The Wheaten Coat in Ireland

        Pictures of early Wheatens show a dog with wavy hair hanging down along its body. There are no photos of fluffy fur balls such as we see in the U.S. Irish Wheaten puppies often resemble little border terriers. Adolescent coats are often wispy, growing heavier at maturity.

        It would have been unthinkable in Ireland to foster the heavy coats we see in the U.S. ring. The Wheaten was an all-purpose farm, working and hunting dog. His coat had to adapt to all kinds of situations. Irish coat texture is somewhat like that of human hair. And it hangs in lovely shiny waves along the body.

        Coats like Toby's don't come overnight. In fact, one must usually wait until the dog is nearly three years old. And of course, not every Irish Wheaten has a good coat. Some are too curly. Others are bristly. Some remain sparse (an "open" coat). Some are too light; others look grayish. But the best Irish dogs have the shining coat that gave the breed it's long-winded name.

The Wheaten Coat in the U.S.

      The style of U.S. Wheaten coat was set when several dogs with immensely heavy puppy coats were campaigned extensively early in the 1970's. While these coats were actually atypical of the Standard, they were attractive and became the ideal.

        The American coat goes through at least three distinctive stages: puppy, adolescent, and adult. What one often sees in the ring is the adolescent coat, cloud soft, deeply apricot, with a Kerry-like trim. It is unfortunate that more mature Wheatens are not shown since many people seldom know what an adult Wheaten looks like.

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