Glamour coats

 Joy Devery (Copperleaf Cardis, Foxton, NZ)

In the "glamour" coated Cardigans I have seen, it is the guard hair which carries the extra length and not the amount of undercoat. I have seen Cardigans which lean more towards the old style "short" coat (allowable in the UK Standard) fill bag after bag with undercoat when shedding - giving no less amount of undercoat than a dog with the longer "glamour" coat.

The Standards call for a double coat -- an undercoat of dense thick hair, and an outer coat of coarser short (UK) to medium length hair. In my experience the so-called "glamour" coat is where the outer guard hair is actually somewhere between medium length and fluff length. In the old days this length of coat would never have been exhibited (certainly not in NZ or
Australia, and probably not in Europe either), just as a full fluff would never be exhibited.

glamourcoat.jpg (19645 bytes)

Example of glamour coat.

IMHO the term "glamour" coat in Cardigans originated, and became acceptable, first in the USA and then crept out to other countries. Exhibitors found that judges liked the extra length coats and that it gave them an edge in the showring - and so we began to move away from the old traditional style short to medium length coat. I have to say that with the extensive blow
drying done in the USA, you could never do this with the old traditional style Cardigan coat. You could try to fluff the coat up all you like, but it would still fall back into it's glossy thick smooth appearance.

Should a "glamour" coat be exhibited? I have one in my own yard, and yes she has done extremely well in the showring. Once upon a time I would never have exhibited her, but with other "glamour" coats doing well in the ring I decided if you can't beat 'em then join 'em!!! These days we pay more attention to construction and less attention to coat. What we should be endeavouring to do is breed the correct construction in unison with the traditional Cardigan coat, and not letting one lapse in favour of the other.

Should a "glamour" coat be bred from? Yes, though I believe you will find the fluff gene lurking there somewhere. To my mind they are linked. However, I would not breed from a full fluff as every one of the progeny will carry the fluff gene -- and I think, as with any recessive gene, it could begin to take over the bloodline. A "glamour" coat however is
somewhat modified and I feel a safer option than breeding a full fluff.

These are just my own thoughts, and I would be interested in other peoples theories on the subject.

 

Return to Coat page