Coat Transitions on a Sheepie from 4 months to 4 years Old.
Sheepie baby at 4 months old, Black and White Fluffy Puppy. 4 months Old, you can see on the Butt area a little bit of light grey imerging. 
Next stage, the Junior Coat is fully through, 18 months old and the darker mature coat is starting to imerge across the shoulders. 
Nest stage, 2 & 1/2 years old, more of the darker mature coat is breaking through, on the shoulder area and up the backside. 
Next stage 3 & 1/2 years old, just about all of the Junior coat has been replaced with the darker Matrure coat with still the light grey undercoat, here is the same dog at 3 and Half years of age. Still a tiny bit of the light grey (junior Coat) at the end of the coat. 
Four years old, the same dog, all the coat changes have taken place and the full mature sheepie coat is all through. No more light grey on the ends. 
Also remember this is a late maturing breed with most coming into their prime at 3 onwards, some change earlier in age, some are more late maturing and some don't change colour very much from the puppy stage and stay quite dark. An OES should always have a lighter colour grey on the undercoat. I hope this helps with all the questions that have been coming up on coat changes.  Personally I think the transition from the Junior coat to the full adult sheepie coat is the hardest stage to keep them in coat, seems to be more of a knotting/matting problem then puppy to Junior Coat  |
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| The only thing I kept thinking while reading/looking at this thread ....after I got past the first hilarious pic.... was how your dog looks like a toy dog because its so PERFECT!!!!! Looks like the fluffiest OES I've ever seen. I want! |
| Oh my gosh I agree 100% she looks perfect. I brush Phoebe every night by morning she looks like she had a hard night of partying |
| Excellent pictures, Lisa. That really does help in understanding the transition. |
| I agree.. Lisa's dogs ALWAYS look perfect.. they look like stuffed animals...
not fair, not fair at all... PS.. the first picture is to funny..zoooooooooom |
That is extremely helpful as well as extremely beautiful. I had no idea they went to pale grey and then the darker adult coat emerges. I am just starting to find the wiry guard hairs in Maggie's coat. Although it is not very visible because I just had to shave her naked due to tiny burrs all over her from our hike yesterday.  |
| Very beautiful, and educational at the same time! Thank you.
She is such a cutie, and her personality shines through. Val - have you checked out the October Dog Fancy? - it has a feature article on the highest rated dog towns across the US. |
got sheep wrote: Val - have you checked out the October Dog Fancy? - it has a feature article on the highest rated dog towns across the US.
Hadn't seen it! I will definitely check that out. Thanks! |
Great information, Lisa! 
We should make this a "sticky" so folks searching for info on coat changes can easily find it. |
| Thanks, Lisa! Those pics were great.
But, at what stage does the stick get removed from their mouths? |
barney1 wrote: But, at what stage does the stick get removed from their mouths?
Never, they just go through a transition too, longer and bigger they get as well!!!   |
| Thanks Lisa! I'm so excited to see how Bingley's coat is going to change. I think it is really intriguing how much the OES coat changes as the dog matures! |
| That was a great post--so informative! I love looking at the changes---So much to look forward to. And my favorite part is how cute they look at all times.
Stacey |
Just one more photo, this is a close up of the Undercoat, so much lighter then the outer coat. So also if a sheepie is clipped off it looks a lot lighter as all the darker guard hairs go and the undercoat shows through.
Also on the whites forgot to mention too, they change as well, not in colour but they go from that soft/downy fluffy feeling to more texture in them as well, so they do get quite clumpy/knotty also and settle down with maturity too.
Happy Brushing Everyone  |
| I didn't realize that about the whites. I love this post! |
| Thanks for sharing this information. It helped me understand what's going on with Blue Star's coat. She is getting all dark fur on her back now. I thought I might have to change her food. But this is normal. I've never noticed this change with my other sheepies. |
| Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much for the great information and pictures. Your sheepies are beautiful models.
I agree, we need to make this a sticky so its easy to access. |
| Glad it helped explain what is happening to Blue Stars coat |
its nice to see this pictures. It will be nice for someone else to post picture like this. 14 years ago i have 2 oes and i didnt notice such change of colour  mauby becouse im all time With them  once again nice post |
| wow... i actually didnt know that the adult coat is supposed to be darker than the junior coat, that explains a lot! |
Lisa, Thanks so much for the pic's & info. Chauncey is in the middle of a coat change at 14 months. He was about 6 months when he greyed. He mats daily and each day is worse than the last. We are in an area that gets cold, snowy winters so I hate to get him shaved down now. I had asked to have him clipped in May down to a puppy coat and got a bald sheepie back. I threw up and then cried, but I'm not sure it's not the best option now. He is a handful when groomed and it has always been more of a wrestling match, although I do enjoy brushing him. Before this change, when grooming was 3-4 times a week it was great but to demat daily and find they're back in the morning is frustrating. 
He's now about 4-5" long, would it help to clip him to more of a puppy cut or should we just shave him, buy him a sweater and get it over with??? |
  I REALY LOVE THIS ONE
I think we will get a wery long winther and spring her in Norway this year |
| If you want to keep the 4/5" length on Chauncey rather then clip him off again, the best way why going through the coat change is to use a wide tooth comb & pin brush for his regular grooming. Remove all the undercoat to help stop the matting. Means you can then still have a longer fluffy look on the dog without the matting being such a problem at this time and they dry a lot quicker too with all the undercoat removed if they get wet.
Good easy tool for removing the undercoat is a Mars Coat King rake, but brush & comb through first to remove larger matts before using it as otherwise it will just cut a chunk out if you strike a big matt. After stripping the undercoat, then just to pin brush & comb through the whole coat (including the whites, run the wide tooth comb through them too as well as the greys after pin brushing) on a regular basis only takes a short time to groom them through. About once a month use the Mars and just whip through the coat to keep the undercoat away. Kelsey is 11 1/2 and has a long, long coat, now she is not shown anymore I stripped out the undercoat and she is very easy & quick to brush through and does not get too knotty, I comb her through with a wide tooth comb (collie comb) & use a pin brush and it is an easy long coat to look after now. I only brush her now once a week and takes about 1-2 hours at the most. I use the mars on her about once a month.
Chauncey should take even less time then Kelsey to groom through if you completely remove all the undercoat as being only 4/5" long
So try that method and if all else fails and it gets too much because of your winters, then clip off, get a coat and start again.
Brie well that's another story, hours and hours and hours due to her full coat |
| thanks for lovely pics of your beautiful sheepie and for showing us the transition |
| Great information and good pictures - or were they drawings. No sheepie ever has a clean white beard! |
| Very helpful. Even though this is my third sheepdog I realize I am still so clueless about grooming. Thanks again, |
Thank you, Lisa for giving us HOPE! Sadie, now 2, is going from junior to mature and is in that knotty stage!!! Thankfully, she loves being combed/brushed. And thanks to Carl Lindon, we know the "right" way.  I agree though, this needs to be a Sticky for all us newbees. |
| Hi I wonder if you can give me some tips??? I have a 10 weeks old Sheepie. He's my first.. when I'm grooming him I have to give him a treat before I start or else he'll try to playbite until I have finished.Then he just starts again when he's finished eating the treat...I dont give him another one.It's becoming really frustrating.I am eager for some hints or tips. Thanks Michelle.(UK) |
| Hi Michelle and welcome to the forum, have a read of this thread and scroll down to where Carl Lindon has posted. Wonderful and Helpful instructions on getting a youngster use to grooming, I am sure this will help give you wonderful tips and advice.
http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=2364 |
| Thanks Lisa, some brilliant advice *YOU ARE A SUPERSTAR*
Michelle |
| No not me Michelle it is Carl Lindon, he has put an awful lot of detailed time and information together to help people learn, especially if it is there first experience with OES.
Another link from Carl and if it is your first OES, this one is on Proper line Grooming an OES, the best detailed helpful instructions I have ever seen, especially as it comes with detailed pictures too. THANKS CARL.
http://www.oes.org/html/sheepdog_grooming.html AND GEORGE, What ya talking about????, Mine do LOL |
| A big thank you to you both... You are making things alot easier understand |
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