03/31/2026
Dog Coat Genetics – Why Soft Coats Get Softer Over Time 🐶
Soft coat in general, if not bred with a coarse coat, will produce a mixture of the coats. But it’s often not really about the long of the hair 😕 Long hair can still be thicker and sturdier. It’s more that the more the gene gets diluted the more softer it becomes, losing the quality just like losing the eye color from dark brown to very light 👀
Here’s the deal with the main genes behind it:
- RSPO2controls the coarseness and that wiry harsh feel (plus the beard and eyebrows). The strong version makes the coat tough and protective. Without it, things go softer. 🧬
- FGF5 is for hair length. You need two copies of the long-hair version to get longer fur. But long doesn’t automatically mean soft – it depends on the other genes. 📏
- KRT71 adds curl or waves, which usually makes the coat feel even softer overall. 🌊
When you breed a soft-coated dog without bringing in a coarse one, the puppies often end up with a mix of textures. Keep breeding soft to soft over generations and the coarse quality starts to fade. The hairs get finer, silkier, and lose that springy, resilient structure. They mat easier and don’t hold up as well to weather. It’s not the length doing it – it’s the texture getting “watered down.”
It’s kinda like eye color dilution 👁️ Dark, rich brown slowly turning into pale, light shades when the strong pigment gets weaker over time. Same idea here with coat quality.
So yeah, if you keep picking the soft fluffy ones without mixing in some coarse genetics, the coat just keeps getting softer and softer, losing its original strength. DNA tests can show you what’s hiding in the genes if you want to predict litters better.
