Gun Dog Forum

Just wondering if there is a good way to tell how much coat a Drahthaar will have when you are looking at a 4-5 week old puppy? My husband has a deposit on a DD litter and is probably last pick so I don't think it matters much - nor does he really care - but there is a lot of variation within the litter. It's a repeate breeding and I know at least one from the previous litter had a very short coat with very little around the face even.

Look at the older puppies as a group and look at the parents. If both parents have short coats then the pups will.

I am not sure how one would tell if the parents are opposite though.

Dam is pretty heavily coated and sire has short wirey body coat and not excessive but reasonable coat on the face. Is it called furnishings?Can't remember. Unfortunately there really aren't many good pics of the older pups at older age. Just their early puppy pictures. One female has yound and older pictures and she looks short like a GSP but a little "thicker" or fuzzier. Not really sure how to desribe. She seems to have a average to slightly shorter coat as adult.

mountaindogs wrote:Just wondering if there is a good way to tell how much coat a Drahthaar will have when you are looking at a 4-5 week old puppy? My husband has a deposit on a DD litter and is probably last pick so I don't think it matters much - nor does he really care - but there is a lot of variation within the litter. It's a repeate breeding and I know at least one from the previous litter had a very short coat with very little around the face even.

Look for hair on the ears or the top of the head. If there is a slight finge around the edge of the ear, then the pup will probably have furnishings. If there is a lot of hair on the ears and head, the pup will probably have a heavy coat. If there is no fringe on the ears and you can't see any sign of a beard at the corner of the mouth, you may not get furnishings. You can't always tell what the pups coats will be like by looking at the parents. I have seen slick pups out of fuzz balls, and vica versa.

If it comes down to a short coat versus a long coat my advice is go short. alot of times gwps dont get furnishin before 8 months or so.

If you don't mind me asking, what litter are you getting a pup out of?

I'll link the website below. Can't really tell you a whole whole lot, because this has been the spouse's project. he started off looking for a blood tracking dog (to which I tried to send him to DK's and in my lecture on their testing sytems I think he decided on a DD
Anyway the kids are looking forward to the new puppy, and since he has no plans to breed or anything coat really doesn't matter, just curious. I'll see if I can post some of the puppy pics...

http://stillwasserkennel.com/

I've spoke with the breeder many time. I came real close to getting on of the A litter pups but the timing was wrong. In the mean time I got a DK but I will be really interest on how your pup turns out. I like the DD looks alot but the wife doesn't like the coat. I am happy with my DK so far though. Hope to see you and your shorthairs and the DD pup at some of the training days for NAVHDA.

We'll see you there I'm sure!!

Picking a coat on a DD is pretty difficult for the average guy. You can look to the coats of the parents but sometimes even that is tricky, as often coats can vary throughout the litter. I look for a pup with a thick undercoat, and I also look for a pup with longer fringe hair in the face an leggs. I like a longer coated dog. Often with a DD the coat doesnt fully come in until 2yr, and can even vary during that time. Some dogs have a visible beard at 8 weeks some don't get one until 8 months. Ask the breeder lots of questions, some breeders are better at reading coat lenghts than other.

Thank you. Looks like I'll be able post pictures in a few weeks