To inspect the coat, feel for a stiffness to the outercoat, look at length which may vary from 1 inch to 4 inches. Some Griffon breeders evaluate the harshness of the coat by blowing against the direction of growth - if the hairs stay stiff, against the breath, the coat is harsh. Varying degrees of harshness and density can be seen.

Undercoat can be inspected by parting the coat across the back, if the skin is easily apparent, the coat density (hairs per square inch) is low. If you cannot easily see the skin, the coat is dense. The undercoat should be apparent in this inspection, and will sit just under the outercoat, consisting of fine, down-like insulating hairs. A good time to inspect undercoat is when the dog has just come out of the water, this way one can see how well the undercoat functions.

Head furnishings can be viewed at a glance, but do not forget that a Griffon who has been used in the field will have a headcoat that has been stipped by bushes in the process of protecting his head. When the head furnishings are repeatedly pulled out, the new hairs often come in harsher and may not grow as quickly.

The Griffon's coat will change over the course of his life, becoming harsher. A mature coat is most often seen by the time the Griffon is 3 to 5 years old. Appearance of the adult harsh coat will be seen first in the croup area, harshness and stiffer hairs will then seem to spread over the back, the last spot is usually the neck and chest area. A female Griffon's coat will change in luster during a pregnancy, often dropping out after weaning with the hormonal changes that come about.

Griffons who have the shorter, stiff coats lacking undercoat will often get a thicker coat in the winter, but will never grow the characteristic protective head furnishings that the Griffons with a typical coat will get. These short coated Griffons will often come into an adult coat when they are about two years of age.

Purebred Griffon Coat Type Examples
male puppy with an ideal dense harsh coat and furnishings	Mature Female Griffon with Short outercoat, minimal undercoat and almost no head furnishings
puppy with dense medium harsh coat, this coat stayed dense and became more harsh	mature male with harsh protective head furnishings
Griffon puppy displaying normal looking puppy coat that developed into variable coat at right	Variable Coat on 2 year old Bitch Very Harsh, dense coat on tail, topline and sides, dense but softer coat on legs and belly. This coat may get harsh on legs and belly  as the dog gets older.
Puppy with plush coat that remained soft and developed into the ringletted coat at the right	Soft Coat This is a full Blood Griffon that has an atypical coat, silky and hangs in ringlets.   On inspection, the coat is mainly  dense undercoat with few guard hairs This pup had a couple of interesting traits that may be tied to a coat like this...  for example no puppy teeth  until 11 weeks of age, and toenails that were white until 12 weeks of age.

The Griffon is a relatively recent breed, with the patriarchs having a variety of coat types. Even now there are inconsistancies in coat quality. It is likely that the same genetics are at play for the Griffon coat as are evident in other wire-coated breeds such as the German Wirehair Pointer, the Petit Basset Griffon Vandeen and the Wire-Haired Dachshund.

In all of these breeds, there is some speculation as to the genetic formulas for the ideal wire-coat with undercoat and furnishings. Wire-coated breeds seem to all have the occurances of short-coated, soft-coated and ideal coated puppies in litters even when the parents have ideal wire-coats.

It is not clear whether the ideal wirecoat with undercoat and furnishings is a group of recessives which all must match in order to not be masked by dominants for short or soft coats; or whether the coat is an incomplete dominant, where the wirecoat may be expressed as a WW or a Ww with an allele for length or lack of length for undercoat (say, L).

For example, IF the genetics for an ideal wirecoat are a dominant, the inconsistancies would be as follows.

• If the adult Griffons, WW and WW are bred, the puppies will not show the allele which alters the undercoat.
• If the adult Griffons Ww and Ww are bred, then the ww puppies may show the allele, with the ww puppies expressing the allele L for length of undercoat
• On the other hand, if an allele for a shorter undercoat is carried (say l) when Ww and Ww are bred the puppies that are ww will allow the allele to become apparent. If they have an allele l which either causes a shorter coat (or perhaps it allows a different allele to effect coat) accompanied by lack of undercoat, the ww puppies will express the shorter coat and lack of undercoat.

It appears that the true genetic nature of the Wire-Coat is still unclear, and the ideal coat may be a group of recessive genes that occur with each other. We are learning more all the time. Perhaps in the future, breeders will be better able to understand the variations of coat and open coats that can occur.

Many thanks to the Genetics Experts and Veterinarians who have consulted with me, and to the Griffon Breeders and Owners who have shared this information which is vital to a healthy future for our Griffons.

References

Breeding Better Dogs, Kyle Onstatt, Howell 1983, ISBN 0-87605-400-9

Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook, Carlson, DVM & Giffin MD, Howell 1992, ISBN 0-87605-537-4

Genetics of the Dog, Malcolm B. Willis, Howell 1989, ISBN 0-87605-551-X

Practical Genetics for Dog Breeders, Malcolm B. Willis, Howell 1992, ISBN 0-87605-782-2

Your Dog, His Health and Happiness, Louis L. Vine, DVM, ARCO 1982 ISBN 0-668-02876-9