic of the breed.

What makes a coat more water resistant or better for shedding mud, burrs, and better protection is the cuticle of the hair itself.
A "crisp" texture harsh as the French say to that of a coarse "goat" hair is the prefered texture in an adult, that lays flat and tight to the body for water resistance. When a dog has a "porous" coat the cuticles on the hair shaft are open and it is this "bristle" that holds dirt and burrs. The best place to "check" the correctness of the coat is over the whithers and the top of the back...this is why is is so wrong when people strip the top coat of the dog as this changes the texture.

Many dogs shown in AKC are bathed frequently and especially on show day, many use conditioners and sprays to soften the coat, all of which alters the true nature of the coat as was intended by breed founders. Even when our "old-timers" try to tell folks not to bathe a dog no more than 3 days in advance most no longer follow this guideline. It is no joke that a dip in the stream or the horse trough was the best "cleanning" a Brittany could get if it has all the right coat textures and a good brushing would ever need.

As for color.

There is a factor of pigment migration that causes the effects we see especially in Orange pups that are born nearly off white, and in the following days darken. It is most clearly noticed in say Liver or Black pups born with wide white blazes that narrow as they get older. This migration of pigment granules is part of the developement of the embryonic growth. the dogs skin developes from the central nervous spinal column and moves out over the body. This is why butterfly noses also occure or white spots on the chest/toes of an Irish/Gordon setter can occur as well. Pigment granules follow the same path of developement. So color evolves darker first over the back until it reaches the farthest regions of the nose and toes.

The other factors that effect pigment expression are genetics.
There are factors that affect the Phaeomelanin (Yellow/orange) and there are factors that affect Eumelanin (Liver/black).
Science is working to identify many of these genes and are gaining ground. Darker colors are prefered as it is attractive to our eyes, and Darker shades are associated with a tight cutticle of the hair shaft. The 2 factors in Liver/Black dogs is for Liver dogs there are 3 genes that combine to make various shades of brown seen.
In order to see brown any 2 combined cancels black. Depending on which genes it can be a color so dark that they appear close to black and gets many a Brittany excussed by un-educated eyes as being black...but the easiest give-away is to look at the nose color since a black dog will never have a Brown nose it is a genetic impossibility. This is something a handler of a dark liver dog needs to remember. The other factor is the concentration gene for Black(or liver expression). when in the form of "K" dominant concentraion the color is expressed with solidity and thus we see it as an intense color. When in the form of reccessive weak concentration "ky" we see a duller or slightly less rich shade. In black dogs this would appear as a "rustiness" of coat like say in a sunburned "black" chow" or a "sunburned" Liver dog.
This same factor seems to also affect the density of eye color as well....

Basically you cannot judge a dogs final color until it is fully mature.