Coat question for all
 

how do you tall that a puppy has a soft coat
at a young age at about the 5 week stage

Rose, good question. I hope there is a simple answer but from what I have read and heard from other show breeders, you really can't tell until they get older.

well does a soft coat reflect light when you take a picture even at a young age

would you think this puppy is soft coated

Rose, I really don't think you will know until the adult coat starts coming in. I hope some of the experts will weigh in.

Both of mine have cotton coats and they matted even as puppies

Wow, Rose, that is a young puppy to really be possitive about the coat texture. As it grows you should have a better idea. I like to look, on an older pup, the hair around the feet. If it is really full and thick - could be soft coated. But to be sure you have to watch them grow. I know, we picked a tough breed to determine how the pup will turn out. Yorkies are tough. Pictures are so hard to tell from too.
Good luck with this one. :)

well i was in a conversation with a long time exhibitor who told me that they could always tell by a young age as a soft coat will not have the reflection
that a silk would and i had never heard this before

they were telling me that even from birth the soft coat has a much duller apperance to it and i was really just wondering if anyone else had heard this

i guess my question would be does a soft coat have a reflection to it from a newborn or is it duller

At 5 weeks of age it's a bit too soon. Give it a few more weeks, say 3 more, at that time when you part the hair at the topline you'll definately be able to see whether the coat is coming in shiney or dull. Although I have a boy that will be 9 weeks of age and I'm watching his coat at this point and it does appear to be a bit duller and has a bit of kink in it towards the scalp.

All my pups show shiney when born.....although, this is the first time I'm questioning whether it is soft coated or not....and when he was born, his coat was just as shiney as his siblings.

Most soft coated puppies will have the dull look to them when parted, but the dull look can also be the effects of their food intake and what kind and all too.
When they are older and you are washing the soft coated yorkies, they do have the wave to their coats when blow drying them out. I have a pet with soft coated and he has this wave, when younger say 4-5 months (I think is when it started and I noticed it) and even now at 10 years of age. I know soft coated since we had so much of that in the olden days. I had silky too, but there just seemed to be more soft coated yorkies back in the 80s.

Also look at the heads. The ones that really look all pudgy and bear like with lots of hair on the face - tend to be soft coated when older.

Here are a couple of photos of my 10 year old neutered pet when he was about 6-8 months old. My son is trying to get him to stand right. So he does not look straight, but he has a good topline, really he does. But this is a soft coated yorkie. He looks a bit rough, had been playing ball in the backyard with my son.
I am also including one of when I was working as a vet tech. The one on the left is mine first yorkie (pet quality), but had a silkier coat and the one on the right is a friend's yorkie and is soft coated.
I have a puppy picture too somewhere of a soft coated when he was younger. I will have to look for it.

I have a soft coated one too. A girl that has wooly fuzzy bedroom slipper feet. It took her forever for her head to clear and when it did, it went to a one tone tan color.

Another thing to think about not all soft coated dogs are black....yep! you can have a dog that is the correct color of blue or even real light and it can be soft coated. Even the correct color of gold.

Yes, you are so right Mary. That just one reason why yorkies are so hard to tell until they reach maturity. We have, I think, one of the hardest to predict.

My Anna has that teddy bear head, has from a puppy, she's 10 years old now.

this breed is so hard soft or not hard silk or not
right color wrong color and so on and so on
i took him out side and his hair parted easy enough and it seemed shiney all the way to the roots but we will see as it grows

so you are saying the fluffer the face the more than likely the softer the coat?

it just worries me he has the darkest blu skin

I am with Rose, this coat business is hard to figure out and I never get clear answers because different breeders have different explanations. Isn't a cottony coat different than a soft coat? I thought the cottony coats had the the really thick coats with the heavy facial and leg hair. :confused: And then there is the modified silk coat.:confused: :eek::eek::eek:

Most of the time from what I have seen.

I do have to say though, that there seems to be better coat texture today with better color than back then, overall.

I have some beautiful silky coated yorkies with the blue skin. Don't go by that.

For me - the modified silk coat is thicker than silky, but does not mat as much as the cottony coats.

the modified silk coat is thicker than silky, but does not mat as much as the cottony coats.
so do tell what is the difference are they not both soft
i get so darn confused on these coats

the little man seems to have very straight coat at the moment and was easy to part and laid flat but i know to young to tell

Boy, I sure wish there was an easy way to tell as well! :( When I first started looking for a yorkie, I went to a womans house and she had 3 females that she showed me and was trying to talk me into showing and I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted at the time. Anyways, she showed me one and said see, this one is going to have a soft coat but these other 2 are silky. They were about 6 months old at the time. I couldn't see the difference. I just sorta shook my head and inside I was thinking they all looked the same. Now I can tell the difference when they are grown but wish I had a little more experience with predicting how things are going to turn out!

Rose, I look for that dark blue skin.......it's when I see the lighter and pink skin that I know the pup is going to go light.

The reason different breeders have different answers is because they are familiar with their line and kind of have an idea what their lines are going to do.

My mentor, whose been breeding and showing for over 45 years will not even try to predict coat until about 16 weeks.

thank you all i am going to just sit back and wait as they say i am hoping for my first bred by it is so hard and when you only breed 2 litters a years
it is even harder
mary are you going to ms if so i would love to meet you

I was talking to my hubby about our discussion and he said, - "That is why you hold on to them so long!" He is so good with words. You have to hold on to your litters for a long time to see how they are turning out, especially if there is one you want one to hopefully show.

yes i know these are not going any where for awhile unless they look like they are going to be to small but right now they are 1.4 ounces boys and girl is 1.7 so i am hoping i am finally going to get some size and found the right match in my breeding