Ducky and His Ducklings

CarolineS said:

What lovely pictures! You can see how patient Ducky is with his kids. ❤

Is there something special about his coat that makes it easy care? All I read about on other sites is how easily they mat and that’s why so many people shave them down.

Click to expand...

Part of it is that both of his parent (and both of ZT’s parents have the non-curly gene. The curly gene makes coats MUCH harder to maintain and many breeders don’t test for it, or if they do, are just careful not to breed two carriers together so they don’t end up with Poodle-like coats. But even a single curly gene can make coats difficult. But there is more to it than we can test for genetically, unfortunately. Some lines have more frizzy, thick undercoats that just mat more. Ducky has a lot of undercoat, and ZT has MASSES of undercoat. But in both of them, it is still silky soft and not prone to matting. Most will STILL mat through the “dreaded coat blowing”… I was REALLY lucky, and Ducky didn’t even mat much then.

Also, NO Havanese should need to be “shaved” unless their owner allows them to get BADLY matted. Even a Havanese with a Poodle coat can be kept in a short puppy cut and look adorable. But people need to get them groomed BEFORE they mat, and new Havanese owners are often not aware of the matting, and do not comb them down to the skin. They do not understand how to groom a coated dog And don’t keep on top of it.

They are all adorable and Ducky is gorgeous! You're absolutely right about the easy-care coats!! I keep mine in varying puppy cuts but Naomi and Archie are easy and don't need as much attention when it comes to grooming. Archie is the easiest and so far I've kept his hair longer than the others. Oliver has the curly gene you speak of and more than makes up for the ease of grooming the other two! I have to trim his head and face in a completely different fashion than the others. If I don't, he just ends up with a big fluffy afro that makes him resemble the likes of Bob Ross (the painter)... but imagine if Bob Ross had equally bushy facial hair 🤣 . I'm waiting to see how the coat blowing will go with Archie who just turned 9 months old. I keep Naomi and Archie's head and leg hair longer and clip their bodies to whatever length suits my fancy in the moment.