Undercoat and top coat - can someone explain?

I hope this will be an easy one to explain - I've been reading on posts on this forum and have heard 'topcoat and undercoat' quite a few times. Can someone explain what it is, how to recocnise it and do all dogs have it (not just specific breeds), Oh and do pups have it or is it something they develop?

Some breeds have a double coat, therefore a top coat and an undercoat, and usually when they shed/moult/blow they only lose the undercoat. Single coated breeds usually shed/moult gradually.

HTH

We've got a collie x lab x husky x whipett pup, do you think she would have double coat?

probably not.

Huskies do for sure, but doubt the rest of the Mix, with so many dogs in the mix it's hard to tell as there would be no set pattern.

Can you post a pic of your dog ?

I have posted some just before we got her but I must admit that I'm a bit late with providing new ones! Will try this week.

Not too sure if this will work but this is the thread with the first pics.

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=67845

:smt002

She's too small in those pics to tell.

As Huskies and Collies are a Double coated breed and Whippets and Labs aren't, I guess it's 50/50 whether she will or not.

You've picked a real mixed bag of dogs, so you'll just have to wait and see when she gets older.

It's not as simply a case of undercoat or not... more of how much. Breeds like Siberians, Samoyeds, Akitas have profuse undercoat and others like Border Collies and Labradors have less. Whippets may have very little or none at all.

I would think your pup is very likely to have some undercoat. Hard to tell from the photos but possibly it may turn out like a Border Collie. If you had photos of the actual parents it would be easier to predict.

Unfortunately I don't have pics of parents but dad (husky x lab) had a coat more like a lab and mum (whippet x boarder collie) had a slightly thin coat - I assume much like a whippet but I've not seen a pure whippet so wouldn't know.

Even with pics of parents, you wouldn't be able to 'predict' the coat of a crossbreed from 4 different dogs, it would be impossible. Even purebred pups from purebred parents often have slightly difference coats than 1 parent, so pictures of the parents wouldn't help at all !

Having said that, if Dad's coat was more Lab and Mum's coat was more Whippet, it's very unlikely you would get a thick undercoat, say of a Sibe.