# Australian Shepherd 3 months- Should his fur be this short?



## cautionjump (Sep 4, 2013)

So my wife and I have been researching and looking for an aussie for about half a year. Over the weekend we found a breeder who had two 12 week old Aussies for sale.

The breeder seemed very knowledgeable and professional. She gave us a contract and even papers to have the dog AKC registered since both its parents were purebred. Both parents were gorgeous. 

The one thing is his fur seems abnormally short. Is this because of his age? It seems like most of the puppys have very long fur, but I couldnt find many tri colors at his age.

I asked the breeder but havent heard back from her, but I dont see why she would lie about him being fullbred, especially when we saw his parents.

Is the length of his fur any indicator of what it will be like when hes full grown? I love his markings but really like the aussies with the long flowing fur...

Here are a few photos!


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## kcomstoc (Mar 9, 2013)

maybe as he gets older his fur will grow....I don't know we have an aussie expert on here that could tell you more..hold on I'll look up the name. Her username is Keechak she breeds aussies a


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## cautionjump (Sep 4, 2013)

Thanks for the advice, I dropped her a message...


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## cautionjump (Sep 4, 2013)

Its wild how his fur is so uniform on his body, but gets a little bit longer on his chest and over his ears...


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## Jmc1985 (Nov 27, 2012)

Yes that looks normal. At that age they start going into their "puppy uglies". No coat, all legs, etc. Be sure that the breeder is doing all the health checks on the parents (MDR1, CERF, OFA, PRA, etc).


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## GrinningDog (Mar 26, 2010)

I love me some tricolor herder. <3

My Gypsy is half Aussie, and her coat looked very like that at one point. Here she is at 4 months old. (Sorry about the crap pics. We took, like, no decent shots when she was a pup.)


GypPup2 by grinningd0g, on Flickr


GypPup1 by grinningd0g, on Flickr

Her coat is VERY thick now, to the point I was concerned about her weight recently. Just increased coat, as it turns out.


GypsyCrouch by grinningd0g, on Flickr


stack 005 by grinningd0g, on Flickr


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## Kyndall54 (Apr 26, 2013)

Ammy's coat at 4 months



Now(ish) at 8 months 


She still has ALOT of puppy coat, her adult coat has come in on the top of her back and her belly and butt hair are long now too but her sides are still all puppy coat! Her chest hair is fuller now too. I don't think her full coat will start to come in until next spring or fall, after she blows it a couple of times.


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## cautionjump (Sep 4, 2013)

Thats great! Thanks for the advice, I just saw all the fluffy aussies, and was wondering why mine wasnt! There arent many before and after pictures that I could find, but Im glad its normal!


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## cautionjump (Sep 4, 2013)

Wow Ammy is beautiful! Ive never seen an aussie with the whole front white! Still her coat is quite a bit longer than mine (Velocity is his name  )


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## Kobismom (Dec 17, 2012)

I'm not an expert by any means, but your 3 month old looks like Kobi when he was abut 3-4 months old... lost all his puppy fur and got awkward and scrawny with a short coat during his "puppy ugly" stage. Now his coat is growing out and he's starting to get his adult coat as he's blown out his summer undercoat.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

If the dog isn't show bred (and it's not) it's not going to carry a lot of coat.


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## PatchworkRobot (Aug 24, 2010)

Looks fine to me


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## Doglover65 (Aug 10, 2013)

Absolutely gorgeous puppy but ima be a party pooper over here.

Does the breeder health test the parents? Health guarantees? Any previous health problems in the lines before 5-7 years of age? And for her to say "they have vet checks" or "no we dont health test but there has been no problems" is the signal for you to say thank you very much but no.

Okay party pooper lecture over  its just important to make sure this breeder is reputable. Anyways that puppy is drop dead gorgeous, and im really happy youve been doing your research 6 months in advance!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

It could be the heat causing a shorter than normal coat. I have seen puppies that age with just as short of a coat, I wouldn't say it's normal but that alone would not be a sign of mixed breeding.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

cautionjump said:


> Wow Ammy is beautiful! Ive never seen an aussie with the whole front white! Still her coat is quite a bit longer than mine (Velocity is his name  )


You don't see it often because good breeders try to minimize their chances of producing it because having a full white head carries with it a high chance of deafness. They do pop up once in a while even in litters bred with the best of intentions. And yes they are beautiful!


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## Kyndall54 (Apr 26, 2013)

Keechak said:


> You don't see it often because good breeders try to minimize their chances of producing it because having a full white head carries with it a high chance of deafness. They do pop up once in a while even in litters bred with the best of intentions. And yes they are beautiful!


Yes! Ammy's mom and dad were a black tri and a blue merle, but many irresponsible, uneducated collie and aussie breeders will breed two merles to get "rare" white dogs that 90% of the time were born deaf or with vision problems or both. We're very lucky she's not deaf, almost every other aussie I've seen with a white head has been.


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## LJeanB (Sep 15, 2021)

GrinningDog said:


> I love me some tricolor herder. <3
> 
> My Gypsy is half Aussie, and her coat looked very like that at one point. Here she is at 4 months old. (Sorry about the crap pics. We took, like, no decent shots when she was a pup.)
> 
> ...


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

This thread is from 2013 and hasn't been updated since. Please feel free to start your own thread or participate in current discussions, but I'm closing this one to further replies.


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