Dog Owner Chat v2

[Jazi]

Fuzzy, I'm not saying this to be mean, but how often do you brush Kiba's coat out? Papillons are toy spaniels, so their fur should be silky and straight. If they're not brushed often, though, they're prone to tangles and mats.

Wolf doesn't look bad especially not for a non-working pet. Maybe a pound or two but not bad overall.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

Fuzzy, I'm not saying this to be mean, but how often do you brush Kiba's coat out? Papillons are toy spaniels, so their fur should be silky and straight. If they're not brushed often, though, they're prone to tangles and mats.

Wolf doesn't look bad especially not for a non-working pet. Maybe a pound or two but not bad overall.

I actually brush her every day. That's what I don't understand, exactly. Her coat is supposed to be straight, right? But, if I do not blow dry her fur while brushing it flat, it dries wavey. It was wavey in those pics because the last time she had been bathed was after she went swimming and I didn't have a hair dryer with me. Her fur is straight now though because she just got bathed. But, if it gets wet again it will be all wavey like that.

Wolfgang's actually on the lower end weight wise for his breed at his age, but he's the perfect size for his age and breed so far. So, I think he's a good weight

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention that it's only her black fur that krimps up like that. When I got her as a pup, her black fur was extremely thin and short. Her vet can't find anything wrong with it though. Her black fur is EXTREMELY soft though, it literally feels like down. Her white fur feels normal and silky.

[FlynnEugene]

@fuzzy: Your dogs are super cute and I still LOVE your drawings And my maltipoo( charlie) is the same way as Kiba with the straight wavy thing. If we blow dry his coat it is very fluffy and curly like a poodle, and if we don't blow dry it and leave it to dry naturally it's more of a wavy/straight. So not too sure... I think both of your dogs are fine Besides with how much dogs run and play and stuff their fur isn't going to be perfect. Most dogs coats are not how they are online or during shows because all of those dogs get groomed and prettied up before the picture and show so they look better haha Dogs will be dogs.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

@fuzzy: Your dogs are super cute and I still LOVE your drawings And my maltipoo( charlie) is the same way as Kiba with the straight wavy thing. If we blow dry his coat it is very fluffy and curly like a poodle, and if we don't blow dry it and leave it to dry naturally it's more of a wavy/straight. So not too sure... I think both of your dogs are fine Besides with how much dogs run and play and stuff their fur isn't going to be perfect. Most dogs coats are not how they are online or during shows because all of those dogs get groomed and prettied up before the picture and show so they look better haha Dogs will be dogs.

Thank you! Yeah, I mean, all it takes is a couple licks from Wolfgang and Kiba's fur will start to krimp up. I wish I knew a way to keep it from krimping when it gets wet so she would look less scraggly, but oh well xD

And Wolfgang's long fur beside his ears also gets all Krispy when it gets wet and isn't blow dried.

[Jazi]

Has Kiba ever been shaved down? How often is she bathed? When she swims is it just normal tap water, or do you go to a beach/pool? Do you wash her after every swim? What kind of brush do you use? I need to ping evergreen- she's a groomer, she might have some tips for you to get her coat more under control. Those are just the things that I know can affect coat... but then I don't have a high-groom breed.

Yeah, her fur should be straight and not so puffy and unkempt. If you brush every day I'm wondering if either there's tangles deep down in, or if there's something else contributing to it. Or, since her breeder wasn't so great, it may just be poor genetics. You have them on BBW so it shouldn't be a food issue at this point.

Even poorly bred paps or pap mixes should have a straight coat similar to this:


It may be longer or shorter, with more or less feathering, depending on breeding and/or grooming, but it shouldn't be wavey or twisted like it is in the pictures. That's why I asked.

[FlynnEugene]

@Jazi: If you go to Fuzzy's devian art there are more pictures of Kiba and her fur looks fine in them. I know fuzzy from both rabbit chat and chatting with her through PM I assure you her dog is well taken care of and she loves that little dog to death. Some dogs are just different than others, and not everyone has time to brush their dogs daily, I am surprised Fuzzy does cause I sure don't. And Idk... it is harder than it seems to make time to brush longer furred dogs. I know you said you didn't have a dog that needed constant brushing, but it really is harder than it seems. Just saying....

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

Kiba has never been shaved down ever. I cut the fur on her paws and thin out her butt fluff (which had to be cut shorter after she was spayed because she was sick and....well you know lol). But no, I've never cut her other fur. Kiba swims in all kind of water. Tap water, chlorine water, creek water, beach water, lake water, river water, etc. But, it was like that even before she started swimming. I wash her after she swims in the creeks, the pond, or at the beach usually, but not EVERY time, but yeah usually I do. Sometimes I just rinse her down. I use a soft bristle brush on her daily and a deshedder on her weekly.

Yeah, her fur doesn't lay flat. Now, her white fur is like the fur of the Paps in the pics, but her black fur is like down and is really puffy and light. Her fur is really thin, so I brush it all the way down to the skin. So, I know there are no mats or tangles under her coat. I really do think it could very well be the breeder. This dog's fur was a nightmare as a puppy. She literally almost had no fur in the black spots, just really short, scraggly, thin furs. It actually looked nice for a while there after it sort of grew in, then her Papillon fringes grew in and now she looks like a big poof lol. But, she looks really nice when he fur isn't krimped up.

Here is a pic of baby Kiba with her weird fur:

She was 10 weeks there. That's the only pic I have of her weird original fur on my dA, but I will upload more later if you want. But anyway, you can see how her black fur is barely there, except on the sides of her ears, the backs of her ears still have barely any fur on them.
Here's her fur after the black grew in, before it poofed out, while she was a pup:



Her white fur being longer than her black fur made it look like she had a lion tail as a pup. She also looks like she has a Mohawk from the white blaze on her head.

@Ella Bear, thank you

[Skeleton-Clique]

shes so cute :3

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

shes so cute :3

Thank you

EDIT: @Jazi, this is what Kiba looks like after a bath, until she gets wet again.

[Jazi]

Okay. Because I'm getting really tired of this.

Ella Bear, believe it or not when someone asks a question about something it's not always to be mean to them. In fact the entire reason I asked is because I know spaniel coats can sometimes be hard to keep up on. How do I know this? Because a whole half of my family has had spaniels since the dawn of time. I figured asking and getting to the bottom of why her coat sometimes looks scraggley would help Fuzzy contain it easier in the long run. This isn't about whether Fuzzy loves her dog, it's about I asked why and Fuzzy said she wasn't sure so I'm trying to help her figure that out to prevent it from happening in the future.

And, sorry, but if you don't have time to brush out a high groom breed, you shouldn't have gotten a high groom breed. Papillon coats can mat and tangle just like any long coat (and same with maltese and poodles...) so it's really important to keep on top of their coat health. If you can't do that, why get one in the first place? You make time for your animal's needs or you don't get that animal. Period.




Ahh, I see. Even if she has been like this since a puppy, I might only wash her after a swim in salt or chlorinated water, and just rinse her down for the other swims (unless she's really dirty/stinky). That may help control the puff of her black fur a little better. Too much bathing does dry out an already thin or weak coat so while it might not have started the problem it probably isn't helping. I'd see about getting a fine-toothed comb (or even a flea comb could work) to pick through her fur and see if that doesn't teach it to behave. I'd also ping evergreen since she grooms as her job and she might have some more tips for controlling the puffy black fur, or products to wash her with, etc. She might never look like one of the paps I posted but controlling the puff should be a little easier.

It is normal for fur to crimp and scraggle a bit when wet, especially the thin single-coated hairs (like feathering around the ears, or spaniel coats since they're single coated), but I've been wondering for a while about her puffyness.

Also, Fuzzy, I forgot to mention, for Wolfgang's weight. I don't think he looks fat- a pound or two isn't much in the long run with pet dogs- just saying the body condition I'd keep him at. Be careful not to assume that "within weight standard" = "not fat", though. The range exists for a reason and not every dog should be at the top end of the range. Doberman males for instance are between 70-90# for the American standard. That means a dog who's frame should only be 70# would be overweight by 20# but still within weight standard. In other words... just because he's in weight standard wouldn't make that particular dog not fat. Like I said, Wolf looks alright the way he is, I just like to keep my puppies a little thinner.