First of all Ricky is adorable. From what you said about him being mal-nourished when you rescued him a year ago speaks volumes about his coat crisis. It takes the body a looonnnggg time to recover from lack of proper diet.
My best advice is to be patient and perhaps to add a coat enhancing supplement to his diet. I use a product called Synergy which is basically a concentrated "super-food". I started using it when I was struggling with Lollie's show coat. I won't go into details, 'cause I don't want to hyjack your thread, but I will say that Lollie is a "real dog" who lives on a horse farm and loves to escape to the barn to play. I don't keep her in wraps, she plays crazy wild, sleeps under the covers and is treated like the precious pet that she is, even during the time that she was growing her show coat, being shown championed and now is retired from the show ring and a mommy.
I firmly believe that the ability to grow coat is largely genetic, but in orderto maximize the coat growth in any dog, you need to be sure that the dog is getting all the nutrients a healthy coat requires. You grow a coat from the inside out.
Keeping the hair clean also helps encourage coat growth, so a weekly bath with gentle products (I like Minksheen and Crown Royale) is necessary. And of course don't forget to condition! You might try a very light coat oil to help protect the coat. Also, be sure to use good brushes sprayed with a light coat conditioner.
Good luck with Ricky's coat, he is absolutely adorable and it looks like his coat is growing out well. |