Just been talking to two more EP owners and neither is good in rain!

Seems the concensus of opinion amogst owners is that they aren't happy when wet.

Strange!

rune

My Borders hate the rain, but their coat is weatherproof, what they like and what they are equipped to deal with are very different things.

The owners you spoke to maybe, but you cant generalise on your experience.

And before you say it, neither can I, but knowing a few breeders who show and a few pet owners of the breed, cant say they have said the same.. in fact most say the dogs don't give a fig in the rain.


But them most of them are show dogs that have not been neutered or castrated, some live in kennels and some don't..

I wonder what the opinion would be from those who actually work their pointers how many would say the dog wont work becuase it does not like the rain or wet weather!!

A very good point Dawn, not much point in having a working gun dog that is not equipped for its job, is there.

So considering that most of our gun dogs have been around for many a generation , you would think they must be in some way or another fit for purpose, coats included.

Well since springers have to have tails cut off in order to be fit for purpose I am not that impressed with that arguement!

rune

Not to worry, but still is an essential argument.. you would not want a dog working in the field all day , and suffer because the coat has been badly designed would you

Well since the owners seem to think they DO suffer I am prepared to believe them.

TBH I am very unimpressed with the concern---or not---of several working gundog people I have met---not to mention what they come out with on the internet.

rune

I agree.
FCRs need to retrieve on land and water and so need a fairly decent coat. Tango was always kennelled before coming to us and she had a super thick coat. She lost that totally post spay (but of course she was also living in a house by that point...central heating etc). Her coat is still thick, but has gone a bit fluffy in places. Cosmo has a totally different coat, it's much finer (but thick where it needs to be should he desire a working life),it is pretty waterresistant (thankfully) but not as thick as Tango's. Tango of course hates water and rain and mud...whereas Cosmo. So yes...their coats have very little to do with their likes and dislikes in terms of water.

Biff used to love to swim and did have a great coat for it...until he was neutered and then it went fluffy and wasn't as waterproof anymore. Mo wasn't too into water (didn't mind the rain but wasn't a swimmer really) but his coat also went fluffy post neutering and it did cause problems walking in inclement weather as he would get wet through..in the past he hadn't, given his arthritis it wasn't ideal.