over the last few weeks my bitch has been moulting heavily and i have noticed a big change in the texture of her coat. also i have noticed she has lost a lot of hair in her tail it is not as bushy as it used to be. do you think this is her adult coat( she is 4 in may), is this the age the coat normally changes.

The adult coat is usually through by a year. What breed is she?

she is a gsd i did think it seemed a bit late. her coat was very fluffy before.

maybe she is a late bloomer

Hi Bek,

some double coated breeds or more particularly lines within some breeds do have a coat change as you describe in maturity.  My males have always been from the same lines and they have an almost "junior type moult" at around six years and it takes a full year for their ruff and furnishings to return to their earlier glamour - when theirs' came back it was more profuse and further moults rarely affected them sufficiently to be withdrawn from the ring :)  One of my bitches had a similar coat change to that you've described at around four years too - the guard hairs are now coarser in texture (which is more desired anyway) than they were following earlier moults.  

Have a word with your breeder or anyone with similarly bred dogs - you may find that it's the norm :)

HTH, regards Teri 

Hi Bek

I have a long coated GSD. As I always have rescue dogs, I have no idea what his breeding or parents were like. He is 3 in April & apart from his shoulders & a strip of coarse adult hair coming along his back, his coat on his flanks is very, very soft. He was castrated just before he was 1, but his coat was very, very poor then. I often wonder if it was his poor start in life or hereditary. I am hoping that by the time he is 4 that he should have his adult coat. I feed him cod liver oil, but don't really think it helps. His tail & underneath his stomach is profuse, I will just have to wait & see if it improves with age.

Coat changes certainly in long coated breeds are often mammoth following neutering in either sex.  Areas where the hair is traditionally thicker, longer etc often become overly long and undercoats particularly wooly in texture whereas more noticeably in males, the thicker hair on collar or ruff reduces to a more feminine appearance.

I've seen many long haired GSD, BSD and RC with coats that never reach their former glory or achieve the expected glamour if neutered early.  This may well be the case with your male :(

CLO is not likely to assist his coat if the affects he's showing are resultant from neutering and in any event it's better if supplementing to use Fish Body Oil rather than Liver Oil.

regards, Teri :)

You haven't had her spayed recently, as that will change the coat.  I have also found a temporary change in coat after the moult following a litter.  After the next moult the coat should be back to normal again in this case in my experience.