Female shelties slower to get the "big fur"?

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mikebdub

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I have heard that some shelties can take a few years before filling our the big fluffy coats, but are females slower to do it? I have been looking at a bunch of random sheltie pictures today and noticed that alot/most of them seem to be pretty well filled out at a young age (both male and female). My girl Cali is now 15 months and still has not filled out that much. Her brother has a much fuller/thicker coat and is also ALOT bigger then her. I measured her today and she is 15.5 at the shoulders and about 21-22lbs. She is slim and very energetic, her coat is soft, shiny and beautiful.. Is it something she will just have to grow into over time or is there something I could do to help it along? My house is kept very warm during the winter months because my gf is always freezing so could the temps in here have something to do with it?

Ideas? :wink2:

edit: I forgot to mention that she has these very very long pieces of hair around her neck on each side of her mouth that look almost like she has long dangily sideburns or something lol. They look so out of place because they are so much longer then the rest of her fur.. Is this a sign that it all is starting to grow out or what? Does brushing help with this process any? She does get regular brushings, but she absolutly hates it so I don't really do it unless we have to..
 
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I just read your post in the other thread lol. Thanks for the replies! I just hope she grows into a big beautiful fur like some of the pictures I have seen on this board! I think the long "sideburns" she has is probably a sign of what is to come.. I just want it to hurry up.. She looks so skinny and nekkid lol. I will have to get some new pictures of her up here soon.. My internet is so slow (stuck with dialup for the next two weeks) so I will have to do it at work.. I gotta get some puppy -> grownup pics up also.. Thanks again!
 
Mike, my females coats are very full, and my boys fur, unless groomed like a showdog, do not seem as thick. My Rocky at 7 months had a beautiful coat, but as he is getting older it is not nearly as thick as my girls coats are. My youngest had the thickest coat when she was younger (I have seen pics) and to this day has a beautifully thick and amazing coat. Telly is my only one who had a really bushy coat at 8 months, and now since I had the opportunity to thoroughly groom him, his coat is not as thick as my girls. I guess it really does depend on their lineage for some dogs.
 
Mike , relax enjoy!!

She'll fill in soon. As far as the longer sideburns, My Sheltie Angel, Jewel , had the same thing My husband called those her hassidic Jewish curls!!:lol: She looked so cute with them. They all seem to grow their fur at various times most do grow fairly quick. My Kiara is now 8 almost 9 months and she has a lovely coat.:wink2:
 
Indy is now 7 months and her coat still looks basically the same as she did when we first got her 3 and a half months ago. She's got a very smooth coat, just poofy on her chest and "pants" and now her tail looks like a flag instead of a rat's tail lol

I used to worry that maybe something was wrong with her or something but now I am just going with the flow. She may never develop a great coat but she's still a great dog!
 
Layla had a lovely coat by the time she was five months -- not big, but scaled-down lovely. By the time she was nine months, it was full and silky. Bits, on the other hand, looked like she'd been plucked until she was a year old. Then some gene turned on -- the one that says, "This family obviously doesn't have enough dog hair to clean up" :confused2: -- and she turned into a hairball. They're coousins. You just never know.
 
Sadie is almost 15 months old and has a beautiful fluffy coat.

When my parent's male was the same age his coat was also beautiful but totally different. His coat was fairly short but very silky and smooth with a lot of dark hair and red mixed in (His coat would later become shaded.) He didn't get his full, fluffy coat till he was almost 3 years old, we'd given up hope that he'd be fluffy.

Some times it just takes time.

I have heard that males can be fluffier than females but it probably depends on the dog's blood lines.
 
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