Hi, I've posted before about 2 of our dogs, 1 a woolly, and the other with liver shunt. I found some pictures of them as puppies recently, and you can see the differences even back then, so I decided to post these for other people to see.

The pictures are all mixed, because they weren't taken to be illustrative, they're just general pics. Anyway, heres our beloved loony woolly first

Emma

And Emma and Door

I couldn't find one of Jorja on her own, but this is a good comparison photo. She's the one on the right, you can see where her sides been shaved. I presume that was for the ultrasound on her liver. If you compare her to her brother on the left, you can see she's quite a bit skinnier, and as she got older, her fur got a lot scrappier.

And heres a final photo, showing all four pups we ended up keeping. You can see Emma the woolly at the front, the boys Jacob and Jasper in the middle, and Jorja tucked away at the back. She was quite a normal puppy growing up, but now she seems very disinterested most of the time, with occasional bouts of manic intensity. Oh well, she's our little bugger, and we do love her.

I have to say this Gwynapnudd, she well may be your little bugger, but I would love her too, her face is so cute and endearing.

Can anyone tell me why you can't show a woolly puppy? Why is it a fault? I thought they were judged on their ability to do the job they were bred for, in which case how would a woolly coat affect her ability to hunt red deer? Or is it that a harsh coat is required for cod weather conditions?

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if Murphy was a woolly, showing is only a fun way of meeting other DH's for me, I actually think the woolly coat is beautiful.

Your dogs are beautiful.

Her coat is really really fine, it mats so easily. My father groomed her everyday, but we cut her down every so often, to almost greyhound short fur. It's too hot for her in summer with a full coat. The fur between her paws gets really manky too. It clogs up with mud and other crud, so I'd imagine that would be a problem hunting.

I don't know if it's a woolly thing or an Emma thing, but she has no brakes or steering. She's put my mother on the floor twice because she couldn't corner fast enough.

At the moment she looks absolutely terrible. My mum used to be a hairdresser, so when she cuts Emma's fur, it looks nice and neat. Unfortunately, this time I did it, and, well, I'm too embarassed to take her out without her coat on. Her face looks deformed because I cut one side shorter than the other. hopefully, she should look relatively normal by the weekend, and not like the elephant dog.

Look at that beautiful face, she is just absolutely gorgeous.

The woolly coat is a real handicap in harsh weather conditions and wouldn't keep its owner warm and dry in a howling rainy gale; that's why it's considered a bad fault - although it looks lovely, it's not what a working dog would have needed. On the plus side, woollies generally have the most wonderful hind quarters.

Do you clip her? I used to clip my patterdale as he was 'fluffy' and looked awful come spring/summer time. Also once I let my lurcher go to a poodle parlour, he was DH/GH/Collie cross, he looked like a Deerhound just blonde, but his coat wasn't harsh and matted easy, so off he went one day and they must have given him a number 1. He was so embarrassed, he hated it, so did I and couldn't wait for it to grow, after that I clipped him myself, only a higher number setting!

My Border Terrier I hand strip, but the bits on his chest and so tough to pull out, as is under his belly, so I clip him there and he looks lovely when I have done him.

Getting back to Emma, I wouldn't have thought her coat would affect her steering, some are just oafs, Murphy had me over in a field once, he just came straight at me and bang, up in the air I went. Even now, he does a flyby and comes close, banging my legs. Probably why us DH owners are always black and blue!

I do love your Emma though, she has really caught my eye!

I thought that must be the reason Sid and yes, they do seem to be very well constructed and nice and chunky looking. She is a looker is Emma!

Our first deerhound was a woolie!
He was drop dead gorgeous. They do seem to be a bit naughtier and more stubborn than the norm!!
He was a really funny and intelligent dog but.... having owned one I can totally understand why a woolie coat is an undesirable trait.
Once they get wet they can stay wet for 6-8 hours and that's in the house, wrapped in a blanket and dried as much as possible!
Imagine trying to keep that animal warm out hunting?? The coat also matts terribly, so unless you enjoy brushing ( I did ) the coat will matt and get closely matted to the skin and then start to tear it. Also the feet get balls of matts and it makes it uncomfortable to walk. Archie had tears and matts when we got him - he was a rescue.
Eventually I clipped him out and it was lovely to see the beautiful boy underneath!
AND , it was much better for him in all seasons
I will include some pics but seen to be having a mental block of how to do it.....

Can I also say I know a deerhound with liver shunt and she is celebrating her fourth year and is fit and healthy

Oh, so I did do it! Archie in all his coat! He was 36" of loveliness.

And hopefully here is a pic of him clipped.

Hubby is smitten with the Wollies They do look adorable but I can imagine the extra work involved. It is one of the many things I love about this breed and that is the low maintenance

I am smitten with wollies too !! :woohoo:Pardon my ignorance but is a woolly bred from 2 wollies ? or are they an anomally that happens now & again ? or what ???

As far as I know it is a throwback gene. Some lines carry it some don't and it can appear at unexpected times but is tracable back through the pedigree...
Would love to know if anyone has anything to add to that.

OK - so can we have some more pics of woolies please ?? There was a "woolly " at crufts this year in the "Discover Dogs" section, does anyone know who that lady was that I spoke to, she had 3 deerhounds including a woolly ?

This is a photo of Carys - she is very fluffy and very naughty. Does anyone think that she will be a woolly?

This is a photo of Carys - she is very fluffy and very naughty. Does anyone think that she will be a woolly?