Correct Coat Texture ???

[Basenjimamma]

Thanks for that explaination lvoss.
Otis has very pliant skin too, I just never knew that was what it meant.
My husband says he has skin for two basenjis..you can pull on it and it bounces right back. His coat is smooth both was, yet a little prickly if brushed the wrong way.

[saba]

Ivoss,

Thank you so much for the explanation of the 3 Kennel Club part of the standard. Ours says the same, hence why I was getting a bit confuddled about it :).

The part about if the coat is short it will feel prickly when patting in the wrong direction, makes tons of sense too, thank you :).

Interesting to see the Canadian standard asks for silky . I dont understand why they say that at all. After the way you have explained it, Ivoss, silky would be wrong, how do you get silky ???

[lvoss]

I agree that the silky really threw me for a loop when I saw it in their standard also. It would make me wonder if that word has always been in their standard or was changed in a revision.

Anyone from Canada have an opinion?

[tanza]

I wonder if Silky might be used in the context of how it looks? and not how it feels… I think that a nice coated Basenji's coat does look like silk and usually very shiny too... that is until you sleep with that Basenji... and find the "prickly" part!!!

[lvoss]

I was wondering if it was something like that also. Like changing the word sleek to the work silky.

[renaultf1]

@tanza:

I think that a nice coated Basenji's coat does look like silk and usually very shiny too… that is until you sleep with that Basenji... and find the "prickly" part!!!

LOL, that's so true.

[nomrbddgs]

I don't exactly see eye to eye with the CKC on many things, so I'll hold my tongue on their description. But, I do find that the different colours tend to have coats that are typical of their colour. I find tri's have a coarse coat, black's a softer coat, red a shorter haired coat. I don't know if anyone else finds this or not.

[renaultf1]

@nomrbddgs:

I don't exactly see eye to eye with the CKC on many things, so I'll hold my tongue on their description. But, I do find that the different colours tend to have coats that are typical of their colour. I find tri's have a coarse coat, black's a softer coat, red a shorter haired coat. I don't know if anyone else finds this or not.

I was wondering about that because I've noticed it too - different coat types for different colours. It seems to me that b&w also have a slightly longer or thicker coat as well - certainly not the razor short coats that I've seen on many red & whites.

[agilebasenji]

At my house Jet the try-ing has the longest coat. It's fairly soft and not so prickly when you pet him backwards. Digital the brindlewonderkid has a short harsh coat and it is definately prickly. His coat will make me itch and my skin will break out in red dots if it's been more than 3 weeks since he's had a bath. More so in the summer than winter. Zest the superstar in training (r/w female) has a nice short and soft coat and she does not make me itch. I like her coat best, but I don't think the others have an incorrect coat.

And I should clarify, that by "soft" I do not mean a texture similar to some other breeds or the soft texture of undercoats found in other breeds. Jet and Zest's coats are still "hard" enough to repell seeds, burrs and weeds. Most soft coats and undercoats collect that stuff like crazy. I had my hands on a poodle puppy yesterday. Gorgeous thick soft, soft coat; felt closer to rabbit fur than basenji fur. Way softer than any basenji coat. The coat absorbed the light rather than reflected it.

I did have a foster b/w basenji female that came to me with icky thin harsh coat and after being in my house and eating quality food, her coat became thick and really soft. Soft almost like that poodle puppy's. A little sleeker than that poodle's but it was a coat that I'm not sure would repel burrs, weeds, seeds. It would seem that a coat of that texture would be incorrect for a basenji. (but it felt really nice!)

[lvoss]

I haven't noticed that coats vary by color so much. My mom's black boy Cole has a short painted on coat. It is soft going with the fur but prickly against. Sophie his black half sister has a a somewhat longer coat than his and it feels almost like a whippet's coat it is so soft. I do think that all my dogs have a correct coat though, they easily shed mud from their coats and even when hiking or coursing in natural brush they do not have problems with burrs, weeds, and seeds.

[khanis]

@renaultf1:

I was wondering about that because I've noticed it too - different coat types for different colours. It seems to me that b&w also have a slightly longer or thicker coat as well - certainly not the razor short coats that I've seen on many red & whites.

It is all breeding.
My dogs have stellar coats.
Nice and sleek and short. Whether they are reds or blacks.
And the one brindle
Yet, none are prickly when hand-brushed backwards.
Just because a coat is short does not meat it should be prickly.

I did have a Lindley Creek rescue a few years back… her coat was prickly to the touch no matter how you touched it... nice and short, but grossout prickly all the time.

[AJs Human]

Agile would definitely know about burrs…Colorado is one place I have to carry AJ out of the brush sometimes because of all the burrs he picks up in his foot pads. If I didn't carry him out of some of the pickles he gets himself into, I'd be pulling burrs out of his feet every five steps. However...while I pick up hitch-hikers on my jeans and socks, his fur remains clear of them. I've considered getting him a set of flip-flops to keep the burrs off the bottoms of his feet.

[Nemo]

Maybe prickly would get to how thick (and therefore more stiff) the follicle is versus how short it is? I don't know necessarily what is more correct, but Zoni's fur is very smooth and non-prickly feeling both ways, but it is slightly longer than Nemo's fur. It repels dirt very well, almost never have to clean her when she comes in from the mud. In comparison, his fur follicles are much thicker in diameter and probably slightly shorter. It seems to depend on the time of year, but his fur can be slightly prickly when brushed the wrong way. Right now it is quite soft both ways.

As a side note in reference to the "silky" description, I was finally getting around to reading my copy of Veronica Tudor William's blue book on the plane today and she described the basenji coat in Africa as "short and velvety".