How do I tell if my dog has a single or double coat?

Push your fingers down through the coat against the direction it grows. A double coat has two distinct textures — coarser guard hairs on top and a soft, dense undercoat beneath. A single coat feels like one consistent texture all the way to the skin. This is the most useful distinction you can make, because double coats are a shedding problem and continuously growing single coats are a matting problem.

My dog is a doodle — what coat do they have?

It depends on the individual dog, which is why doodle owners get such conflicting advice. A doodle can inherit a Poodle-like wool coat that mats and needs regular haircuts, a looser wavy coat, or a flatter coat closer to the retriever side that sheds more and mats less. Use the four checks on your actual dog rather than assuming from the breed name.

Does a low-shedding coat mean less grooming?

No — usually more. Low-shedding curly and wool coats hold loose hair in the curl instead of dropping it, and that trapped hair is exactly what forms mats. They need brushing to the skin several times a week and haircuts on a regular cycle. A heavily shedding smooth coat is far less work.

Should I hand-strip or clip a wire coat?

Either works for a family dog. Hand-stripping removes dead hair at the root and keeps the coat's harsh texture and deep color; clipping cuts it instead, which is quicker and cheaper but gradually softens the texture and fades the color. Worth choosing deliberately, since returning to a stripped coat after years of clipping takes a long time.

Will my dog's coat change as they get older?

Twice. Puppies transition to an adult coat somewhere between eight and twelve months, and in curly coats that transitional phase mats much faster than the coat before or after it. Later in life, texture softens and density drops, and senior coats tend to mat more easily — partly the texture change, partly because older dogs lie in the same spots for longer.

Dog Coat Types and What They Mean for Grooming

Breed tells you less than you would think. A Labradoodle can inherit a Poodle's wool coat or a Labrador's double coat, and those two dogs need almost opposite care. Coat type is what actually decides how often your dog needs brushing, whether they need a haircut at all, and whether shedding or matting is the problem you are managing.

So the useful question is not what breed your dog is. It is what coat they are carrying. Here is how to work that out, and what each answer means.

Four checks that identify a coat

Do these with your hands, on a dry coat:

Feel for a second layer. Push your fingers down through the coat against the direction of growth. If you find a soft, dense layer sitting beneath longer, coarser hairs, that is an undercoat — your dog is double-coated. If it is one consistent texture all the way down, it is a single coat.
Ask whether it keeps growing. Does the hair reach a length and stop, or does it keep going until someone cuts it? Continuous growth means a haircut is part of the routine for life. Hair that stops at a set length never needs cutting, only maintaining.
Look at the texture. Tight curls, loose waves, straight and silky, or coarse and bristly — this sorts the coat within the single or double category.
Check for furnishings. Longer hair on the eyebrows, beard, legs, and tail while the body coat stays shorter points to a wire coat or a combination coat.

Check one is the one that matters most, because single versus double changes the entire approach: double coats are a shedding management problem, single coats that grow continuously are a matting management problem.

The coat types

Smooth and short single coats

Beagle, Boxer, Dalmatian, Pit Bull, Doberman, Pug

How you know: One layer, close to the body, no undercoat when you push through it. Hair does not grow past its set length.

These coats shed — often more than owners expect, in short bristly hairs that weave into fabric. They never need cutting. Their care is about skin and cleanliness rather than styling: a weekly rubber curry to lift dead hair and spread natural oils, and a professional bath and blowout to clear what brushing misses.

Double coats

Labrador, Golden Retriever, German and Australian Shepherd, Siberian Husky, Corgi, Newfoundland, Great Pyrenees

How you know: Two clear textures — coarse guard hairs on top, soft dense undercoat beneath. Heavy seasonal shedding, often twice a year.

The two layers trap air, which regulates temperature in both directions and shields skin from sun. The job is clearing dead undercoat so air moves freely — not cutting. Do not shave a healthy double coat; it does not cool the dog, does not reduce shedding, and does not reliably grow back the same. Our guide on why shaving a double coat backfires covers this properly.

Curly and wool coats

Poodle, Bichon Frise, Portuguese Water Dog, and most doodles

How you know: Tight curls or dense waves, one texture throughout, and hair that keeps growing. Very little hair on your clothes.

These are the coats people call hypoallergenic, which really means low-shedding — and the low shedding is the catch. Hair that lets go stays trapped in the curl instead of falling out, and trapped hair is what mats. A curly-coated dog needs brushing to the skin several times a week and a haircut on a regular cycle, permanently.

Long and silky coats

Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, Havanese, Afghan Hound

How you know: Straight, fine, glossy hair that hangs rather than curls, growing continuously, often parting naturally along the spine.

Silky coats tangle rather than felt, but they tangle fast — around the ears, under the collar, in the armpits, and anywhere the dog lies down. The hair also grows into the eyes and around the mouth, so a lot of the grooming is comfort and hygiene rather than looks. Daily combing is realistic maintenance; many owners choose a shorter puppy cut instead.

Wire and broken coats

Schnauzer, Airedale, Wire Fox Terrier, Border Terrier, Wirehaired Dachshund

How you know: A harsh, bristly outer coat that feels almost crunchy, usually with softer furnishings on the legs, beard, and eyebrows.

Wire coats present a choice. Hand-stripping pulls dead hair out at the root, which preserves the harsh texture and the deep color the breed is meant to have. Clipping cuts it instead, which is faster and cheaper but softens the texture and fades the color over time. Neither is wrong for a family dog — but it is worth deciding deliberately, because going back from a clipped coat takes a long time.

Hairless and sparse coats

Chinese Crested, Xoloitzcuintli, American Hairless Terrier

How you know: Little to no coat, sometimes with tufts on the head, feet, and tail.

With no coat, the skin is exposed to everything — sun, cold, and abrasion. Care shifts almost entirely to skin: gentle, regular bathing and real attention to sun exposure. Ask your veterinarian before putting any moisturizer or sunscreen on a dog.

Combination coats

Cocker Spaniel, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Border Collie, Setters

How you know: Short, easy hair over the body with long feathering on the ears, chest, legs, and tail.

These fool people, because the body coat suggests a low-maintenance dog while the feathering mats as readily as any long coat. The body needs a weekly brush; the feathering needs combing every few days and tidying at each appointment.

Corded coats

Komondor, Puli, and corded Poodles

Uncommon, and genuinely specialist. The coat is deliberately separated into rope-like cords that must be kept apart by hand and dried with real care, since moisture trapped inside a cord has nowhere to go. Expect long appointments, mostly for drying.

Coats change — twice

The coat your puppy has is not the coat they will keep. Somewhere between eight and twelve months most dogs transition to their adult coat, and in curly and wool coats that transitional period mats faster than anything that comes before or after. Owners often read it as suddenly doing something wrong; the coat has simply changed underneath them.

Coats change again in old age. Texture softens, density drops, and skin gets thinner and more easily irritated. Senior coats mat more readily — partly texture, partly because an older dog lies in the same spots for longer.

What coat type does not tell you

Size is not a coat type. Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards, and Great Pyrenees get grouped as “giant breeds,” but they are double-coated dogs and follow double-coat care. A giant dog takes longer on the table; the approach is the same.

And with mixed breeds, go by what you can feel, not by the breed names. That is the entire reason the four checks above are worth doing.

Turning this into a schedule

Once you know the coat, the schedule follows from it — curly and silky coats on the frequent end, double and smooth coats less often, with brushing at home doing most of the work in between. Our coat-by-coat guide to grooming frequency lays out the intervals for each. If matting is your concern, how to spot mats before they tighten goes deeper.

Not sure what you're looking at?

Bring your dog in. Running a comb through a coat tells us in about a minute what four paragraphs cannot, and we will tell you what your dog actually has and what it will realistically need — including what it costs, before we start. See our services for what that looks like.

Filed under Coat, Skin & Health Education

What Your Dog's Coat Type Says About Their Grooming Needs

Four checks that identify a coat