Page 20 - (DK) The Dog Encyclopedia

INTRODUCTION TO DOGS | SKIN AND COAT

Skin and coat

Dogs are thin-skinned, but for the majority their covering of hair provides sufficient warmth
and protection. Canine coats come in many types: some dogs have “big hair,” others are short,
wiry, curly, or corded. A handful of breeds have bare skins, with perhaps a sprinkling of hairs
on their extremities. While natural selection is responsible for some variation in dogs’ coats,
humans have introduced most changes, partly for utility but more often for fashion.

SKIN STRUCTURE epidermis. Dogs also have sensitive facial example, when he is afraid or angry. Unlike
In common with all mammals, dogs have hairs, called tactile hairs, which are deeply humans, dogs do not perspire through their
three layers of skin: the epidermis, or outer rooted and well supplied with blood and skin and have functional sweat glands
layer; the dermis, or middle layer; and the nerves. These include whiskers, eyebrows, mainly in the pads of their feet.
subcutaneous layer, consisting largely of fat and hairs on the ears.
cells. Compared with humans, dogs have Oil glands (known as sebaceous glands) COAT TYPES
only a thin epidermis as, with the exception are linked to the hair follicles, into which Some of the main coat types are shown below.
of the few hairless breeds, they have fur they secrete a substance called sebum. This Most breeds of dog have only one coat type,
coats to provide protection and insulation. acts as a skin lubricant and helps to keep the but some, such as the Pyrenean Sheepdog (see
Dogs’ hair grows from complex follicles, coat glossy and waterproof. Most follicles p.50), have several. Many types of dog have a
consisting of a central guard hair and also have an attached muscle that can raise double coat, consisting of a top coat of guard
several, finer undercoat hairs, which all the hair to trap warm air or, more noticeably, hairs, which provides waterproofing, and a
project through the same skin pore in the lift the hackles along a dog’s back: for shorter, softer undercoat. In Spitz dogs, such

HAIRLESS SHORT, SINGLE COAT CURLY COAT WIRE-HAIRED COAT

FULL, DOUBLE COAT SEMI–LONG COAT LONG-HAIRED, CORDED COAT
SILKY COAT

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